By Johanne Brownrigg

Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) Ottawa just moved into a new office. Packing up the office, we found old newspaper clippings, great photos, letters, and the minutes from endless meetings. Packing up meant looking back in order to move forward. It helped re-affirm that times have always been tough, but the work was necessary. Maybe you’d like to reminisce about our shared past in the fight to protect the unborn?

I was quite sentimental when I came across some correspondence with former Progressive Conservative MP Elsie Wayne, MP Jason Kenney (serving in the Reform Party at the time), and former Liberal MP Tom Wappel. In Parliament, in the media, and in committee, this dream team provided some of the best non-partisan work ever displayed on Parliament Hill on behalf of the unborn.

I came across a news clipping from The Interim, CLC’s pro-life, pro-family publication. The headline reads, “Bubble-Zone Victory—Ontario pro-life defendants acquitted.”

The article describes the scene, “The celebration became so raucous that the boisterous bunch was asked to leave the floor by court security officers… ‘If ever there was a court case which was superintended by the God of Heaven, this one was it!’”

How could they have known that Linda Gibbons (one of the “pro-life defendants”) would still be incarcerated, even in 2015, under a “temporary” injunction? Linda has been in jail for more than 10 years for her attempts to peacefully counsel women before they enter abortuaries. Even the dream team tried to intervene on her behalf with then Ontario Premier Mike Harris.

I also came across a letter from 1996 from one of my public affairs predecessors. We sent the book “Women Need to Know” to every sitting Member of Parliament. The book is based on Dr. Joel Brind’s extensive research on the link between abortion and breast cancer. The evidence is compelling. At CLC, we believe politicians need to know, too.

CLC is the sole organizer for the National March for Life and many of the files I came across held special memories of those. Next year marks the 19th National March for Life. It started very modestly, with only 800 people, but grew consistently eventually adding a luncheon, youth banquet, the Rose Dinner, prayer vigils, and a youth conference.

In 2015, our numbers were confirmed independently—just shy of 25,000, but according to most media we usually number around 5000. So I had to smile when I came across a letter written to the Ottawa Citizen, more than 15 years ago. The writer was complaining about the paper’s bias.

A photo of Stockwell Day jumped out at me. In 2002 he was one of 11 MPs, including four Liberals, who vocally opposed the Liberal government’s embryonic stem-cell research bill. It was one of several occasions when the March for Life became a political fulcrum. The Ottawa Citizen reported there were 600 people in attendance. Of course, that means we know there were more.

The March for Life is a protest march in response to the failure of Parliament to protect the unborn, year after year. Our battle began in 1969 with Trudeau’s Omnibus Bill decriminalizing abortion. The battle re-asserted itself in 1988 with the Supreme Court Morgentaler decision. Then, for the first time, last year’s March included an element of protest against euthanasia. It has come to that.

The recent Liberal win gives the pro-life movement a serious challenge. We know the Lord has called us to be faithful, not always successful. But packing boxes has truly unpacked decades of memories that underscore the faithfulness of Ottawa’s pro-lifers to the unborn.

Johanne is a Lobbyist with CLC and Catholic mother of 5 who loves music, and good food when it’s cooked by someone else.