Jakki Jeffs, former president of the Right to Life group and the organizer behind the garden, said it is intended as a place for mothers who have lost their babies to grieve; until now “their children haven’t been given a place of rest.” The garden is meant to serve as a place for women to know that their children are valued, not forgotten.

Calling it a Garden of Grace shows the intention behind the garden – a sense of peace, forgiveness, and hope; however, it is not being taken that way by abortion advocates. Abortion advocates are outraged that abortion is being included with miscarriage loss, claiming it shames women who have had abortions and tells them they made a poor choice. They fear the public and prominent nature of the space gives it unnecessary attention, and are arguing that the church should not allow their land to be used in this way and the city should not allow the statues to be erected, despite the fact that the Right to Life group is fully funding the project.

The very fact that people are outraged over a space to mourn lost unborn life is a sad, if accurate, reflection of a culture that has tried to sweep those lives under a rug. Many women are forced to mourn quietly and privately, because their grief makes others feel uncomfortable.  Miscarriage loss is coloured by abortion politics’ refusal to recognize the value of pre-born children, and abortion loss is shadowed by guilt and cultural pressure to take pride in your choice.

For the Guelph and Area Right to Choice group to start a change.org petition calling the Garden of Grace a Garden of Guilt is to admit to a level of discomfort with abortion that the author or organizers have not faced or dealt with. Guilt is not something anyone else makes you feel if you are genuinely confident in and comfortable with your decision.

This attempt to drum up protest shows that Guelph and Area Right to Life couldn’t be more accurate in their claim that there is a need for a space like this, a space to grieve lost life and the memories associated with it.

Every year Guelph and Area Right to Life raises over $10,000 to pay for advertisements on transit buses. The ads are effective and reach thousands of people. Unfortunately they have resulted in two separate challenges from the pro-choice community this year alone.

The first challenge was put together by Heather Millman after she became ‘annoyed’ with the ads. At the time Karen Farbridge, the Mayor of Guelph said, “I appreciate that the Guelph & Area Right to Life advertisement may be seen as controversial, but refusing to post it could be seen as limiting freedom of expression under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”

In spite of her first request to have the signage removed soundly rejected, Ms. Millman is pushing ahead with another attempt. She will be presenting 3,000 signatures at a Corporate Administration, Finance and Enterprise Committee meeting on July 7th.

REQUEST FOR ACTION:

We cannot assume the city will reject Ms. Millman’s demands a second time. We need all Guelph and area residents to either call or email the following three people!

To assist you we suggest using these two talking points:

1. Guelph Transit is a government entity. As such it may not censor the expression of views it doesn’t like. The charter (section 2(b) to be exact) protects every Canadian from unreasonable interference by the government in the expression of their opinions.
2. This issue has already been to the Supreme Court. In 2009 they ruled against the Vancouver Transit Authority, stating that Vancouver bureaucrats had no grounds to refuse to publish political messages on their advertising space. They explicitly stated that such a refusal was a violation of the charter.

Contact Information:

June Hofland (Chair of the Corporate Administration, Finance and Enterprise Committee)

• Phone: 519.822.1260 (ext.2505)
• Email: june.hofland@guelph.ca

Mayor Karen Farbridge

• Phone: 519.837.5643
• Email: mayor@guelph.ca

Mr. Phil Meagher (General Manager, Guelph Transit)

• Phone: 519.822.1260 (ext.3321)
• Email: phil.meager@guelph.ca

In addition to these talking points please express your support for the pro-life ads!