Conservative MP Viersen Asks March for Life Participants to Push Back Against ‘Culture of Death’

OTTAWA—As thousands of people gathered on Parliament Hill for the 29th annual March for Life rally to push for an end to abortion and euthanasia, Conservative MP Arnold Viersen called for participants to “choose life.”

“We stand here today in proud solidarity with our fellow citizens who are rallying across this country, calling for a renewed commitment to uphold the dignity of human life, from conception to natural death. We roundly reject this culture of death,” Viersen said to the audience alongside two of his children on May 14.

Viersen expressed hope that Conservative MP Tamara Jansen’s Bill C-218, which would exclude all mental disorders from eligibility for euthanasia, would pass in the House of Commons. He also called for the passage of Bill C-260, Conservative MP Garnett Genuis’s private bill that would prohibit government bureaucrats from proactively suggesting medical assistance in dying (MAID) to individuals.

Viersen also called for Prime Minister Mark Carney to “support a culture of life in Canada” and for all federal party leaders to “stop muzzling their MPs and allow your members the right to vote their conscience.” The Conservative Party allows its MPs to vote freely on issues related to abortion, while the other parties do not.

The March for Life rally, organized by the Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), took place exactly 57 years after abortion was legalized in Canada, which the event’s organizers call the “day of infamy.” The passage of Bill C-150 decriminalized abortion as long as three or more doctors gave approval, which has led to more than 4.5 million Canadians being aborted.

Demonstrators, motivated by this year’s theme of “Follow Me” in reference to the Bible passage Matthew 4:19-20, gathered on Parliament Hill for speeches and prayers. They then marched through downtown Ottawa carrying signs with slogans like, “Life is a gift from God,” “1/3 of my generation lost to abortion genocide,” and “where have all our children gone?”

A few dozen counter-protesters also arrived on Parliament Hill and faced off against the group, holding signs that said, “Abortion is safe,” “Stop faith-based bigotry.” Liberal MP Bruce Fanjoy joined the counter-protesters, holding a sign that said, “reproductive rights are human rights.”

Expanding Euthanasia a ‘Nightmare for Canada’

CLC Communications Director Pete Baklinski told The Epoch Times that the annual march is held to “demand legal protection for pre-born human life at this place of power,” and that they will continue until pre-born Canadians are protected as they were prior to 1969.

Baklinski also said Canada’s MAID regime has led to more than 100,000 deaths since the procedure was legalized in 2016, and that the safeguards preventing euthanasia except for cases where “the person’s death is reasonably foreseen” have been “eroded.” Euthanasia was originally meant only for Canadians whose death was reasonably foreseeable, but has since been expanded to include those with disabilities and chronic illnesses who are not nearing death.

While Canada’s MAID regime was initially scheduled to allow eligibility for Canadians whose sole medical condition is a mental illness beginning on March 17, 2023, the federal government has since postponed the change multiple times, most recently delaying implementation until March 17, 2027. The delays came in response to concerns from medical providers and some provinces that the health care system was not equipped to implement it safely.

The federal government has not clarified whether it will allow MAID to expand to the mentally ill in 2027. Prime Minister Carney said on May 6 that he would wait for the release of a parliamentary report on MAID expansion before deciding.

“We’ve seen now calls for euthanasia for mature minors, also for infants who are sick, and there seems to be no end in sight,” Baklinski said. In 2022, a member of the Quebec College of Physicians told a parliamentary committee that MAID could be appropriate for babies up to one year of age with “severe deformities and very serious syndromes.”

“We fear a future where euthanasia will become just another right for Canadians,” Baklinski said. “There’ll be no safeguards. … It’ll be something that anyone will be able to access for any reason or no reason at all, and that’s a nightmare for Canada.”

Baklinski also criticized Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre for his comments on Joe Rogan’s podcast in March, when he said “people should have the choice” to receive MAID. Poilievre added that “the concern we have is the suggestion that it would be offered to kids, or offered to people whose only condition is mental illness.”

Testimonials

Aleš Primc, the co-founder of the Slovenian political party Voice for Children and Families, told the audience that his party recently forced a referendum to overturn Slovenia’s assisted suicide law.

“I bring great news from Slovenia. We won the referendum, and we rescued a lot of elderly and sick people from poisoning,” Primc said, adding that Canadians had helped the referendum to succeed.

Rebecca Kiessling, a U.S. lawyer and founder of the organization Save the 1, told the audience that she was conceived because a man sexually assaulted her mother. Kiessling said that while her mother wanted to get an abortion, she was not able to because the law in the state of Michigan protected her.

“I did not deserve the death penalty for the crime of the man who raped my mother,” Kiessling said. “Today, my birth mother and I are both thankful for the law which spared us both from the horror of abortion.”

Joanna Myers, a participant at the rally, told The Epoch Times that she came from the state of New York to stand against abortion and euthanasia. “It’s just a horrible decline, away from God and away from morality. It’s an alternate worldview that people en masse are accepting, and it’s unfortunate,” she said.

Myers said she was hopeful that everyone at the rally would be inspired to “continue to stand for life after today, when they’re not surrounded by so many friendly faces.”