Crown drops Jesuit priest’s charge of violating ‘bubble zone’ 

An 87-year-old Jesuit priest arrested in 2018 with violating Ontario’s abortion “bubble zone” law had the charges against him abruptly dropped today – almost four years to the day after his arrest.

“I owe (the) victory to God, and his intervention on my behalf, and on behalf of victims of the abortion industry,” Father Tony Van Hee said after the Crown advised the Ontario Court of Justice in Ottawa that the case wouldn’t proceed. “I am obviously pleased with the Crown’s acknowledgment that its prosecution was not in the public interest. It has been my position from the start that this legislation is unacceptable.”

Lawyers for Father Van Hee say that the end of the anti-abortion campaigner’s criminal legal fight is also the beginning of a constitutional fight against the law itself.

Father  priest, who is best known for 28 years of fasting and praying on Parliament Hill every day the House of Commons was in session, was arrested by Ottawa police Oct. 24, 2018, across the street from the Morgentaler abortion clinic in the city’s downtown. He was holding a sign that read: “The Primacy of Free Speech: Cornerstone of Western Civilization” and “Without Free Speech the State is a Corpse.” He was subsequently charged under the 2017 Safe Access to Abortion Services Act for being within a 50-metre “bubble zone” outside the clinic.

The initial charge was later replaced by two charges of “inform(ing) or attempt(ing) to inform a person concerning issues related to abortion services, by any means, including oral, written or graphic means”, and “perform(ing) or attempt(ing) to perform an act of disapproval concerning issues related to abortion services, by any means.”

While the criminal charges worked their way through the courts, lawyer Phil Horgan, with the Catholic Civil Rights League launched a constitutional challenge to the law itself, which was passed by the former Liberal government of Kathleen Wynne. The challenge was stalled by COVID and by the need to examine 14 Crown witnesses supportive of the legislation.

Ottawa constitutional lawyer Albertos Polizogopoulos, who has been involved in the case from the initial 2018 charge, said the dropping of the case against Father Van Hee advances the constitutional challenge because it shows the law is overbroad and an unnecessary violation of freedom of expression. Only two people, including Father Van Hee, have ever been charged under the 2017 “bubble zone” act. The first person died before the case went to trial. Now the second, Father Van Hee, has seen the charges against him withdrawn, Polizogopoulos said.

“The legislation itself appears to have been an overreach to serve the interests of abortion providers by silencing dissent,” he added.

Horgan, Father Van Hee’s lawyer on the constitutional challenge, said in a statement he expects it to be heard “soon” but could not be more specific. “(The) charges, based on the free speech signs on which Father Anthony was charged, continue to form the factual matrix of our constitutional challenge,” Horgan’s statement said.

Father Van Hee said that while he’s relieved the criminal matter is over, further justice awaits for the way his free speech was stifled.

“We will now move on to the next round, where God willing, we will also see justice,” he said.

24 for demonstrating within the safe exclusion zone of 50 metres surrounding the Morgentaler abortion facility on Ottawa’s Bank Street.

The Catholic Register