(LifeSiteNews) – One of Canada’s top pro-life advocates warned that the nation could soon become one “giant bubble zone” after Toronto passed a new bylaw restricting protests near churches, other places of worship, and around schools and day cares.
Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) director of communications Pete Baklinski told LifeSiteNews that Toronto’s new “bubble zones” bylaw that passed on May 22 shows how bubble zones originally put in place to go after pro-life activists are now “being used for justification for more bubble zones, this time around places of worship, schools, etc.”
While CLC itself has not taken an official position on the new type of bubble zones, the new law, Baklinski said, shows how people’s freedoms are being slowly eroded, as noted by 1984 author George Orwell, who wrote, “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”
Baklinski warned, “A democracy that takes away speech rights from any group is quickly moving toward totalitarianism.”
“Bubble zones have no place in a free and democratic society. They are used to strip citizens of their right to speech,” he added.
Baklinski noted how bubble zones were first used to “strip pro-life advocates of their right to peacefully and lovingly speak in defence of the preborn targeted for abortion.”
“Now, they are being used to strip additional citizens of their speech rights. Is it only a matter of time before all of Canada becomes one giant bubble zone? Is it only a matter of time before there is no longer a right to speak in the public square?” he observed.
“These are the kinds of questions Canadians must ask as more and more bubble zones are enacted.”
Baklinski also observed how pro-life activists are actively working to overturn provincial bubble zone legislation in Ontario.
“Fr. Tony Van Hee’s constitutional challenge in the Superior Court of Justice remains ongoing. If we win this case, it is to be hoped that it will create a domino effect that will topple all subsequent bubble zones,” he told LifeSiteNews.
“Muzzling speech in the public square is something no Canadian should tolerate.”
Baklinski made it clear that his comments when it comes to Toronto’s new bubble zone law are “about speech rights” and “not death threats or other threats of violence.”
“We already have solid laws in place that protect the rights of citizens when it comes to protecting life, liberty, and security of the person. It is these laws that must be enforced if protests or demonstrations threaten public safety, not the creation of more bubble zones,” he noted.
When it comes to so-called “bubble zone” laws, Ontario already has in place a law specifically about protesting abortion, making it illegal.
Ontario’s “Safe Access to Abortion Services Act” was put into effect on February 1, 2018, and was passed the previous year by then-Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government.
The law bans any pro-life activity, including praying, sidewalk counseling, and showing “disapproval” of abortion within 50 metres of Ontario’s eight abortion facilities. It has resulted in pro-life grandmother Linda Gibbons being jailed multiple times for silent witnessing to the unborn in front of a Toronto abortion mill.
Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government of Doug Ford, which has been in power for years, has not challenged the law.
Other provinces, such as Alberta and Manitoba, have passed “bubble zone” bylaws as well.
