On July 29, the Ontario Court of Appeal handed down their verdict that the university did not violate Carleton Lifeline members’ Charter right to freedom of expression for trespassing in October 2010.
The Charlatan reported on July 26 that Ruth Lobo-Shaw and John McLeod sued Carleton for more than $200,000 last year after Carleton Lifeline members were arrested during a demonstration in the Tory Quad featuring large graphic posters comparing abortion to genocide.
The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that the Charter doesn’t apply to Carleton because they are not carrying out a specific government program or policy when campus space is booked for extra-curricular use.
While I do agree that the Lifeline club should have the right to utilize campus space for the purposes of peaceful demonstration just like any other student organization what I take issue with is their use of large graphic posters to communicate their message.
These posters represent the anti-abortion movements’ double-standard when it comes to respecting Canadian rights and freedoms.
By using graphic posters depicting aborted fetuses, Lifeline members are forcing all Carleton students walking through the quad—some of whom may have very different beliefs and values—to listen to them.
Lifeline club members do have the right to express their beliefs but Carleton students also have the freedom not to hear them.
Lifeline members’ peaceful protest of abortion can be compared to the actions of Linda Gibbons, the relentless anti-abortion crusader who has spent years behind bars after repeatedly violating a civil order to stop picketing outside Toronto abortion clinics.
According to a National Post article posted online June 7, Gibbons would go so far as to enter the Bloor West Village Women’s Clinic and approach patients in the waiting room.
She even told the judge during a hearing that she would continue to go near abortion clinics once she was released again.
It confuses me that pro-life individuals and groups can fight so vehemently for their own freedom of expression (often closely linked with freedom of religion), yet have total disregard the fact that women choosing abortions also have rights.
Section 1 of the Charter states that the “Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in free and democratic society.”
In essence, this means that the enjoyment of one’s own rights should only go so far as to not negatively impact the ability of others to enjoy theirs.
The fact is that in 1988 the Supreme Court of Canada struck down Canada’s abortion laws—which made it illegal to get an abortion—as unconstitutional.
Therefore women have the right to choose.
In contrast to the overbearing actions of Lifeline club members and Linda Gibbons, the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC) states on its website that it recognizes and respects the cultural and political diversity of Canada.
The main goal of the ARCC is simply the promotion and protection of women’s reproductive rights. I highly doubt that you would find them or other pro-choice groups forcing their way into a church to push their views on those who don’t want to hear them.
If Carleton Lifeline members organized a peaceful demonstration on campus property, I would not be opposed to it.
I don’t think Carleton should have them arrested for trespassing, provided they put any graphic imagery inside a pamphlet, giving students the option to hear their message or ignore it.
