Activists fight legal battles for right to free speech

Pro-life clubs at Canadian colleges and universities have been muzzled, shut down

Canadian universities can be tough places for young pro-life activists.

In recent years, many students have faced theft, vandalism, handcuffs, trespassing charges, and legal battles for questioning abortion.

"Even though this censorship of pro-life students is frustrating, to say the least, as well as disheartening, and combating it can be time consuming, I believe it's also encouraging," said Anastasia Pearse, director of National Campus Life Network, which offers resources to university pro-life clubs.

"It shows that pro-life students are reaching out and are being heard. We know the pro-life message is not going to be accepted by everyone, but we must share the truth regardless."

Listed below are some of the pro-life groups that have had problems on campuses across the country.

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Heartbeat
Capilano University
After an official pro-choice club was opened at Capilano University in 2006, pro-lifers applied for official recognition. The student union denied their application twice, saying it would hinder "a woman's right to choose."

The club filed a complaint in the Human Rights Tribunal. With help from the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, the club and the student union reached an agreement out of court in 2008 and been allowed to have club status since.

Lifeline
University of British Columbia, Okanagan campus
Lifeline filed a human rights complaint on the basis of freedom of religion after it was not granted official club status in 2006. The complaint was dismissed.

In 2015, Lifeline members applied with the student union for club status again. After a delayed process, the club was finally approved.

Protectores Vitae
Kwantlen Polytechnic University
Protectores Vitae was denied official club status in 2012, after the student union declared itself pro-choice and required all campus clubs to follow suit.

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) sent a letter warning of legal action and began preparing court documents in favour of freedom of expression. Days before the court filing date, the student union changed its mind and gave the club official status.

Less than one year later, the student union introduced a policy only allowing club materials that made students feel "comfortable and safe." Protectores Vitae saw this as censorship and obtained another legal warning letter. The union reversed its decision in 2014.

Youth Protecting Youth
University of Victoria
Youth Protecting Youth (YPY) has been struggling at the University of Victoria since funding and club status were denied in 1999. The group filed a complaint with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal in 2000 and was granted club status.

Eight years later, the student union denied YPY club funding after a poster display. The next year, in 2009, the club held a debate about abortion that attracted about 400 students. The club's official status was revoked for reasons including debating a topic that was not up for debate and creating an unsafe space on campus.

In 2010 the club filed a petition, and it was eventually settled outside of court.

Three years later, YPY organized Choice Chain, a display that uses images of aborted children and the message: "Choice?" Approval for the event was initially given, then taken away one day before the event. The club held it anyway, after which it lost the privilege to book outdoor space for one year.

YPY got help from the B.C. Civil Liberties Association and filed a petition in 2014 for free speech. That year the club also faced vandalism and theft when protestors dumped kitty litter on an outdoor display and stole fetal models valued at a few hundred dollars from a locked storage.

The court ruled in favour of the student union in 2015, saying the Charter of Rights and Freedoms didn't apply on the university campus. The club appealed that ruling, but the B.C. Court of Appeal dismissed the case in April 2016. Club president Cameron Cote said it's likely the legal battle is not over.

ELSEWHERE IN CANADA

Carlton Lifeline
Carleton University, Ottawa
Students at Carleton University were refused permission to host the Genocide Awareness Project outdoors in 2010. That display compares abortion to tragedies such as the Holocaust.

When they held it anyway, they were arrested and charged with trespassing. A little over a month later, after holding a Choice Chain, Carlton Lifeline was also denied status and funding.

The club sued, but the lawsuit didn't succeed in getting club status back.

Campus Pro-Life
University of Calgary
Pro-life activists at the University of Calgary had been peacefully holding outdoor displays about four times a year without trouble when, suddenly, in 2008, on threat of expulsion, they were told to set up their signs facing inward so passersby couldn't easily see them.

Other clubs with graphic displays were not subject to this, so the club continued to hold their events as before. The university tried, unsuccessfully, to find the students guilty of trespassing in 2009.

After holding the same display in 2010, the university claimed seven students were guilty of "non-academic misconduct." The students challenged this in court and all charges of misconduct were removed from their files.

UAlberta Pro-life
University of Alberta
Despite warnings from the university not to interfere with an outdoor event or violate the code of student behaviour, loud protesters planned an attack over social media and swarmed a group of pro-lifers in 2015, blocking posters and shouting. Campus security watched and did nothing.

The club filed a complaint, aided by the JCCF. The university sided with the mob and the protesters faced no repercussions. In 2016 the club got permission to hold the same display again only if it paid $17,500 for its own security.

Life Support
Lakehead University
This pro-life club in Thunder Bay was denied official status several times between 2006 and 2010.

Mount Royal University
Pro-lifer Nicholas Mcleod was distributing pamphlets on campus when a security guard confronted him and asked him to stop in 2013. He refused to do so in the name of freedom of expression.

The guard called in more guards, who forced Mcleod to the ground, handcuffed him, and confined him to a small room for hours. He recorded the incident on his cellphone, but the guards snatched it and removed the memory card.

In court, guards admitted to wrongdoing and apologized to Mcleod. The man who hid the memory card was found guilty of theft and given community service.

Speak for the Weak
University of Ontario Institute of Technology
In 2015 the student association refused to recognize Speak for the Weak as an official club, claiming allowing a pro-life club on campus would constitute "systemic societal oppression" and violate human rights.

Speak for the Weak filed a lawsuit against the student association in February 2016.

Students for Life
Brandon University
The student union at Brandon University refused to allow Students for Life to function as an official campus club in 2012 because, they said, the abortion issue was already covered by the Women's Collective.

If the club still wished to apply, it couldn't hand out pamphlets, couldn't have a presence in common areas, and could not recruit new members at club day. Students for Life applied anyway, and heard nothing by the end of the school year.

The JCCF sent a legal warning letter to the student union, after which the club gained status in the fall of 2013. The win was short lived; it lost club status again in the spring of 2016.

Students for Life
Ryerson University
Pro-life students at Ryerson University were first denied club status in 2003. Ten years later they tried to get official club status again, appealing to the Ryerson Students' Union for the same treatment as every other club on campus. When that didn't work, they filed a lawsuit against the union in late 2015, and are awaiting a decision.

Students for Life
University of Toronto - Mississauga
The JCCF filed court action against this university's student union in January 2016. The union had said it refused this pro-life club official status in 2015 because of its stand on abortion.

Trent Lifeline
Trent University
Pro-lifers at Trent University found out pro-life and pro-choice clubs were not allowed on campus in 2013 because "this can lead to a very exclusive group, while all the clubs at Trent University must be inclusive."

JCCF contacted the association, and after several months the club gained official recognition.

With files from the National Campus Life Network.