June 27, 2025
June 27, 2025
Dear Maureen, I’m Pete Baklinski, and this is your Canadian Pro-Life News Bits – where I let you know what’s happening on our country’s pro-life and pro-family front.
Good news! Pro-life MP Tamara Jansen has introduced a private member’s bill that, if passed, would protect those struggling with mental health from being abandoned to death by euthanasia (MAiD), and instead ensure they are offered help and hope. This is wonderful news for vulnerable Canadians!
We’ve launched a petition campaign to Ontario Premier Doug Ford, asking him to follow Alberta’s lead and implement a province-wide ban on all pornographic and sexually explicit books currently available in public school libraries across the province. Make sure you check out CLC National President Jeff Gunnarson’s report about this. It's disturbing material, but parents—you need to know what your children are being exposed to in school.
Pro-life MP Cathay Wagantall has sponsored a petition in the House of Commons (e-6586) to protect pro-life and faith-based organizations from government attack. She is calling on the Liberal government to reject the recommendations in the Finance Committee’s pre-budget report to strip pro-life and faith-based charities of their charitable status. Bravo to her!
The Western Standard has written about pro-life heroine Linda Gibbons’ recent court victory, where she was found not guilty of “obstruction” and of breaking an almost 30-year-old injunction. It’s good to see this good news reported by others.
Quebec has banned men who claim to be female from women's prisons. It took a triple murder for prison policy to catch up to reality. Quebec will now jail inmates based on their anatomical sex—not their gender identity. This is not discrimination. It’s common sense. Women, including those in jail, deserve safety.
Finally, don’t miss my reflection at the end about what symbols Toronto Cardinal Leo may have had in mind when he warned Catholics against using “symbols contrary to God’s divine revelation.”
Western Standard: Finally, a win for veteran pro-life campaigner Linda Gibbons
“A 76-year-old grandmother spent more time behind bars than many violent offenders — for silently holding a sign near an abortion clinic.”
SaskToday: Proposed charitable status changes spark debate
“A recent parliamentary report has ignited debate over charitable status regulations in Canada, with faith-based and pro-life organizations at the centre of the discussion…Yorkton-Melville Conservative MP Cathay Wagantall has sponsored an electronic petition opposing the proposals. House of Commons e-Petition 6586 calls on the government to reject the Finance Committee’s recommendations.”
CBC: London group to screen documentary on what it did to ban graphic anti-abortion flyers
Comment: This is too funny! Abortion activists made a documentary celebrating their “victory” over pro-life flyers in London, Ontario the same week that legal action was launched to overturn the bylaw. The story isn’t over—but the credits are already rolling!
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition: New bill would ban expansion of euthanasia to Canadians suffering mental illness
“If passed no one would be eligible for MAID for mental illness alone.”
Campaign Life Coalition: Keep Ontario schools porn-free and safe
“Do you know if the children in your life have access to pornographic or sexually-explicit books at their schools?”
Western Standard: Quebec announces prison placement will be based off anatomical sex
“Public Security Minister François Bonnardel has announced that Quebec will be placing inmates into prison according to their anatomical sex.”
Portage Online: Manitoba Pro-life Pregnancy Care Centre sees rising demand for services
“The Prairie Pregnancy Support Centre (PPSC) in Portage la Prairie continues to grow as more families reach out for support during and after pregnancy.”
Comment: This is the kind of centre where the federal government threatens to strip away charitable status with budget recommendation 429.
LifeNews: US Supreme Court rules states can defund Planned Parenthood
“The Supreme Court has ruled 6-3 that South Carolina has the right to defund the Planned Parenthood abortion business.”
Unplanned Stories: She was unexpectedly pregnant — but God used her pregnancy to save her life from stage 4 cancer
“She was diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin lymphoma while pregnant with her unplanned baby and started chemotherapy at 12 weeks pregnant. She has been cancer-free for over a year.”
Live Action: An easy route to judicial bypass led her to a secret abortion that haunted her for years
“It’s vital that pro-life Christians break the stigma and extend compassion to those who are suffering as a result of abortion.”
Campaign Life Coalition
Pro-life Canadian Man
Abby Johnson
US pro-life advocates just dropped 392,715 diapers on Capitol Hill—one for every life Planned Parenthood ended last year. It's the Nation’s Largest Diaper Drive! Their rallying cry: "Defund Planned Parenthood, and support families who choose Life!" How awesome is that?
Sign our new petition to keep Ontario schools porn-free and safe. Click here.
However, the editorial also cautioned against drawing too specific an inference from the Cardinal’s call to avoid “symbols that are contrary to God’s divine revelation.” It suggested that interpreting his remarks as a rebuke of certain contemporary June symbols—like the “Pride” flag—might be an overreach.
I offer an alternative view.
Cardinal Leo's message was posted June 1, just as debates were emerging about the appropriateness of flying non-Catholic symbols—particularly “Pride” flags—at Catholic schools and institutions. The timing, combined with his clear call to return to authentically Catholic imagery, invites reflection on how these public symbols interact with Church teaching.
Consider the Cardinal’s own words:
“We need to make sure that the symbols we use are consistent with our Catholic faith and not borrowed from ideological fora, promoted by lobby groups and endorsed by political movements… We do good to use our own symbols to tell our own story without resorting to trendy, misguided and inadequate symbols that do not represent us as Catholics but rather contribute to confusion, distortions and ambiguities about what the Catholic faith truly teaches regarding the human person, human nature, and natural moral law.”
Surely, if there is any time of year when Catholics are confronted with such “trendy” and “ideological” symbols, it is the month of June. “Pride” flags, crosswalks, parades exalting questionable sexual ideology, and rainbow messaging are everywhere—sometimes even in Catholic classrooms. The Cardinal may not have named these explicitly, but it is difficult to imagine that they were far from his mind.
Catholic News Agency certainly made the connection in a June 2 piece titled Toronto Cardinal Leo tells Catholics to avoid using ‘symbols that do not represent us’. The article places the Cardinal’s message in the context of the month of June where “people gather…to hold parades and parties that celebrate the LGBTQ+ community.”
Of course, it is fair to warn against reducing the Cardinal’s message to a single political critique. He is urging us to contemplate the Sacred Heart as the true symbol of hope, love, and endurance. But Christian witness requires clarity—and sometimes saying what we do stand for also means gently inferring what we don’t.
Symbols matter, as the Cardinal reminds us. As Christians, we should use ours to tell the true story of our faith. And yes, that means saying no to others.
Be bold and daring for life!
Pete Baklinski
Director of Communications
Campaign Life Coalition
Follow Pete on X: @petebaklinski