Quebec Life Coalition

Choose Life McGill, a university of McGill student club that defends the dignity of human life, was founded in September of 2008. The current president is Natalie Fohl. Quebec Life Coalition is proud to help this very successful club. In 2008, QLC secretary general Georges Buscemi was the group's French PR. He remains a member-at-large of the club.

For more information on Choose Life McGill, go to this site's Choose Life information page, or please visit their official page.

Choose Life's next meeting will be next Wednesday, October 6, 6:00 - 7:00pm in room 302 of the SSMU Building (3840 McTavish).  We'll be discussing our upcoming plans, including what we will be doing to help connect pregnant and parenting students to the support they need.  And we'll have snacks :)

Thank you to everyone who turned out to the meeting this week for all of your great ideas and enthusiasm!

For anyone who wasn't there, we decided that two of the things we'd like to focus on for the year are educating ourselves on various life issues and working to make sure pregnant and parenting students at McGill have the support they need.  We're getting started on both of these next Monday, September 27:

It was great to meet everyone at our ice cream social last week!  Looking forward to seeing you today at:

McGill University's pro-life club just averted being banned for life in a narrow vote the other night. Here's a press release from Choose Life President Natalie Fohl:

McGill Undergraduates Vote Against Motion to Ban Pro-Life Groups

Choose Life calls on student union to restore full status

MONTREAL, QC - On Wednesday, February 10th the undergraduates at McGill University voted against a motion that would ban the current club, Choose Life, and any future pro-life club on campus. The vote happened at the Student Society of McGill University’s (SSMU) General Assembly (GA).

While this result prevents Choose Life from being permanently banned, the club is still unjustly suspended from a motion SSMU voted in favour of on November 12th due to past events such as hosting the Silent No More Awareness Campaign and Jose Ruba from the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform. Recently, SSMU’s Equity Committee had met with Choose Life in order to impose sanctions on the club following what they claim to be misconduct. Despite some councillors’ opposition to Choose Life sharing their pro-life beliefs on campus, this vote clearly demonstrates that McGill students continue to support freedom of speech.

“We are very pleased with the outcome of this vote,” expresses Natalie Fohl, president of Choose Life, "Clearly the message is that McGill students recognize that a university is where values and beliefs will be challenged with opposing ideas and that this is exactly where those ideas should be explored. We hope and expect SSMU to acknowledge the same and restore Choose Life’s club status. It is time that we are treated like all the other clubs on campus.”

For More Information: Natalie Fohl, President of Choose Life: 716-796-5946 or chooselifemcgill@gmail.com

There's a new Facebook group supporting free speech for undergrads at McGill University. The creators, though not necessarily pro-life, understand the chilling effect a proposed motion submitted for the next assembly of the McGill undergraduate student union will have on debate at the McGill campus. 

The motion, which if passed will basically disallow any group that is against abortion from gaining official club status, will be voted upon at the SSMU cafeteria at 3480 McTavish on Wed. February 10, between 5 and 9pm.

Here's the Facebook page, which includes a copy of the motion.

By the way, all this pro-life activity that these censorious Student union types at McGill seem to be having apopleptic fits about, has been going on at U of Toronto and at other Canadian universities lately without a hitch.

In other censorship news, it looks as if a few people clicked on the much-abused "inappropriate content" flag in Youtube and knocked the videos of the infamous "Echoes of the Holocaust" Jojo Ruba presentation at McGill off the air (only a handful of the original 19 videos remain online)...

(Click here for the background info...)

Fortunately, there are other video-publishing platforms out there, and we've put the videos back in the public domain, where they belong (minus a few, which we'll be adding asap). Here's the new Quebec Life Coalition Channel, and here's the first video of the series: 

Part 1 of 19 - Echoes of the Holocaust presentation hosted by Choose Life McGill disrupted by abortion advocates Oct. 6 2009 from Georges Buscemi on Vimeo.

Choose Life, a pro-life club at the university of McGill, had its club status suspended by the McGill student union on November 12.

The club therefore no longer has a budget to work with and room reservation privileges and other perks. The suspension came in response to Choose Life’s October 6 invitation of Jojo Ruba of the Canadian Centre for Bioethical reform (see the previous QLC bulletin for details). Margaret Sommerville, McGill University’s eminent bio-ethicist, had this to say about the Choose Life suspension in a November 20 letter to the Montreal Gazette:

...the MSA president said that Choose Life members’ freedom of speech could be restricted, because they “were using questionable statistics from questionable sources” to make the case against abortion. So, the MSA president is saying that if we don’t like the statistics or the sources some people use, we need not bring evidence to rebut their claims; rather, we may intentionally silence them. I thought that was called censorship. It’s deeply concerning that anyone would imagine, even for a second, that challengeable statistics or sources constitute a valid justification for shutting down free speech, let alone someone who is the president of the students’ association at McGill.

MSA spokespeople say they want, as we all do, a safe environment and peace on the campus. But, in a democracy, “good” oldfashioned Maoist “harmony” achieved through suppression of any dissenting voices cannot achieve that.

 And the National Post’s Barbara Kay had this to say: 

The suspension of Choose Life is a witchhunt and a very serious breach of McGill's supposed dedication to free speech for all comers. Ms Woolf claims that "we take complaints seriously" but also noted that the suspension was the result of exactly four student complaints to Equity. Four disgruntled individuals took down an advocacy club! Is this SSMU's idea of democracy?

Disturbingly, this kind of kind of censorship and illeberality coming from student unions is getting to be a big problem all over Canada and in the US. Students from B.C., from Alberta, Lakehead university and York in Ontario, etc. etc. all have faced problems with their respective student unions or university authorities.

Now the McGill student union are asking Choose Life to consult with them on what events and what opinions they can express so that they can respect the "equity policy" and gain their club status back.

Natalie Fohl, president of Choose Life, sent along this update to pro-lifers:

At the Students' Society (SSMU) Council meeting November 12, the student representatives and executives voted against a motion to outright revoke Choose Life's club status. That basis for this motion was that our events target and harass women, and that we spread false information. Specifically, at the Silent No More Awareness Campaign event, there were pamphlets available that cited the link between abortion and breast cancer and one of the sites listed in the footnote has since changed its information to say that no such link exists. Thus, our opponents argue that we are threatening students' health and safety.

Another motion was brought up, and passed 16-11, to suspend our club status until we work with the Student Equity Committee to agree on a way we can share our message while working within the SSMU's governing policies. Of course, this presumes that we have breached them with our past events in some way. In addition to the reasons listed above in support of the other motion, the Echoes of the Holocaust event and use of graphic images were of particular concern. Presumably, they would like us to agree not to use graphic images again. I haven't met with them again yet, so I don't know exactly what other limitations they would like us to agree to. Among the privileges that come with club status is the ability to book rooms in the students' society building and elsewhere on campus...

As for us at QLC, we don't know what the solution is. These students are kids, after all. They can't be expected to understand that at a university maximum debate and maximum free speech is expected.

We don't expect the kids to understand, but we expect the grownups to do something. For while McGill authorities think everything is ok, under the surface, working at the student level and the union levels is an insidious nexus of individuals and groups who aren't satisfied with free speech and open debate but want to force feed their views and squelch dissent. 

What to do? Concerned alumni should band together and pressure McGill authorities to act on this. And we encourage Choose Life to re-invite Mr. Ruba, just like McGill president Heather Munroe Blum encouraged them to do. We know all this nonsense has been hard on Choose Life members, who, at the end of the day, only wanted to help student mothers and their babies, but the fight that they got is theirs to fight. And whether life is respected and future children make it out of the womb depends in large part on whether the pro-life message makes it to university students' ears. Choose Life members, you have been given a good and noble fight, please take it up, as burdensome and tedious as it may be.

A final thing: is there no debating society or some other (small "l") liberal club at McGill? What about the “Conservative McGill” club? Would it not be appropriate for them to take up the freedom of speech issue, inviting Mr. Ruba over if Choose Life can't? How about forming a coalition of free-speech loving clubs at McGill: they can all host Jojo Ruba together in solidarity with Choose Life; they don't even have to agree on abortion, just on free speech.

• Help stop euthanasia  Quebec Life Coalition's website has info on contacting your MP.
• Educate yourself  It's essential that as pro-lifers we are comfortable speaking about our position and its logical basis. Here are a few helpful resources if you're looking to learn more about the pro-life position:
  • A comprehensive website detailing the case against abortion Abort73.com.
  •  "Defending the Pro-Life View" from the CCBR (there are no graphic images on this page, but please be aware that there are elsewhere on the site)
• Stay informed about current events  There are many sources that aggregate pro-life news stories including LifeNews and the ProWomanProLife blog (where you'll also find commentary).
• Stop the Abortion Mandate (US Health Care Reform)  For information on abortion in the US health care reform plan (and what you can do if you're American) go to stoptheabortionmandate.com.  Be sure to check out the webcast happening tonight.

In January the SSMU will be holding elections for one new Clubs and Services Rep to SSMU Council, due to a vacated seat. Council is the body that decided to suspend Choose Life’s clubs status, approved $70,000+ dollars to create a new meeting room next to Lev Bukhman, holds the SSMU to being environmentally sustainable, bilingual, representative, and more. As a Clubs and Services rep, YOU could be debating and voting on major decisions like these. This rep to Council will also have the opportunity to sit on the committee that allocates all funding to clubs. Council meets every other Thursday, starting January 7^th, from 18h00 – (usually) 23h00. For more on Council, please see http://ssmu.mcgill.ca/about/ssmu-legislative-council/

 

No previous experience or knowledge of SSMU is necessary – just be responsible, interested in meeting new people, and ready to take on a student leadership position! Representatives must be part of a full status club, service, or publication. If you are interested in this position, come to the information session Wednesday, January 6, at 18h00, in B-29. Here we will go over what Council is and what the responsibilities of Councilors are. The election will then take place the following week.

 

For more information, please contact me, Sarah Olle, Vice President (Clubs and Services) at cs@ssmu.mcgill.ca! I’d be glad to answer any questions you might have.

 

[Note: I don't believe being a member of Choose Life alone would qualify you for this position, given our suspended status, but if you're a member of any other full status club you are eligible; contact Sarah Olle for verification]

Lots of people have requested a bit of a summary regarding McGill University pro-life club Choose Life's recent club status suspension and info on how to contact the students' society executives. At the Students' Society (SSMU) Council meeting November 12, the student representatives and executives voted against a motion to outright revoke Choose Life's club status. That basis for this motion was that our events target and harass women, and that we spread false information. Specifically, at the Silent No More Awareness Campaign event, there were pamphlets available that cited the link between abortion and breast cancer and one of the sites listed in the footnote has since changed its information to say that no such link exists. Thus, our opponents argue that we are threatening students' health and safety.

Another motion was brought up, and passed 16-11, to suspend our club status until we work with the Student Equity Committee to agree on a way we can share our message while working within the SSMU's governing policies. Of course, this presumes that we have breached them with our past events in some way. In addition to the reasons listed above in support of the other motion, the Echoes of the Holocaust event and use of graphic images were of particular concern. Presumably, they would like us to agree not to use graphic images again. I haven't met with them again yet, so I don't know exactly what other limitations they would like us to agree to. Among the priveledges that come with club status is the ability to book rooms in the students' society builidng and elsewhere on campus. We have never recieved direct funding from the SSMU (and since the Echoes of the Holocaust event, can never do so).

Here's the concluding part of Margaret Somerville's reaction to the suspension, as published in the Montreal Gazette on Nov. 20.

...the MSA president said that Choose Life members’ freedom of speech could be restricted, because they “were using questionable statistics from questionable sources” to make the case against abortion. So, the MSA president is saying that if we don’t like the statistics or the sources some people use, we need not bring evidence to rebut their claims; rather, we may intentionally silence them.

I thought that was called censorship. It’s deeply concerning that anyone would imagine, even for a second, that challengeable statistics or sources constitute a valid justification for shutting down free speech, let alone someone who is the president of the students’ association at McGill.

MSA spokespeople say they want, as we all do, a safe environment and peace on the campus. But, in a democracy, “good” oldfashioned Maoist “harmony” achieved through suppression of any dissenting voices cannot achieve that.

The National Post's Barbara Kay also had something to say about the suspension.

Here is the contact info for the SSMU executive:

Ivan Neilson, President

Rebecca Dooley, VP University Affairs

Alexandra Brown, VP Internal 

Sebastian Ronderos-Morgan, VP External

Sarah Olle, VP Clubs & Services

Jose Diaz, VP Finance & Operations

Whereas the CBC hasn't been, I've been unforgiveably quiet about recent events involving Choose Life , McGill's pro-life club, whose status as an official club with a small budget and room reservation priviledges and other perks was recently suspended by McGill's student union as retaliation for the club's Oct. 6 invitation of Jojo Ruba of the Canadian Centre for Bioethical reform (see the Choose Life McGill information page for the backstory).

Basically, I held off because this kind of censorship and illeberality coming from student unions all around Canada (and in the US) is getting so regular and so predictable it's downright boring.

Now the McGill student union are asking Choose Life to consult with them on what events and what opinions they can express so that they can respect the "equity policy" and gain their club status back. Note to Student Union members: an equity policy cannot enforce equality of opinion on any matter, especially moral, especially at a university whose mandate is to seek truth through vigourous debate.

What hogwash--what absolute craziness. And this is a student council: these kids are going to want to be MPs and leaders some day. Very scary indeed.

I don't know what the solution is. These students are kids, after all. They can't be expected to grasp the sublime irony contained in the act of censoring a group while simultaneously attending an eminent place of learning such as McGill, a place where maximum debate and maximum free speech is expected.

I don't expect the kids to understand, but I expect the grownups to do something. For while McGill authorities think everything is ok, under the surface, working at the student level and the union levels is an insiduous nexus of individuals and groups who aren't satisfied with free speech and open debate but want to force feed their views and squelch dissent. If from the right there's a creationism lobby infiltrating centres of learning and tainting scientific debate about evolution, from the left there's a relativism lobby infiltrating universities and tainting rigourous debate about moral issues. And that has to worry McGill authorities, who know that the credibility of an institution such as theirs rides on its committment to, and delivery of, an environment where open debate is not only possible but welcome. And they're far from that situation right now. We have documentary proof of that.

What to do? Concerned alumni should band together and pressure McGill authorities to act on this.

And I encourage Choose Life to re-invite Mr Ruba, just like McGill president Heather Munroe Blum encouraged them to do. I know all this nonsense has been hard on Choose Life members, who, at the end of the day, only wanted to help student mothers and their babies, but the fight that they got is theirs to fight. And whether life is respected and future children make it out of the womb depends in large part on whether the pro-life message makes it to university students' ears. Choose Life members, you have been given a good and noble fight, please take it up, as burdensome and tedious as it may be.

A final thing: is there no debating society or some other (small "l") liberal club at McGill? What about the Conservative McGill club? Would it not be appropriate for them to take up the freedom of speech issue, inviting Mr. Ruba over if Choose Life can't? How about forming a coalition of free-speech loving clubs at McGill: they can all host Jojo Ruba together in solidarity with Choose Life; they don't even have to agree on abortion, just on free speech.