When LifeCanada held its annual gala Nov. 27, it not only gave a well-deserved platform to its inspirational guest speaker – Ashley Bratcher, who starred in the life-affirming movie Unplanned – but also celebrated the launch of what the organization hopes will be a new and reenergized era for the Canadian pro-life movement.
The gala was virtual, but the change is real.
That’s because LifeCanada has now formally merged with Vancouver’s Life Community, and the new national entity will eventually operate under the name LifeCanada National with a sharpened focus on education and community engagement.
It’s just the latest in a series of renewals, re-brandings, and re-buildings that pro-life organizations in B.C. and across Canada have embraced in an attempt to make themselves more relevant and effective in an era when political and legal setbacks have become the Canadian norm.
“You might say it’s the best of times and the worst of times,” said John Hof, a veteran pro-life advocate.
“It’s the worst of times because of the many defeats we have suffered in the courts and on Parliament Hill,” said Hof, a parishioner at St. Joseph’s in Langley.
“But it’s certainly the best of times because it’s very clear we’re not giving up. In fact, we’re picking ourselves up, dusting ourselves off, and coming up with new and exciting ways to re-engage with Canadians.”
Notable B.C. examples of such pro-life resilience and renewal include Vancouver’s Life Community, which emerged from the Vancouver Right to Life Society; Maple-Ridge-based Life Compass Society, which arose from north-of-Fraser pro-life groups; Langley-based Signal Hill Life Education Society, which came from the B.C. Pro-Life Society; Advokate Life and Education Services, a rebranding of Abbotsford Right to Life in 2014, is transforming its image with a new name and new outlook. and an entirely new group, Vancouver Life Soldiers.
Hof applauded the local groups’ focus on education and outreach while at the same time national groups such as the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, Canadian Physicians for Life, Right Now, We Need a Law, and Campaign Life Coalition are performing necessary work in political and legal arenas.
Organizations such as Campaign Life Coalition continue to engage in what many Canadians would see as traditional pro-life activities, including direct anti-abortion and -euthanasia positions and actions. Campaign Life also advocates socially conservative positions on issues such as sex education, homosexuality, and transgenderism.
Signal Hill has travelled a uniquely different path. It emerged from B.C. Pro-Life more than a decade ago as an entirely re-constituted organization, the Signal Hill Life Education Society, and does not specifically advocate for any traditional pro-life causes. Its website explains, “We are not a religious, para-religious, political or legislative organization. We are not affiliated with any particular political group or figure, nor do we advocate for particular laws or political parties.”
It has concentrated much of its recent efforts on a program called Value Every Person, which set out to educate high-school students about the intrinsic worth of every individual. “We’re going upstream to help today’s teens value every person, starting with themselves,” Signal Hill’s website declares. “With story-filled media on relevant issues, we empower teens to discover their worth, influence, and potential, and help them navigate their teen years successfully.”
Prior to the pandemic, the organization staged weekend-long workshops for student-leaders in which they devised “Value Week” programs for their respective schools. Signal Hill has also created online workshops for teens on topics such as mental illness, body image, suicidal ideal and servant leadership – videos that have reached more than 50,000 people.
New for 2022 will be a project aimed at supporting teens facing unplanned pregnancies. “One of our big plans in 2022,” Signal Hill said in a Dec. 7 fundraising email, “is to create a new set of video resources that will encourage and empower thousands of teen girls in Canada and the U.S.A. who are experiencing unplanned pregnancy and are in crisis.”
“We try to empower teens in ways that are relevant to their lives,” Signal Hill executive director Derek Scott said in an interview. “And we certainly recognize that an important need is greater empathetic and educational support related to unplanned pregnancy. We want teens facing this challenge to know that they are loved and that they have options.”
Vancouver’s Life Community also engaging in innovative, non-traditional projects such as the YP Lounge and YP Spotlight in which the VLC stages events for young professionals (hence “YP”) in support of “building a culture of life in career, life, marriage, family, and the common good.”
For example, in June 2019 the YP program held a meeting during which young professionals were matched with mentors who could advise their younger mentees on how to navigate their career while maintaining their values. The YP project went virtual during the pandemic but is scheduled to re-emerge with an in-person event this spring, when it stages a panel discussion on dating.
YP executive director Annabelle Chong said events have helped young adults better understand what it takes to live a culture of life. “Now in 2022, we will continue to host YP Spotlight events to showcase young adults whose careers and work contribute to a life-affirming cause,” Chong said in an interview. “Young adults will learn what happiness, freedom, and liberty really mean when guided by virtue.”
In launching their novel programs, groups such as Signal Hill and the VLC have redefining what it means to be “pro-life,” but Hof said traditionalists need not be alarmed. “My take on all this,” he said, “is that the pro-life movement is alive and well. We speak to the head, the heart, and the feet, and we’re always focussed on the positive benefits.”
Moreover, this does not mean the groups are sending mixed messages. “You might call it a tapestry,” Hof told the B.C. Catholic. “We are not all going to be able to do everything, so it’s good that are specialists out there who are doing the work.”
Toronto’s Matthew Wojciechowski, vice-president of CLC, said he, too, does not believe that the variety of approaches adopted by life-affirming organizations means the movement has weakened itself. “I think it’s great to have,” he said. “It’s like the body of the church. The church is one body, some are the hands, some are the feet.”
That said, Wojciechowski believes recent events have forced all pro-life groups to get involved in politics because they are “in a sense” all “being targeted by the current [federal] government, and we have to speak up and do something about it.”
The federal Liberal government has supported the liberalization of euthanasia laws, opposed all private-members’ bills dealing with the rights of the unborn, denied Canada Summer Jobs funding for pro-life groups (a policy that a Federal Court judge upheld in October) and, most recently, pledged during this year’s election campaign to remove charitable-tax status from Christian crisis-pregnancy centres.
LifeCanada board chair Pat Wiedemer told The B.C. Catholic she agrees that all groups are vital because each serves a specific need. LifeCanada’s job, she said, is to help local groups reach the Canadian public. “We have to help people choose life right now – in their kitchen, at their schools, in their job, in their everyday lives.”
As a national association, LifeCanada works with local and provincial pro-life groups on media campaigns, polling, educational resources, training, and programs.
George Glover, LifeCanada’s director of development, believes an important goal is to connect with Catholics and Protestants. “I think to win the hearts and the minds of the country, we first have to re-engage the people in the pews who, 20 years ago, were much more engaged than they are today,” Glover said in an interview. “And we need to mobilize the army of people of faith in our nation by reengaging them. That’s the first step in the process.”
The merger of LifeCanada and Vancouver’s Life Community will give the latter more staff and volunteer resources, while allowing LifeCanada National to issue tax receipts for donations, making its fundraising efforts more successful. The organization is also developing a new national logo and branding, which it hopes will help local groups to prosper.
Life Compass is one such local group; in fact, it is already benefitting from its relationship with LifeCanada. Earlier this year, it used a LifeCanada-developed poster for a two-month bus-signage campaign promoting motherhood and resilience.
Incorporated in 2015 as an amalgam of Coquitlam Pro-Life and Meadow-Ridge Pro-Life Society, the society does not have explicit legal or political goals. Rather, its mission is, in part, “to give accurate information and share experiences regarding issues related to the dignity human life.”
Society president Richard Whalen, of St. Luke’s Parish in Maple Ridge, said the society “has been very successful based on pretty much everything we are doing.” Its membership of 220 is double that of the old groups, its Facebook page has been liked by hundreds of people, and the connections it fosters have led to the success of annual events such Blooms into Rooms and Life Chain.
Vancouver Life Soldiers was founded in April of this year and already has almost 300 members. When asked in an email interview to describe the group, spokesperson Heather Thompson of Coquitlam answered: “Pro-Life Prayer Warriors! Our motto is, Soldier on! Boots on the ground! Never let up!”
Members currently meet virtually five times a week to pray and have been instrumental in organizing the 40 Days for Life Lenten campaign. “Our prayer and faith are fuelled by the hope and knowledge that Christ’s victory is already won,” said Thompson, a member of St. Clare of Assisi Parish in Coquitlam. “Therefore, we do our part and we never give up. Prayer is never wasted.”
The Archdiocese of Vancouver’ pro-life chaplain, Father Larry Lynn, said he believes the pro-life movement had to change not only its image but also its direction in order to effect change in an area that be believes is the “fault line” or “central rift” in society – the right to life.
“I think these different organizations are adapting, their antennae are out, things are happening,” Father Lynn said. “We are doing what we can. And I think the governments in Canada – I know it sounds crazy – but they will eventually have to start listening and turn around.”
Family now foremost for illustrious activists
Just as many pro-life groups are renewing themselves to better fulfill their life-affirming mandates, two notable Catholic pro-life campaigners have also gone in new directions – retiring from their right-to-life work to focus on family and leaving inspiring legacies.
Natalie Hudson Sonnen stepped down as executive director of Life Canada in September after moving permanently to Charlotte, NC, with her husband, B.C. Catholic contributor J.P. Sonnen, and daughter. She said her “new job description is decidedly ‘homemaker,’ and I am very proud to be working in this capacity.” She is also homeschooling her daughter.
A Vancouver native, Sonnen began working in the pro-life movement in 2002 as executive director of Toronto Right to Life. She moved home in 2007 to become director of education for Signal Hill, during which time she helped establish the March for Life in Victoria. She began working as editor of LifeCanada’s magazine in 2009, while also studying at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Italy.
She became executive director of Life Canada in 2011, improving communications with members, staging national conferences, launching an annual gala dinner, and building a national network of pro-life organizations.
“In Canada, in general, the temptation [for pro-lifers] to despair is certainly present, especially as our troubles have been multiplied through the COVID crisis and the local and federal government response,” Sonnen said. “Yet, despite the setbacks, I believe the pro-life community is one of the most resilient movements in our nation’s history.”
She paid special tribute to the Archdiocese of Vancouver for its “immense” support of pro-life organizations. As well, she said she is especially optimistic about the future of the Vancouver Life Community with executive director Annabelle Chong at the helm. “She is dedicated to promoting those timeless principles that help young people navigate their way through a plethora of harmful ideologies that have gripped our culture for several decades now,” Sonnen said.
“We wish her all the best,” Pat Wiedemer, LifeCanada chair, said in a letter to supporters, “and thank Natalie for the many ways she helped grow and sustain the work of LifeCanada under her tenure.”
John Hof, who lives in Langley, said his post-activist life is seeing him devote more time to his family, most notably his 11 grandchildren, all but four of whom live in B.C.
Hof first became involved in pro-life causes as a member of the Langley Pro-Life Society in the late 1970s. He later worked with the B.C. Pro-Life Society, then joined Operation Rescue, and was among a core group that made national news by protesting at abortion clinics. Hof was sentenced to 21 days in jail for his actions.
Starting in 1995, he worked full-time with Campaign Life Coalition B.C. but left in 2012 to set up United for Life B.C. after a policy disagreement with the national CLC leadership over gestational legislation. Hof wound down UNLBC in 2018 but kept its bank account open until last month, when he donated the outstanding funds to Advokate Life and Education Services of Abbotsford and an international charity.
Hof, now 71, received the Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice for distinguished service to the Church in 2016 and believes the pro-life movement has a bright future. “The other side looks more and more extreme,” he said in an interview. “Common sense will win out over the radical pro-abortion mentality.”
Kelowna resident Ted Gerk, who worked alongside Hof on many pro-life campaigns, paid tribute to his long-time friend and associate. “John was all about building relationships, and seeing the best in people, no matter the political stripe,” Gerk said.
“To that end, he would always find Parliamentarians he could work with, always extending grace even if they did something he did not agree with. He never really turned anyone away – his faith wouldn’t allow him that luxury.”
B.C. Catholic contributor Terry O’Neill is a long-time supporter of life-affirming groups and initiatives and has been personally involved with several of the organizations cited in these stories.
