Canada’s National March For Life

Canadians show commitment to life at nation’s capital city

Knights and their families were among the nearly 25,000 Canadians gathered on Ottawa’s Parliament Hill on May 14 to participate in the country’s 18th annual March for Life.

The demonstration brought together Knights, Catholics and other pro-lifers for a pro-life rally and march through the streets of the nation’s capital city.

Citizens from across all of Canada’s provinces first gathered for a candlelight vigil at the Human Rights monument adjacent to Ottawa’s city hall on Wednesday evening. In addition, prayer services for pro-lifers of various Christian dominations and several Catholic Masses were celebrated during the three-day event, highlighting the importance of spiritual intercession in the pro-life movement in the nation and throughout the world. In his homily at the vigil Mass, Montreal Archbishop Christian Lépine remembered the victims of abortion, urging all Catholics to trust in God’s mercy.

Other speakers shared the archbishop’s sentiments at the Thursday rally on the steps of Parliament Hill, among whom were New York Times bestselling author Eric Metaxas and Cardinal Thomas Collins of Toronto.

Knights of Columbus in Canada have been regular supporters and participants in the national demonstration, which held particular significance this year following the Supreme Court of Canada’s recent decision in the Carter v. Canada case, which declared it is unconstitutional to ban physician-assisted suicide.

In addition to the Ottawa event, a rally and march — sponsored by the Knights of British Columbia and the Yukon State Council, the Columbus Charities Association, and the March for Life Joint Committee — was held in Victoria, British Columbia. Knights and their families were among thousands who gathered at the British Columbia Legislature to declare that every life, from conception to natural death, is worth living.