Quebec Life Coalition

Where: Carleton University Tory 360, Ottawa

When: Monday October 18th, 7 pm

TOPIC: Comparing abortion to other human rights violations

ALL ARE WELCOME

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.

Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform representative Jojo Ruba's Oct. 6 2009 presentation at McGill University, hosted by Choose Life McGill, was hijacked for over 2 hours tonight by pro-abortion protesters. As the presentation began, protesters shouted and sang children's songs. They then crowded around the vacant podium (Mr. Ruba having absconded) and continued singing for the better part of an hour, at which point police arrived. Two protesters were taken, but many were left behind. When the police left, they resumed and disrupted the presentation (which had fitfully resumed) until the two hour mark, at which point event organizers were informed by campus officials that time had run out and the room had to be closed for the night. Protesters then filed out, along with most of the audience. A police officer showed up again, answering some questions for the campus media.

A sad day for free speech, and a sad day for the unborn—but displays like last night's show that the truth that the unborn have an inalienable right to life is so manifest that the only way to oppose it is by physical force. And truth being stronger and more persistent than physical force, we'll surely see a time (maybe not in our lifetimes, but surely there will be a time) when that truth is recognized, cherished, celebrated.

Part of the good news is this: at the time of printing, this video has so far garnered over 15,000 views on YouTube. Hundreds of comments have also been posted, overwhelmingly favouring Choose Life and the pro-life position in general. Furthermore, the presenter, José Ruba of the Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform, had this to say: “There is good news. At least three students who were not pro-life came and actually dialogued with me afterwards. And even one of the protesters came up to me and said he wished he had heard the rest of the presentation. And I know many pro-lifers in the crowd grew even more passionate about speaking for life after this.”

To see the video, go here.

This is great news for Choose Life McGill, whose October 6 presentation was disrupted by a gaggle of schoolchildren who thought they would do a little thought policing. Presenter Jojo Ruba's talk, "Echoes of the Holocaust", which took place on the McGill campus, was basically shut down after two hours of sing alongs, joke-making, and (ineffective) police-intervention.

The McGill authorities (as opposed to the ersatz and comical -- but potentially dangerous-- authority of the student council) have now spoken overwhelmingly in favour of the freedom for groups to assemble on campus and present their views, especially in closed venues such as was the case with Choose Life's event. What's more, McGill's president Heather Munroe-Blum rightly stated that the event caused a "dark cloud" to form over the university,  which she said is known world-wide for its academic excellence, and went so far as to urge Choose Life to "consider reconvening the event right away."

Wow, I truly hope Choose Life follows through on Ms. Munroe-Blum's advice.

UPDATE-4 (Feb. 2, 2010):

Incredible...yet more censorship. 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.

UPDATE-3: Welcome National Post readers.

UPDATE-2: Choose Life digs its heels in.

UPDATE: Welcome LifeSiteNews readers.

Also, according to Choose Life president Natalie Fohl, tonight, SSMU VP Clubs & Services Sarah Olle and Deputy Provost Morton Mendelson are hosting a Controversial Events Townhall, Thursday October 8, at 5:30pm - 7:00pm in the Lev Bukhman room of the SSMU Building (2nd floor, 3480 McTavish). You can see the different reactions of the SSMU and Professor Mendelson to our event, "Echoes of the Holocaust" here. Clearly, they have different opinions on free speech--please come to share yours tonight.

More coverage here and here.

***

Here's the entire series of 19 10-minute videos of the Oct. 6 disrupted presentation of Jojo Ruba's "Echoes of the Holocaust" presented by the Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform and hosted by Choose Life McGill.

(Police arrive at part 8)

UPDATE: The videos have been censored at YouTube. Here they are at another site.

Here, finally, are the videos. I'll be posting them as I upload them. Sorry for the delay.

I wanted to say this first, though:

The protesters on this video refuse to recognize the full humanity of the unborn, which is why they'll never understand what Choose Life president Natalie Fohl and other people who fight for human rights for all humans are doing. Where the protesters see oppression, we see emancipation (of the unborn from death when they just happen to be unwanted). Where they see hate, we see love for all humans, including the unborn. The presentation that's been hijacked last night might have shown those protesters the humanity of the unborn, and how tragic it is that the denial of their personhood has led to their wholesale slaughter, just as the denial of personhood of the other unfortunates of the 20th century has led to their liquidation. I'm sorry they can't see these obvious parallels between human rights struggles in the past and the struggle for the recognition of the unborn as persons--but displays like last night's show that the truth that the unborn have an inalienable right to life is so manifest that the only way to oppose it is by physical force. And truth being stronger and more persistent than physical force, we'll surely see a time (maybe not in our lifetimes, but surely there will be a time) when that truth is recognized, cherished, celebrated.
 

UPDATE: See the video of the disruption by pro-abortion protesters here.

Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform representative Jojo Ruba's presentation at McGill University, hosted by Choose Life McGill, was hijacked for over 2 hours tonight by pro-abortion protestors.

As the presentation got underway, about 20 protestors began shouting and singing children's songs. They then crowded around the vacant podium (Mr. Ruba having absconded) and continued signing for the better part of an hour, at which point police arrived. Two protestors were taken, but many were left behind. When the police left, protestors resumed and disrupted the presentation (which had fitfully resumed) until the two hour mark, at which point event organizers were informed by campus officals that time had run out and the room had to be closed for the night.

Protestors then filed out, along with most of the audience. A police officer showed up again, answering some questions for the campus media.

We'll have video of the whole debacle tomorrow... Here below is the Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform's press release about the disruption: