Ms. Mallory’s reaction is telling, as images of dead babies should evoke this type of emotion from every human being. That abortion is juxtaposed with the treatment of Rwandan children is entirely accurate; it is the injustice of both situations – the inhumane treatment of human beings – that is fundamentally the same.

The Rwandan genocide was exposed to the world via images, and people were rightly aghast. In fact, it is because the slaughter of the Tutsis was brought to us in such vivid imagery that world leaders sought to deal with this human rights violation of epic proportions. So also, the atrocities being perpetrated against children in the womb need to be exposed to the world in order for this current human rights violation to be addressed.

Residents of Chilliwack have a right to be angry, as do all Canadians exposed to the graphic imagery of abortion. But our anger needs to be properly directed. When we became aware of the Rwandan genocide by way of the vivid imagery shown to us by the news networks, we did not express our anger towards CBC News or the Globe and Mail. Instead, we directed our anger toward the ideology that allowed, or even encouraged, such violence. So also now, let us not direct our anger at those who show us what abortion does but against the ideology which allows for the lawful killing of children in the womb at any stage of pregnancy.

This past Wednesday, the Vancouver and Burnaby Crisis Pregnancy Centres (“Vancouver CPCs”) announced that they would not appeal the decision of the British Columbia Supreme Court dismissing their defamation suit against Joyce Arthur and the Pro-Choice Action Network (“Pro-CAN”). In 2009, Arthur wrote a report for the Pro-CAN with the express goal of exposing “the anti-woman and anti-feminist agenda of CPCs”. The report, Exposing Crisis Pregnancy Centres in British Columbia (the “Report”), which was funded using federal taxpayer dollars was released and concluded that CPCs use unethical methods to mislead, deceive and hurt women and convert them to Christianity. The Vancouver CPCs denied the allegations set out in the Report and disputed its accuracy and reflection of them.

Crisis pregnancies happen and when they do, they are, well, a crisis. Regardless of where you stand on abortion, the vast majority of people acknowledge that the decision to have an abortion or carry a pregnancy to term is not taken lightly. Because of the complex and sensitive nature of the decision women should be given the opportunity to consider and discuss their options, should they want to. That’s where CPCs step in. CPCs do not provide abortions or refer women to abortionists. In my experience, and I have sat on the board of a local CPC, CPCs do not hide the fact that a referral for an abortion is not an available service. What they do offer is information on pregnancy options, including adoption, abortion and keeping the child; counseling for pregnant and post-abortive women and men; childbirth classes; doula services and the provision of maternity and baby-related items such as clothes, bottles and strollers. Most CPC clients are, with the exception perhaps of the pro-choice “undercover clients” on a mission to “expose” a particular CPC, happy with the counseling and information they received from a CPC, regardless of whether or not they end up having an abortion.

In her Report however, Arthur does not address the good that CPCs do or the fact that their clients are generally satisfied with their services. Instead, she makes outlandish allegations and generalization, basing them in part on the say-so of someone who admittedly, lied and deceived people she interacted with to “expose” them. Among Arthur’s allegations were that CPCs provide inaccurate information, use graphic imagery and mislead clients into thinking that the CPC was a medical clinic. The Vancouver CPCs however, as with most CPCs, do not employ such tactics. Worried that their reputation was being tarnished, the Vancouver CPCs sued Arthur and the Pro-CAN for defamation alleging that specific portions of the Report were defamatory to the Vancouver CPCs.

In Court, Arthur and the Pro-CAN argued that although the Report did reference the Vancouver CPCs and one of their executive directors, that the portion of the Report alleged to be defamatory was not talking about the Vancouver CPCs specifically. In fact, Arthur and Pro-CAN argued that this section of the Report talked about CPCs across North America. This is an important legal question because in order for the Report to be considered defamatory, there needs to be a target of the defamation. The Vancouver CPCs argued that they were the targets because they were specifically referred to in an appendix and because the Report as a whole was about CPCs in British Columbia, where they both operate. If, however, that section of the Report was found to be about CPCs in North America, of which there are approximately 4,200, then the sample is simply too large for any reasonable person to suspect that the Report is speaking about the Vancouver CPCs.

It’s a clever argument that has been used in many defamation cases in the past and unfortunately, it was successful in this case. Somehow, the Court found that the impugned statements in the Report, despite the fact that the Report was entitled Exposing Crisis Pregnancy Centres in British Columbia, that it had “Exposing Crisis Pregnancy Centres in British Columbia” at the top of each page and despite the fact that it attached an appendix listing all of the CPCs in British Columbia, including the Vancouver CPCs and the name of one of their executive director, were not referring to CPCs in British Columbia, but rather, of CPCs in North America generally.

While it’s true that some of the allegations in the Report are prefaced with words like “most CPCs” and “the majority of CPCs”, I do not see how, given the above-noted facts, anyone could conclude anything other than that the allegations contained in the Report apply to at least CPCs in British Columbia, which include the Vancouver CPCs. Although this decision appears, at first, to be a loss, we need to see and appreciate that it is not. The Vancouver CPCs sued Arthur and the Pro-CAN because the allegations in the Report did not accurately reflect the way they operate. The Vancouver CPCs lost their case, not because the contents of the Report were true, but because the Court found that the impugned statements in the Report were not about them. That means the Vancouver CPCs were vindicated.

There are very basic and straightforward defenses to defamation. These include that the impugned statements were true, made in good faith with the reasonable belief that they were true or were personal opinion. As a lawyer, if I had a client seek my advice after being sued for making defamatory statements of fact, the first question I would ask is if the statements were true. If they were, that’s how we would defend the claim. If the statements turned out not to be true, then the next question I would ask is whether the person knew that the statements were true when they were making them. If so, then this, “good faith” would be our second possible defence.

It’s only if and when I conclude that these straightforward defenses are not available that I would start to look at other possible defenses like, the comments were not about the Vancouver CPCs specifically, but rather, CPCs in North America generally. Again, Arthur and the Pro-CAN’s argument is a clever one that has been used before, but it’s not, at least in my opinion, the easiest, simplest or strongest argument to a defamation suit. If you read Arthur and the Pro-CAN’s written arguments, which I have done, you see that Arthur and the Pro-CAN do not spend their efforts arguing that the contents of the Report were being true and accurate. Rather, they focussed on this weak and last resort argument about who the impugned statements in the Report were targeting. Lawyers need to advance the best possible argument for their clients. This leads me to believe that the ‘truth’ argument was not, in this case, the best argument for Arthur and the Pro-CAN.

I don’t want to speak for Ms. Arthur and the Pro-CAN, but it is my opinion that they made this argument because it was the only one available, meaning that they knew that the contents of the Report were not true or were not wholly true. And that’s why we need to look at this decision as a victory. Defamation cases are fact-centred and fact-specific and so there is no great precedent set by this decision. There is nothing in here to be relied on by the Courts in the future to limit what CPCs or pro-lifers can or cannot do. What does come out of this decision however, is the following:

• The impugned allegations in the Report were not about the Vancouver CPCs; and,
• The impugned allegations in the Report were not proven to be true and accurate.

I would chalk that up to a victory any day of the week.

Albertos Polizogopoulos is a Partner with the firm Vincent Dagenais Gibson LLP/s.r.l. in Ottawa, Ontario. He regularly appears before courts and appellate courts including the Supreme Court of Canada to advocate for his clients’ rights to freedom of religion, freedom of expression and parental authority. He also frequently appears in media interviews and on panels to discuss constitutional law. @CharterLaw

The Christian Advocacy Society of Greater Vancouver (I’m not sure how much more up front about religious affiliation you can be) and the Crisis Pregnancy Centre of Vancouver Society filed a Notice of Civil Claim on October 12, 2012 alleging defamation against Ms. Arthur and the Pro-Choice Action Network on the basis that the above mentioned assertions, and other serious allegations, were false. One of the main purposes of these organizations is to provide care for women with unplanned pregnancies.

The ruling is being viewed as a victory for Ms. Arthur and undoubtedly she will continue to wage war against those who work toward minimizing the number of abortions in Canada. Indeed, only a few days after her victory, Ms. Arthur began calling for the British Columbia government to regulate CPCs. She is quoted in a Straight.com article stating that CPCs are “scaring” women and “handing out misinformation”.

Ms. Arthur’s new media statements are contrary to her own lawyer’s position in written and oral submissions to the court – accepted by the judge – that the CPCs defamation case should be dismissed because the allegations in her report were NOT about BC CPCs.

Further, nearly all CPCs in Canada are members of the Canadian Association of Pregnancy Support Services and are subject to the highest standard of counselling ethics, as well as Canada Revenue Agency guidelines pertaining to political activity.

Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in North America, consistently cites the second most common reason women seek abortion as an inability to afford the costs associated with raising a child. At a crisis pregnancy centre, trained counsellors come alongside such women and in a pastoral manner are able to seek ways in which economic barriers can be overcome. (Having been at  a few of their fundraising events, I can attest to their prudent use of resources for this purpose.) The end result could be that a previously distraught woman (who may well have thought her only choice was abortion) is able to consider another choice that was, in her mind, previously unavailable to her and can carry on with the pregnancy in confident expectation of childbirth. What callous person would be opposed to giving a woman this choice? Who could be opposed to such compassion and human kindness?

A large majority of Canadians are not comfortable with the high rate of abortions and the truth is that CPCs play an important role in minimizing the perceived need for a woman to terminate her pregnancy. They are on the frontlines of assisting those who need help.

Rather than taking the approach of Ms. Arthur by impeding a woman’s right to choose life for her pre-born child, we should be doing all we can to ensure they have the means to carry out this important work of providing alternative and viable choices for women.

Last week Friday my wife and I were expecting guests for dinner so, while I was out running a few errands, I stopped at the local liquor store to pick up a bottle of wine. Working for a non-profit organization teaches you to be frugal so rather than step into the private liquor store, I headed into the government operated one where prices are a little lower.

As I walked down the aisle to where my favourite wine is displayed I noticed a captivating poster adorning the shelving. This is pretty standard; the government does know something about marketing. It has also done a decent job in using their marketing to ensure that the public knows the risks involved with drinking too much. This time however, the many posters caused me to take a second look. The caption exclaimed, “ALCOHOL & PREGNANCY DON’T MIX” and below it stood a happy, expectant couple behind an empty child’s crib. But what really caught my attention was the phrase in smaller font: “Every baby deserves a healthy start.”

As it is my full-time job to advocate for the very children these posters were drawing attention to, I paused to think for a moment. Something didn’t jive here. On the one hand we are concerned about the health of a developing child in the womb, and on the other we allow them to be aborted for reasons as flippant as inopportune timing.

I asked a couple of the clerks if I could take a photo of one of the larger posters. They gave their permission, albeit with questioning looks. When I informed them of the dilemma these posters caused in my mind, they understood instantly.

Later that day I went to the BC Liquor store website in order to find out how many stores are in the province. I found the same ad there and so I can only assume they are appearing in the 195 liquor stores the province operates. The provincial government in BC is quite possibly investing hundreds of thousands of dollars to ensure that ‘every baby has a healthy start’. Meanwhile, the federal government is transferring millions of dollars to the very same province to ensure that abortion terminates one in four pre-born babies. For 25% of BC babies, their “healthy start” comes to a very quick and violent end.

This alcohol and pregnancy awareness campaign, when juxtaposed against Canada’s lack of any legal protection for children in the womb, makes absolutely no sense whatsoever! Canada’s position of being the only Western nation without an abortion law (meaning women can request and receive an abortion at any time during a pregnancy) is untenable and totally inconsistent with our country’s high standard for human rights.

Prior to seeing the plethora of ads in a BC Liquor store, a pregnant woman may have been unaware of the serious complications that drinking while pregnant could bring on her pre-born child. I would submit that society also needs to know the harm abortion brings upon pre-born children. When that happens, society will rise up and demand that we do something about it. We can do better.