Two years after the Dobbs decision in the U.S. reversed Roe v. Wade and curtailed abortions, a new Canadian film explores what it would take for Canada to experience a similar shift.ROE Canada: The True North in a Post-Roe World, directed and produced by Kevin Dunn of DunnMedia & Entertainment (Fatal Flaws, Bridge of Roses) was released January 12 on Vimeo.The 1-hour-and-20-minute documentary features Canadian pro-life activists Josie Luetke and Ruth Robert as principal investigators who travel both the US and Canada to find answers to their questions about ending abortion in Canada. Both women in their 20s are part of Campaign Life Coalition, a national, non-profit organization involved in political action and advocacy for legal and cultural change in Canada with respect to protecting human life and the family.“By providing a blueprint forward — modeled after the successful approach of the US pro-life movement — my hope is that this film will inspire more people to get involved in the cause and, ultimately, reignite the abortion debate in Canada,” said Luetke, the CLC’s director of education and advocacy.“As I mention near the end of the documentary, in front of thousands at the National March for Life: ‘It will not be easy, but it is possible.’ More importantly, this work is necessary and it requires the selfless commitment of all of us.”Former Planned Parenthood clinic director Abby Johnson, whose story was explored in the movie Unplanned appears in the film. Other pro-life advocates interviewed include Students for Life of America’s Kristan Hawkins, The Babylon Bee’s Seth Dillon, speaker/author Stephanie Gray Connors, Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform’s Jonathon Van Maren, as well as legal experts, politicians and media figures on both sides of the border.Canadian Members of Parliament Arnold Viersen and Cathay Wagantall are interviewed, as well as Canadian columnist and writer Barbara Kay and retired Canadian physician and abortionist Fraser Fellows.The film also has a segment where Luetke and Robert try to engage the Trudeau cabinet as they walked into a restaurant in the Greater Toronto Area. Their question whether the cabinet members believed in equal human rights for all was mostly met with silence. The prime minister said he would defend women’s rights every day.CLC National President Jeff Gunnarson said that ROE Canada reminds Canadians that, even decades after the 1969 decriminalization of abortion and the 1988 Morgentaler decision, the “abortion debate was never closed, and never will be closed, until preborn humans are protected legally.”“Prime Minister Trudeau and other politicians speak falsely when they claim that women have a ‘right' to choose to kill their babies in Canada. There exists no court-defined or Charter right to abortion in Canada. ROE Canada exposes this falsehood in a big way. Abortion ends in Canada when the lies end,” he said.CLC Director of Communications Pete Baklinski told Western Standard work on the film is continuing even though the final edit has been released.“My hope is that this film inspires a new generation of pro-life advocates who upon seeing the plight of some 100,000 preborn humans targetted for abortion annually here in Canada will get engaged and join the movement for their protection,” he said.“Our team is hard at work creating an educational companion guide for schools, churches and small groups to delve deeper into abortion and the pro-life movement, as it relates to history, law, political science and religion/spirituality," said filmmaker Kevin Dunn, who lives in the Hamilton area, told the Western Standard. He said young people are taking up the pro-life cause. “They're not going to be duped anymore. They're not going to take a bunch of lies from mainstream media anymore. They're making a change. This generation is more likely to be pro-life than pro-choice because of the science,” Dunn said in an interview.“When you look at the baby in the womb, what is it if it's not a human being, my friend? It's insane to think of anything else. And if you can agree to killing that, well, then are you in agreement to killing an unwanted child that is born? People like Josie and Ruth are reintroducing the truth that we knew for generations about the reality of the child.”Dunn said the movie has had an “incredible” response, which has been “wonderful” to receive. A French-language version of the film is also in the works. He hopes many pro-life groups will arrange screenings across the country.“Films have this great opportunity for a discussion after. When you go online, and you see the on-demand videos from our different contributors, each of those is a sticking point, and each of those is a great opportunity for larger conversations,” Dunn said.“The question at the end of the day, though, is are people willing to have the conversation?”
