Canada marches to international abortion drum.

Liberals take their cue from population control extremists

At the February 1999 two-day meeting in Hull, PQ, organized by the Canadian government, it was difficult to tell who was running the show--the government or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) advocating population control.

The Department of National Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) organized a meeting of government officials and NGOs on February 1 and 2 to seek recommendations for Canada to bring to the Cairo+5 meeting in June of this year. The recommendations would also be raised at preliminary meetings in the Hague later in February and in New York in March. The Feb. 1-2 meeting followed a series of consultative sessions and public forums which took place across the country (Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax) in November and December of 1998.

It is clear from the government's close working relationship with population control/pro-abortion groups in this process that the Liberals do not intend to revisit issues of concern to pro-family Canadians. They have made up their mind to advance abortion rights and confidential sex education for minors as well as other provocative and controversial ideas about economic growth and the environment.

Planned Parenthood given major role

DFAIT commissioned a new proabortion group, Action Canada for Population and Development, to do much of the ground work for them. ACPD is an affiliate to Planned Parenthood, operating out of the same address in Ottawa.

Katherine McDonald, executive director of ACPD, was a former executive member of the Planned Parenthood Federation of Canada (PPFD) and is still listed as their legal counsel. Ms. McDonald told attendees at the meeting in Hull that they were responsible for selecting the groups to take part in the November-December consultative discussions. Moreover, she noted that ACPD chose only organizations that were interested in moving the Cairo agenda forward. This criterion automatically excludes all pro-life and pro-family organizations.

No credibility to public participation claim

Each city held a "public forum" supposedly to solicit the views of the public and thus to give the impression that they were interested in diverse viewpoints. A pro-family representative at the meeting yesterday, however, noted that a total of only 62 members of the "general public" showed up at these meetings--in Montreal, only one individual.

What about the impression that these proceedings were democratic and representative? The spokesman for DFAIT who facilitated the opening plenary session on the second day of proceedings suggested that the presence of Liberal MP Jean Augustine (Etobicoke, pro-abortion), in her capacity as chair of the group "Parliamentarians for Population and Development", represented "direct democracy" because it is a multiparty group. Pro-lifers could perhaps argue that "direct democracy" would require the participation of at least one member of the Parliamentary Pro-Life Caucus.

CIDA funding for coercive population control

Several pro-family advocates were accepted at the meetings, however, including representatives from Campaign Life Coalition, REAL Women, St. Joseph Workers for Life and Family, Human Life International, Women for Life, Faith and Family, and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. They raised objections to the recommendations on abortion, family planning, and "confidential" sex education of children and adolescents. Some repeatedly challenged CIDA for funding coercive population control programs in China, Peru and Bangladesh.

Pro-family forces also repeatedly reminded attendees that the Cairo Platform of Action includes the requirement that the Cairo agenda respect each individual state's laws, customs, and values. However, they lacked the votes necessary to defeat any formal recommendations to push forward the pro-abortion and anti-family components of the Cairo agenda.

CIDA representatives repeatedly denied the allegations of funding coercive family planning programs; nevertheless, the allegations generated concern among a number of participants who asked the pro-family reps for material substantiating the claims. One pro-family source said that an attendee who was pro-abortion but opposed to coercive population control asked them to keep pressing the point because she was dissatisfied with CIDA's response. She told this pro-life rep that she could not raise the issue herself because of her close relationship with the department.

Abortions contradict Cairo agreement 

In the working group on reproductive rights, Bonnie Johnson, executive director of Planned Parenthood of Canada, insisted that discussion on advancing the Cairo agenda be based on the Platform of Action instead of contradicting it, a point that received general support among the group. This principle, however, was uniquely tossed aside in the debate over abortion. The Platform states specifically that abortion should not be advanced as a method of family planning. The working group, however, recommended with a vote of 17 to 5 that Canada make it a priority to promote "safe, legal abortion" at the upcoming UN meetings on population and development.

The representative from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) joined with pro-family participants to oppose this recommendation. Overall, however, pro-family forces found the participation of the CCCB greatly wanting. For example, in the debate over abortion, while pro-lifers were expressing vigorous opposition to it, the CCCB representative simply called on the group to dismiss the issue; in other words, ignore it.

Another participant who identified himself as a United Church minister supported the advancement of abortion rights. He claimed that the fact that "the largest Protestant denomination in Canada" permits abortion is a point worth considering. Trying to weaken the impact of Catholic opposition to abortion, he also claimed that the pro-abortion group calling itself Catholics for Free Choice represents a large constituency of pro-abortion Catholics. (Editor: In reality, it is a corporation-financed front, without members at all.)

Government surrenders national sovereignty

There was further evidence at the meeting that the UN is running the show, with Canada following their lead instead of exerting national sovereignty. One pro-family participant asked Adele Dion, the head spokesman on UN activities for DFAIT, which NGOs would be on the Canadian delegation to New York in March. Ms. Dion said that they did not yet know, the reason being that the UN had not yet told them what the priority issues would be. These issues would determine the expertise needed on the Canadian delegation, she said.

In the meantime, the participants at the recent meeting voted in favour of a motion to recommend to the government that ACPD's Katherine McDonald be the only NGO representative on this week's Hague delegation (which is a group of four individuals, three being representatives of CIDA, DFAIT, and Health Canada). Pro-family attendees, of course, voted against the recommendation.