Legal Group Files Challenge Against Parliamentary Police for Allegedly Prohibiting Pro-Life Signs at Rally

Demonstrators display signs in the March for Life event on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 11, 2023. The Canadian Press/Spencer Colby

A legal group has filed a constitutional challenge against the parliamentary police service for allegedly prohibiting a pro-life group from displaying signs depicting abortion at the annual March for Life rally in Ottawa in May.

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) announced on July 6 that it is challenging the Parliamentary Protective Service (PPS) for allegedly stopping a “pro-life group from showing images of aborted fetuses during its news conference on Parliament Hill prior to the National March for Life in May 2023.”

The JCCF identified the group as Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), a national Christian and pro-life advocacy organization that organizes the annual March for Life in Ottawa.

JCCF says CLC had organized a press conference on May 10, a day before the rally. CLC planned to show signs depicting “victims of abortion at different stages of development” during the conference, JCCF said.

“Prior to the press conference, a PPS officer reviewed the signs. He then prohibited the group from showing the signs on Parliament Hill on the basis that they were too graphic,” JCCF alleged in a press release on July 6.

The legal group added that the PPS’s decision to prohibit the signs was later confirmed in an email on May 10, of which the JCCF provided a copy in the news release.

In the email, the PPS officer referred to a policy under the “General Rules for the Use of Parliament Hill“ guidelines that prohibit displaying signs on Parliament Hill that are deemed to be ”obscene, offensive, or that promote hatred.”

The rules were last updated on May 3 and they now also prohibit “signs or banners that display explicit graphic violence or blood is prohibited.”

A note below the rule adds that protest or demonstration organizers “may be requested to share images they plan to display before approval.”

The PPS officer added that the protective service would also enforce the rules for all protesters who attended the March for Life.

The JCCF says that a Notice of Application was filed in the Federal Court on June 30 on behalf of both CLC and a woman attending the protest who had planned to hold the prohibited signs at the rally.

“The Notice of Application challenges both versions of the General Rules for the Use of Parliament Hill and the action by PPS to prevent the Applicants from using the graphic signs to convey their message,” the JCCF said.

The Epoch Times contacted the PPS for comment on the matter but did not hear back before publication time.