Guelph pro-life group faces crackdown
GUELPH, ON--Life Choice at the University of Guelph is fighting for accreditation this spring after the pro-life group was temporarily banned last fall.
In October, the Central Student Association (CSA) voted unanimously to strip Life Choice of club status--including access to school facilities, meeting space and funds.
The decision came in response to a "Life Fair" event which the group held in the University Centre's courtyard the previous March.
Life Choice says the educational event--which included booths and speakers--was aimed at informing students about the realities of abortion.
But CSA members claim the event promoted banning abortion, including materials which called abortion "immoral" and compared it to murder, and a sign which read: "I regretted my abortion."
The CSA also issued an apology to the university's students and staff, implying the Life Fair event had promoted violence and discrimination against women, and that its unavoidable location "created an unsafe environment" on campus.
Albertos Polizogopoulos, an Ottawa lawyer who, along with Christian Legal Fellowship, is helping Life Choice re-apply for accreditation this spring, says the club was not treated fairly.
"The event had happened months earlier," he says, "Nothing was mentioned to Life Choice at the time, and they were not given an opportunity to respond."
When Life Choice appealed in November, the CSA "shut the meeting down…and brought in legal council," Polizogopoulos says, adding that CSA then decided to create "an independent tribunal" to deal with the issue in future.
While Life Choice was granted temporary accreditation in December their status is uncertain for 2009.
"What is frustrating is that Life Choice was treated procedurally unfairly," Polizogopoulos says, "and the CSA has swept the procedural unfairness under the carpet." Calls to a legal representative for CSA were not returned.
Pro-life groups on campuses across Canada are facing similar treatment.
In May 2008, York University's Federation of Students (YFS) banned pro-life discussion, deciding abortion could only be discussed within "a pro-choice realm" and clubs would be investigated to ensure compliance. In Thunder Bay, Lakehead University's Life Support group has been without accreditation since 2007. Campus pro-life groups have also faced challenges from student governments in Ottawa and Kelowna.
The University of Calgary told a campus pro-life group it could keep its display up last November, but had to turn photos of bloody fetuses and bodies of Holocaust victims inward or face fines.
We certainly are recognizing that there is more discrimination on campuses," says Theresa Gilbert, director of National Campus Life Network, adding that often the student governments involved are members of the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS).
Last May, CFS voted to support "member locals that refuse to allow anti-choice organizations access to their resources" and to provide them with a pro-choice kit including "research on anti-choice organizations and the conservative think-tanks that fund them."
"While CFS are not promoting the outright banning of pro-life groups, student groups that want to take action know they will be supported," says Gilbert.
But Katherine Grioux-Bougart, national chairperson of the CFS points out that the majority of such actions took place before CFS's motion. She says she is not aware of any CFS involvement in CSA's actions at Guelph, stressing the thrust of their work is assisting Canadians' access to post secondary education.
"These are local decisions and have nothing to do with this organization," Grioux-Bougart says. "Student unions are autonomous organizations with the right to decide how to allocate their resources."
The CFS motion was brought by YFS, she says, and not initiated by CFS.
Calls to YFS were not returned.
Grioux-Bougart says some CFS members had been concerned with promoting "balance" after feeling increased pressure from campus pro-life groups who were funded by external organizations.
Gilbert disagrees, saying most pro-life groups are struggling for funding. She also says pro-life events don't display graphic or violent imagery and that the goal of pro-life groups is to encourage "constructive dialogue."
Such debate is vital, says Alexandra Myhill-Jones, president of Heartbeat at Capilano University, who regained official accreditation in 2008 after filing an appeal with the Human Rights Tribunal.
Heartbeat has since taken part in a heated debate hosted by the pro-choice Womyn's Collective.
"Losing accreditation was incredibly disheartening because we were not being given a chance to speak for a cause which was very dear to us," Myhill-Jones says.
"Heartbeat does not want to win all the arguments or fight battles. We want to change hearts in order to change minds."
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