Participants in the Quebec City March for Life carrying a banner of the Virgin Mary. - Photo: Augustin Hamilton

By Father Francis Michael de Rosa

On the First of June 2024, Quebec City witnessed an historic moment when it hosted its first ever “Marche pour la Vie” (March for Life).

The organization behind the event was Campagne Québec-Vie, which in my purview is exceptional for its distinctively Catholic perspective on the “life issues” of such grave concern for modern society.

Not only does the Campagne seek an end to abortion, but it explicitly opposes the other evils on the spectrum threats to human life and human love: from contraception to euthanasia and all the malice in between. These evils are sibling symptoms of a false anthropology disoriented by neo-dualism, and they must be recognized as such by the pro-life movement in order definitively to reset the moral order according to human nature and right reason adequately understood. Can we honestly envision an abortion-free yet contracepting society?

Can there really be a freedom loving nation that attacks its own people? The hydra of sins against life and love must be cut off at the neck effectively to re-boot the moral order.

Notably, Campagne Québec-Vie is consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary in union with the Most Chaste Heart of Joseph. The union of the “Three Hearts” comprising the Holy Family are the mystical community of love that formed the Holy Family at Nazareth, which in turn is the mystical archetype of the Holy Catholic Church. As such “Nazareth” is the home which is open to receiving all of mankind.

Furthermore, Campagne Québec-Vie calls for the reestablishment of the Social Reign of Christ the King, a seldom heard expression in our current idolatrous saeculum. In other words, it comprehends that a properly ordered society without God (most explicitly, without Christ Who is God Incarnate) is not truly attainable. This is because man without God is nothing but an orphan-victim who easily falls prey to satanic forces that prowl about the world looking for someone to devour.

Media Advisory

A historic first: March for Life in Quebec City on June 1

Quebec City, May 27, 2024 - This Saturday, June 1, will mark a historic moment for Quebec City, with the first-ever March for Life in the province. This event joins the ranks of Marches for Life organised worldwide, including the one in Ottawa - founded 27 years ago - which brought together thousands of demonstrators on Parliament Hill on May 9, and the one in Washington D.C., founded in 1974, which drew nearly 100,000 participants in January.

The Quebec City March for Life is intended to be a festive, family-friendly event, while addressing serious issues with far-reaching consequences for Quebec society: attacks on human life such as abortion and euthanasia, often referred to by the euphemisms "voluntary interruption of pregnancy" and "medical aid in dying" respectively.

"It's high time Quebec had its own March for Life," says Georges Buscemi, President of Quebec Life Coalition, the organisation organising the event. "A society that wants to show solidarity with the marginalised and vulnerable cannot continue to ignore the unborn children targeted by abortion, who are the most vulnerable and ignored people there are.”

Organisers are expecting hundreds of pro-life demonstrators from across the province. The rally will start at 11am at the Tourny Fountain, opposite the Quebec National Assembly. Musical entertainment will precede the speeches, which will begin at noon and end at 1pm, when the march through the streets of Quebec City will begin. The march will conclude at the National Assembly, where, from 3pm, testimonies from women and men affected by the abortion issue will be presented. The annual event will end at 4pm.

Dr. Paul Saba, a family doctor in Montreal, will be present at the event, accompanied by two sisters in their thirties who will share their experiences of imminent abortions on the operating table and their decisions to keep their babies at the last minute. Dr. Saba believes that mothers who want to have children should be supported. "It's a question of social justice. Mothers should not be pushed into having abortions because they lack financial, social and psychological support. We must guarantee them affordable housing, reasonable incomes and food security."

For more information on the March for Life in Quebec City, please visit www.marchepourlavie.quebec and www.cqv.qc.ca.

Media contact :
Georges Buscemi
President of Quebec Life Coalition
(514) 928-4819; [email protected]

 Fr. Vaillancourt, the pastor of the Cathedral Marie-Reine-du-Monde in Montreal— Photo: Joanne Of Arc

By Joanne of Arc for Quebec Life Coalition 

Father Alain Vaillancourt, pastor of the Cathedral Marie-Reine-du-Monde in Montreal, agreed to speak with Quebec Life Coalition about March for Life.

Each year, the Cathedral encourages youth to participate in the March to promote a culture of life in Quebec.

Along with Brian Jenkins, Vice President of Quebec Life Coalition, the three of us sat down for a brief chat before attending mass at the Cathedral which was offered in support of the 40 Days for Life vigil beginning February 22, 2023.

Joanne for QLC: Brian told me that you are a frequent participant in the March for Life?

Father Alain Vaillancourt: Ah, yes, I've attended several times!

Joanne for QLC: Do you know how many Marches for Life have you participated in?

Father Alain Vaillancourt: I haven't counted them!  However, I have been going to them since I have been at the Cathedral... so for over 10 years, I must have done at least five. My goal is to go every two years.

Joanne for QLC: Why is it a priority for you to attend the March for Life? We know that priests are very busy...

Father Alain Vaillancourt: Thursday is my day off!

[We share a moment of laughter].

Joanne for QLC: Always?

Father Alain Vaillancourt: Yes!

[We continue to laugh together]  

Joanne for QLC: It's good timing then! What did you think of your last walk?

This past Sunday I was warmly welcomed by Cornwall's pro-life community as I travelled there to take part in their annual March fo Life and Annual General Meeting.

Under sunny skies, the afternoon began when Gale Barr, head of Pro-Life Cornwall Pro-Vie, gathered the thirty or so of us in prayer before the entrance of the Charles-Émile Claude Centre before leading us thrugh the streets of Cornwall. At the head of the march, she was accompanied by her husband as well as a fourth degree Knight of Columbus.

Walking in pairs, we followed behind. Deacon Christopher Chisholm introduced himself to me and accompanied me for the forty-minute, 1.6 km walk.

Back at the recreation centre, the AGM was presided by Ms. Barr. In addition to reports by the secretary and financial officer and the election of new board members, there was a surprise addition to the agenda - me!

Ms. Joan Lemieux, office manager for Pro-Life Cornwall, invited me to say a few words about our work here in Quebec. With delight, I accepted and after briefly outlining the history of QLC, I spoke about a few of our current projects - such as outreach into the community, 40 Days for Life prayer vigils, and sidewalk counselling.

The meeting ended with a presentation by Ms. Anastasia Bowles, Special Projects Coordinator wiith Life Canada. I gathered from her thirty-minute power-point presentation that Life Canada produces national campaigns promoting adoption. Venues in which their adds run include buses, bus shelters, and in the general media.

By 4 p.m. the meeting had ended and I was making my way back to Montreal.

A story appears in the local paper - The Cornwall Standard Freeholder.

P.S.  The AGM began with the following prayer:

Prayer for the Unborn

Heavenly Father, in Your love for us, protect against the wickedness of the devil, those helpless little ones to whom You have given the gift of life.

Touch with pity the hearts of those women pregnant in our world today who are not thinking of motherhood.

Help them to see that the child they carry is made in Your image - as well as theirs - made for eternal life.

Dispel their fear and selfishness and give them true womanly hearts to love their babies and give them birth and all the needed care that a mother can give.

We ask this through Jesus Christ, your Son, Our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One God, forever and ever. Amen.

Hi,

For the March for Life on May 10th, Quebec Life Coalition has decided to accelerate its bus departure to Ottawa.

Please note the following changes: we will leave from Central Station at 7 a.m., and there will be a second stop at Fairview Shopping Centre at 7:30 a.m. Thank-you!

Thursday, May 10, 2012

--7a.m.: departure by bus for Ottawa (point of departure: Central Station, 895, de la Gauchetière West, Montréal, QC, H3B 4G1). 

--7:30a.m.: second point of departure at Fairview Shopping Centre (6815 TransCanada Highway, Pointe-Claire, QC, H9R 1C4).

The following figures and anecdotes, I find, are pretty encouraging:

• Paris March for Life: On Sunday, January 22, 17 000 showed up, including three bishops, for the eighth French March for Life. The laity were encouraged by 32 French bishops to attend. L'abbé Loddé, formerly of Quebec City, was in attendance and was interviewed by the press.
• On Saturday, January 21, over 40 000 attended the seventh West Coast March for Life in San Francisco.
• On Monday, in D.C. several hundred thousand people gathered for the annual March for life. A powerful video is presented below.
• Next, in Hungary over 100 000 gathered this past week in support of the Prime Minister who is under pressure from his European counterparts for Hungary's adoption of a pro-life constitution. Poland and the Ukraine are the lone European governments supporting the government of Viktor Orban. Your prayers are needed as this nation is particularly vulnerable right now as it negotiates debt relief with the European Union. 
• Finally, on a lighter side, in today's Journal de Montréal, editorialist J. Jacques Samson, commenting on the lamentable state of the Quebec's health care system is calling for a return to hospitals run by religious communities. Tongue in cheek, he states that under the nuns Quebec enjoyed responsible admiistrators, physicians commensurately paid with their peers in the other provinces as well as their participation in the management of the institutions, including the finances.