BAKLINSKI: We’re a peaceful pro-life organization — The Canadian Anti-Hate Network targeted us

Pete Baklinski is the communications director for Campaign Life Coalition.When the Canadian Anti-Hate Network once described itself as “modelled after, and supported by” the US-based Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the Canadian government should have taken notice. Today, that connection deserves renewed scrutiny.The SPLC, founded in 1971, says it was created to ensure “that the promise of the civil rights movement became a reality for all.” It became notorious, however, for branding mainstream religious and conservative organizations as “hate groups.”One of those groups was the Family Research Council, which the SPLC placed on its “hate map” because it defended male-female marriage. In 2012, a gunman entered the Family Research Council’s Washington, DC, headquarters and opened fire. A security guard subdued him, but not before being shot. The gunman later said he had identified the Family Research Council through the SPLC’s website.The SPLC is now facing serious trouble again. On April 21, the US Department of Justice announced that a federal grand jury had indicted the SPLC on 11 counts, including wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering. Prosecutors allege the organization secretly funnelled more than $3 million in donated funds between 2014 and 2023 to individuals associated with violent extremist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, and the National Socialist Movement."They lied to their donors, vowing to dismantle violent extremist groups, and actually turned around and paid the leaders of these very extremist groups — even utilizing the funds to have these groups facilitate the commission of state and federal crimes,” said FBI Director Kash Patel..While the allegations remain unproven in court, they should force Canadians to ask hard questions about organizations that have imported the SPLC model into Canada, especially when those organizations receive taxpayer funding.The Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN) was launched in 2018. It was in a parliamentary submission to the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security this same year that the organization described itself as being “modelled after, and supported by, the esteemed Southern Poverty Law Center.” And, this same year, TVO confirmed in an interview with CAHN’s executive director Evan Balgord that the organization “received a start-up grant from the SPLC.”Since 2020, CAHN has received $1.1 million in federal funding through Canadian Heritage and Public Safety Canada (here and here). That funding has continued despite serious questions about the organization’s methods, impartiality, and associations.In 2022, an Ontario small claims court judge accepted evidence that CAHN “did in fact assist Antifa” and that Antifa “has been violent.” Last year, President Donald Trump signed an executive order designating Antifa as a “Domestic Terrorist Organization.” Antifa, short for “anti-fascists,” is an umbrella term for far-left-leaning militant groups and is not a singular entity. In the 2022 case, the judge stated that a human rights network like CAHN arguably “should not support a violent movement” and that doing so would not be a “good look.” CAHN disputed the ruling.Knowing CAHN’s stated connection to the SPLC model, we were not surprised when our peaceful, Christian-based pro-life organization became one of CAHN’s targets..First, a little about ourselves. Campaign Life Coalition is Canada’s national pro-life organization. We work at all levels of government to secure full legal protection for every human being, from conception to natural death. We defend the sanctity of human life against the threats of abortion and euthanasia. We also defend marriage and the family founded upon it..According to the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, this apparently makes us part of the problem.CAHN has smeared our organization on its website as “reactionary,” “far-right,” and “ultra-conservative.” In its 2024 booklet on how to “fight the far right,” CAHN directly named Campaign Life Coalition in a section describing “hate movements.” When we obtained legal help to challenge this, CAHN backed down and removed our organization from the booklet.But CAHN’s updated version of the booklet was deeply concerning. It directed readers to “organize counter-demonstrations” against “far-right” events and listed our annual “‘March for Life’ on Parliament Hill” as an example..The National March for Life is our signature annual event. It is the largest yearly gathering of citizens on Parliament Hill. It is peaceful, prayerful, and attended by thousands of Canadians, including families with children, mothers pushing strollers, elderly participants using walkers and wheelchairs, students, clergy, and people from many ethnic, religious, and political backgrounds.Everyone is united in the shared conviction that violence is never the answer and that Canada’s laws should protect every human being, beginning in the womb. All are working for a Canada that offers real support to pregnant mothers and their preborn children..For a government-funded organization to cite the March for Life as an example of an event to counter-demonstrate is simply reckless. It risks signalling to hostile groups and radicalized individuals that peaceful, pro-life Canadians are legitimate targets.In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, such rhetoric is especially dangerous. It is irresponsible for a government-funded organization to encourage readers to “disrupt” peaceful events or “fight” those who attend them. The effect is to put targets on the backs of pro-life Canadians whose only “offence” is to exercise their democratic rights peacefully and publicly.We were glad when, after publicly drawing attention to this, we recently discovered that CAHN had, once again, updated its booklet and removed any mention of the March for Life as an event to counter-demonstrate. .With the next National March for Life scheduled for May 14 on Parliament Hill, we are asking why the federal government continues to fund an activist organization that has a history of targeting peaceful organizations such as ours, including our signature event, which is both peaceful and prayerful.I was relieved when Conservative MP Rachael Thomas raised this concern before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage last September. She told then-minister Steven Guilbeault that CAHN had received, at that time, nearly $1 million in federal funding and that part of its work involved hiring an “investigative journalist” to produce stories about groups and individuals it labels “far right.”“Part of their definition of those that fall within this group includes Catholics and people who identify as pro-life,” Thomas said.She then pressed Guilbeault on whether CAHN should continue to receive taxpayer support.“Something like this only serves to divide people,” she said. “It’s a grave disservice to the unity of our country and the well-being of our people, and it spurs further polarization.”I could not agree more..Yet despite these concerns, Public Safety Canada approved another $200,000 for CAHN the following month. Internal government records later obtained through Access to Information reportedly show that officials were aware CAHN had been accused of producing materials “not free from bias” before approving the new funding.That should alarm every Canadian, regardless of where they stand on abortion. Should a democratic government fund an activist organization that labels peaceful citizens as extremists and encourages opposition to their lawful public events?Just as concerning is that in March, the Carney Liberals appointed Bernie Farber, Founding Chair Emeritus of CAHN, to its “expert advisory group on online safety” to help “inform ongoing legislative work in various aspects of online safety.”The SPLC indictment should be a wake-up call. The allegations against the SPLC expose the dangers of the “anti-hate” industry: unelected actors who take upon themselves the authority to define who belongs in respectable society and who deserves to be treated as a threat..There is no proof that CAHN has engaged in conduct similar to what has been alleged against the SPLC. At the same time, however, Canada does not need taxpayer-funded blacklist politics. It does not need government-backed ideological policing. And it certainly does not need public money flowing to organizations whose materials portray Christian, pro-life advocates, who are law-abiding citizens, as part of the “far right.”Given CAHN’s past description of itself as modelled after and supported by the SPLC, its reported start-up grant from the SPLC, its targeting of a peaceful pro-life organization, its reference to the March for Life as an event to counter-demonstrate, and the serious questions already raised in court and Parliament, it is time for an unbiased, full investigation of this organization. Until this happens, there should be an immediate freeze on all grants and taxpayer funding.Canadians deserve to know why their money is being used to subsidize an organization that places peaceful activism that is both Christian and pro-life within its discussion of the “far right.” They also deserve to know why that same organization encourages counter-demonstrations and pressure tactics against lawful public events organized by peaceful, law-abiding citizens.Pete Baklinski is the communications director for Campaign Life Coalition. He holds a Master’s degree in Theology and lives in Ontario with his family. He can be found on X at @petebaklinski.

BAKLINSKI: We’re a peaceful pro-life organization — The Canadian Anti-Hate Network targeted us

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