News

Michael and Barbara, participants of the Vigil 365 - Photo: Joanne of Arc

By Joanne of Arc for Quebec Life Coalition

We hear a lot about the importance of creating good habits for a healthy and balanced life, such as taking a walk, eating well or going to bed at the same time. For most of us, we put a lot of effort into having a better quality of life. But how many people really care about life? I am referring to life at one of its most vulnerable stages: at the moment of conception.

Every morning of the year, a Vigil is held near the Berri-UQAM metro station. It was initiated in February 2020 by its organizer Brian Jenkins. People meet to pray for life and honor the unborn. In this case, it is not just a weekly good habit, but an important discipline in their spiritual lives.

In addition to praying together, the participants of the Vigil are often approached for a discussion. Sometimes, the people that are passing by are open-minded and want to understand what the participants are saying, at other times the discussions are rather difficult or even turn into personal accusations.

I had the opportunity to attend Vigil 365 and observe the interactions that took place during one morning this week. The participants also took a moment to chat with me and explain their motivations.

Michael attends the Vigil because he believes abortion is a grave injustice. He shared this with me: "There are many injustices that take place around the world, but most of them don't happen where I live. So this is something I can and should be involved in where I live. "

As to why the group chose this hectic location to pray, he tells me, "This corner we're on is kind of a contradiction in itself. There is an abortion clinic at the end of this street, around the other corner is UQAM University which is one of the most liberal universities in Montreal, and on the other side is the gay village which promotes promiscuity."

Ironically, there is also the beautiful Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes chapel in front of the UQAM University building, adorned with a golden statue of the Virgin Mary, which is in the center of all this activity.

By Joanne of Arc (Quebec Life Coalition) - Photo: Rawpixel.com/Adobe Stock

Catherine Levesque published an article on October 11, 2022 in the National Post. She reports that the Quebec College of Physicians is being criticized by advocacy groups for proposing that euthanasia for critically ill newborns be made legal.

So far, Canada has refused to extend assisted dying to children under the age of 18, although consideration has been given to making it available to "mature minors". Then, in a recent presentation made by Dr. Louis Roy for the Quebec College of Physicians to the House of Commons Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID), the federal government of Canada was urged to adopt a protocol to allow euthanasia of seriously ill infants.

Levesque states: Dr. Roy's organization believes that MAID may be appropriate for infants up to one year of age, who are born with "severe malformations" and "severe and life-threatening syndromes" for which their "prospective of survival is virtually null".

In the same article, Krista Carr, Executive Vice-President of Inclusion Canada, expressed being alarmed at Roy's recommendation that Canada legalize euthanasia for children with disabilities under the age of one.

Mrs. Carr added: "Canada cannot begin killing babies when doctors predict there is no hope for them. Predictions are far too often based on discriminatory assumptions about living with a disability. "

She also said: "An infant cannot consent to their own death. That isn't MAID, it's murder. And providing MAID to a person who cannot consent is a standard that is wildly dangerous for all persons with intellectual disabilities in Canada."

By Georges Buscemi, president of Quebec Life Coalition — Photo: Freepik

Subject: Brief ─ Special Joint Committee on "Medical Assistance in Dying"

+JMJ+
May 9, 2022
BY EMAIL: [email protected]
Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying
Parliament of Canada

Dear Committee Members:

Quebec Life Coalition is pleased to provide the following comments to the Special Joint Committee to assist them in fulfilling their mandate to conduct a comprehensive review of the "medical assistance in dying" (MAID) provisions of the Criminal Code as set out in Bill C-7.

We are fundamentally opposed to the introduction and any expansion of MAID, particularly because MAID violates the spirit of the preamble to the Canadian Constitution: "Whereas Canada is founded on principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law." We believe that this preamble needs to be re-emphasized in our law schools in particular and in the culture in general, so that our society can reverse the strong tendency for the laws of our country to increasingly reflect the interests of the powerful rather than the expression of truth, justice and the defence of the weak.

Quebec Life Coalition is a Quebec association that works in concert with any individual or association of good will to establish a Christian society that protects faith, family and life from conception to natural death. Like the framers of the Constitution Act of 1982, we, as an organization, acknowledge that a just society requires the recognition of God ─ by individuals as well as by the authorities responsible for the common good ─ as the ultimate author and guarantor of laws.

Unfortunately, the preamble to the Constitution Act, 1982 is now considered obsolete by some, in a so-called increasingly "secular" age. Madam Justice Southin, in her 1999 decision in R. v. Sharpe, characterized the preamble as a "dead letter". An appeal of that decision and its ruling in the Supreme Court never challenged that characterization. The 1991 O'Sullivan v. Canada (M.N.R.) decision weakened the meaning of this preamble by explaining that it now has only one function: to prevent Canada from becoming officially atheist, as the USSR was and Communist China is today.

By Joanne of Arc (Quebec Life Coalition) - Photo: Google/Facebook

CTV News shares the sad story of a 66-year-old Lachine man who asked his doctor for "medical assistance in dying", or assisted suicide, due to the lack of care from his Local community services centres (CLSC) in the Dorval-Lachine borough.

Jacques Comeau is a retired art therapist who suffers from quadriplegia and uses a wheelchair. His disease is a paralysis that affects more or less all four limbs of the body (arms and legs). It involves the loss of muscular functions and sensations, to a variable degree, of the affected limbs. Despite his condition, Mr. Comeau is an independent and active man in the community. He drives, runs his own errands, volunteers and paints in his spare time, according to the CTV News report.

In addition, until now, Mr. Comeau had access to health care at home that had allowed him to live a full and happy life. Unfortunately, this summer, his local health center (CLSC) underwent changes that have had a serious impact on Comeau's daily life. He needs the assistance of caregivers who come 3 times a week to help him clear his bowel. However, for the past month, Mr. Comeau has been experiencing difficulties with the new caregivers, who are unfamiliar with his body and care for him incorrectly, causing him to have bowel accidents at unexpected times of the day. As a result, he can no longer function as he used to because he is constantly preoccupied with his accidents.

Mr. Comeau's case is obviously serious, but why did he rush to assisted suicide? It is because it is an option available to him. It seems that Mr. Comeau's problems, which have only been going on for a month, could be solved in ways other than by a hasty death. Moreover, if he opts for euthanasia, there may be no change in the health care system in Quebec.

In the same vein, might this man be suffering from depression because of the discomforts he has been experiencing for the past month and which would lead him to this drastic decision? Or could it be that he was influenced by the discussion he had with his doctor? If this is a case of a man who is otherwise active, but chooses assisted suicide, we are witnessing a society that is not solving the core problem: that of having a better health service.

By Joanne of Arc (Quebec Life Coalition) - Photo: Kelly Block's Facebook page

About a week ago, Kelly Block addressed all pro-lifers in a Campaign Life TV video, asking them to support her Bill C-230, the Conscience Protection Act.

Unfortunately, on October 5, 2022, MP Kelly Block's bill was defeated by a vote of 203 to 115 in the Ottawa Parliament, despite the support of the vast majority of Conservative MPs as reported by La Presse.

The bill was intended to protect the freedom of conscience of health care professionals faced with requests for "medical assistance in dying". It was intended to amend the Criminal Code to allow health professionals not to participate "directly or indirectly" in assisted suicides (euthanasia).

If Bill C-230 had been passed, it would have been illegal to intimidate or fire a health care professional who refuses to perform euthanasia or refer a patient to another health care professional.

This vote comes at a time when requests for euthanasia are becoming increasingly common in Canada, for reasons that include financial problems or mental health issues (which can be resolved).

The Life Chain, a pro-life demonstration organized in Montreal on Sunday, October 2nd near the Namur metro station.

By Joanne of Arc (Quebec Life Coalition) - Photo: Joanne of Arc

On Sunday afternoon, October 2nd, Quebec Life Coalition organized an annual event called the Life Chain.

Each year, on the first Sunday of October, pro-life activists gather to form anti-abortion prayer chains in Canada and the United States. Their goal is to share a message in support of the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death. In Montreal, the Life Chain has been organized since 1991, while in the United States it began in 1987. In 1990, Campaign Life Coalition began this activity in Canada.

Sunday's demonstration in Montreal took place near the Namur metro station, at the corner of Décarie Boulevard and Jean-Talon Street. On that sunny day, the group numbered about 20 people, both men and women, holding signs with messages in French and English such as:

• "Abortion kills children"
• "Yes to adoption"
• "Jesus forgives and heals"
• "Pray for an end to abortion"

I was happy to read this morning that Pierre Poilievre, the new leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, had finally published his list of “shadow ministers”, that is, the members of parliament in the opposition Conservative party who will be criticizing the work of the Liberal ministers currently in power.

But what really delighted me was seeing that Leslyn Lewis, the fully pro-life and pro-family leadership candidate for the Conservative Party, who ultimately lost to Pierre Poilievre, had been picked as “shadow minister” for infrastructure and communities, which means that, beyond her work representing her constituents in her riding of Haldimand—Norfolk, she will be constructively criticizing the work of Liberal minister of infrastructure Dominic Leblanc.

Dr. Leslyn Lewis, MP

And Dr. Lewis isn’t the only pro-lifer to be named “shadow minister” by Poilievre—not by a long shot (see the document I prepared, here). These positions, which often translate into minister positions once a party comes into power, have been given by Poilievre to as many as 21 bona fide pro-lifers within the Conservative Party’s ranks. That’s a full 30% of the 71 shadow minister or associate shadow minister positions. Many of the remaining positions are filled by people who are rated by us as “unsure” since we lack info on them. Rounding out the total are 19 “pro-abortion” Conservatives, or 17% of the total. We must work to get these people to adopt pro-life views or get out.

This is good news for at least 2 reasons:

First, this shows that Pierre Poilievre is listening to his socially conservative base. He knows that we pro-faith, pro-family and pro-life voters wanted Leslyn and other pro-lifers in his inner circle. And he delivered, which is a refreshing contrast to the previous leader, Erin O’Toole, who instead chose to throw Leslyn to the backbenches and kick another strong pro-lifer, Derek Sloan, out of the party altogether!

Second, as I mentioned above, these positions are often testing grounds for a Member of Parliament’s ability to work at a high level. If and when the Conservatives come into power (thanks to the NDP-Liberal agreement, the next federal election is slated for 2025), these so-called “shadow ministers” may become real ministers, with real budgets.

And pro-life ministers can use their ministry’s budgets for good, rather than for promoting abortion, LGBT ideology, secularism and euthanasia.

In the coming days and weeks, we will be working to craft memoranda for each of the pro-life and even “unsure” shadow minister MPs, so that they can be guided to maximize the good they can do, first as “shadow ministers” (or critics of the pro-abortion Liberal ministers in power), and then, hopefully, as true ministers with a budget to do much good for faith, family and life in Canada and abroad.

Yours for Life,

Georges Buscemi, President
Quebec Life Coalition / Campagne Québec-Vie

By Joanne of Arc (Quebec Life Coalition) - Photo: Joanne of Arc

In Montreal, on Wednesday, September 28, there was an exclusive screening of the film "CHSLD - Je me souviens" [LTC Homes – I remember] directed by Sylvain Laforest, about the 6,700 victims in Private senior's residence (RPA) who were seriously affected from spring 2020 to spring 2021.

People finally met in a resto-bar to discuss, eat and drink, regardless of their vaccination status. After two years of terror and trauma imposed by the government during the state of emergency created during the pandemic, the "Macarons de la Dignité" group facilitated a memorable gathering that allowed people to remember the elders who were brutally mistreated during the confinement periods imposed during the pandemic.

The magnitude of what happened to the elderly, who were in a capacity deficit in our society during this time of crisis, requires an independent commission of inquiry. The documentary brings to light through several testimonies the abominable way in which people at the end of their lives were treated in Long Term Care Homes (homes for the aged).

To go into detail, although it is difficult to share, the seniors in the LTC Homes were denied water for 10 days so that they would not fill their diapers. Then they were denied vitamins C and D. Finally, they were neglected when their mouths were full of vomit and their diapers were full. The nursing homes floors were empty of staff members and those who were present were overwhelmed with their responsibilities. Many of the decisions that were made under these circumstances lacked empathy and humanity towards the residents.

For example, one account in the documentary tells us of a senior who was locked in his room with several padlocks placed on his door, as if he was an animal in a cage. The elder in question resisted with all his physical abilities and destroyed the padlocks by forcing them. Imposing all this for the sake of public health and safety?

What about the mental health of the residents of these centers? They could not even walk to get some fresh air, see or touch their loved ones, and the only activity they were allowed was to watch television, which did nothing but talk about the virus and spread fear 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

In the documentary, retired professor, ex-psychologist and author Lucie Mandeville talks about this fear. Fear is one of the strongest emotions in human beings that will create traumas in the individual. People at the end of their lives in LTC Homes have not only been neglected, but traumatized. These are serious consequences to which we have turned a blind eye.

This week, there is some good news and some bad news coming out of Quebec. The Quebec General elections were held this Monday, and with little surprise, the CAQ, Coalition Avenir Quebec, won another majority government with 41% of the popular vote and 72% of the seats. That’s the bad news. The CAQ is a completely secular party that has filled the void of the lack of conservatism in Quebec. The CAQ is seen by many Quebecers as a lifeboat for preserving Quebec identity and culture in increasingly turbulent times, which accounts for its popularity. Until just before this election season, it was the most right-wing party in Quebec.

But here's the good news…

With the return of a viable Conservative party of Quebec for the first time since the 70’s, there is reason to hope. The newly revived Conservative Party of Quebec captured 13% of the popular vote (up from a mere 1.5% last election). Even though it did not win a single seat in the National Assembly (finishing in 2nd place in many ridings), there is little doubt that their popularity will continue to increase. The rapid surge of the Conservative party of Quebec in the past months, under the leadership of Eric Duhaime, is giving new political opportunities for pro-life, pro-family and pro-God ideas to return to the barren political landscape of Quebec. Even though the leader, Eric Duhaime, identifies himself as homosexual, there is a way forward. Just like Pierre Poilievre is opposed to our pro-life beliefs, there are great opportunities within both the federal Conservative party and the Quebec Provincial Conservative party.

The pro-life movement cannot neglect its political arm. As pro-lifers, we cannot ignore the political reality that we live in. I know so many of you really care for the unborn and are already working hard to protect life in other fields, that is great! Thank you!!! But on top of involvement in other pro-life activities, every able pro-lifer also needs to do the minimum for the political branch of the pro-life movement. If you vote in general elections, that’s good, but that is not enough. The minimum, I recommend, is to hold an active membership in both a federal and provincial political party where you can assert your influence. 

And this is what I ask of pro-lifers in Quebec and anywhere else:

Become a member of a political party. Both a federal party, and a provincial party. Whatever your opinion about our political system, by getting involved, we can make a difference. For politically active pro-lifers in the rest of Canada, you may be surprised to know that here in Quebec, Conservative riding associations usually have less than 100 members, and only a fraction of them are active. At the last AGM (annual general meeting) in my riding, I was one of 4 voting members. Imagine how much a single church community or a group of pro-life friends can accomplish by getting active with numbers like this! 

In the next 2-3 years, we at Quebec Life Coalition plan on identifying pro-life candidates so that in every riding in Quebec, pro-lifers can, in good conscience, vote for a candidate who properly represents their values. Ideally, we would like that these candidates be in a political party where they will have the largest influence and the largest chance to get elected. For this end, we also need to find good people to support these candidates when they present themselves. If a candidate was to be selected at the AGM where only a few voting members are present, those few can decide on whose name is on the ballot. This is the reason for membership in political parties. 

I cannot go into any more detail as this e-mail is already longer than it should. But should you have any questions, please send me an e-mail. I will be very happy to have a conversation with you. This is my job: to help pro-lifers understand how they can have an impact for life through politics. 

In closing, I would like to thank all our generous donors who have helped us surpass our fundraising goals. As of today, our fundraising campaign raised 16489.00$. These funds will go a long way in advancing the fight for life in Quebec. 


Arpad Nagy
Director of Political Operations

P.S. Kelly Block's Bill C-230, the Freedom of conscience bill should be happening soon. If you have not yet contacted your member of parliament to encourage them to vote yes to the bill, please call the member of parliament in your riding. Find their contact information here.

P.P.S. My colleague Brian Jenkins is organizing another 40 days for life in Sherbrooke, please join him in person, if you can, or in prayer.

If you haven't already, this is your LAST CHANCE to donate to our fall 2022 fundraising campaign.
We have $1,565 left to raise. Please donate today if you can >>

Good news this week with the election in Italy of a conservative coalition at the head of which will most likely be placed, as Prime Minister, Georgia Meloni, the leader of the "Brothers of Italy" party. Meloni is a strong woman who does not hesitate to denounce the pro-abortion and anti-Christian elite in the West, as she reminds us of the need to stand up to these ideologues who want to indoctrinate our children with LGBTXYZ nonsense and promote limitless abortion.

Watch this lady speak during a speech for a pro-life conference in Italy in 2019:

Read her words carefully, they are worth pondering:

"Why is the family an enemy [for our opponents]? Why is the family so scary? Because it defines us. Because it is our identity. Because everything that defines us is now an enemy for those who would like us to have no identity. Whether we are simply perfect slaves or consumers. And so they attack national identity, they attack religious identity, they attack gender identity, they attack family identity.

I cannot define myself as a Christian, an Italian, a woman, a mother. No. I must be citizen X, gender X, parent 1, parent 2… I must only be a number. Because when I'm just a number, I won't have any identity or roots. Then I will be a perfect slave at the mercy of financial speculators. The perfect consumer.

And that is why we inspire so much fear in them. This is why this event [a pro-life conference] today inspires so much fear. It's because we don't want to be numbers. Because we defend the value of the human being, of each human being. Because each of us has a unique genetic code that is not reproducible. And whether we like it or not, it's sacred.

We will defend it. We will defend God, country and family. Those things that disgust those people so much. We will do it to defend our freedom, because we will never be slaves or mere consumers at the mercy of financial speculators. This is our mission. That's why I came here today. Chesterton wrote more than a century ago: “Fires will be kindled to testify that two and two are four. Swords will be drawn to show that the leaves are green in summer”. This moment has arrived. And we are ready! ". (source)

Of course, she's been given, and will be given every possible label: supporter of fascist leader Benito Mussolini, radical right-winger, etc. Don't be swayed by this, and above all don't expect the people in power and their anti-Christian, pro-abortion, pro-LGBT, pro-euthanasia, media mouthpieces to welcome politicians who, like Meloni, want to fight the evils of our time.

At Quebec Life Coalition, we salute Meloni's commitment to fighting the Culture of Death that attacks family and faith, and we encourage her to persevere against the relentless attacks of her adversaries, who are also ours.

We are at the end of our fundraising campaign for fall 2022; we are at 90% of our goal. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to everyone who contributed. However, we still have $1,565 to go. Now is the time to give if you haven't had the chance to contribute yet.

If you can, please donate today.

Yours for Life,

Georges Buscemi, President
Quebec Life Coalition / Campagne Québec-Vie