VAN MAREN: The fight against Woke goes on — and is marking up some wins

Jonathon Van Maren is a communications consultant with The Acacia Group, a legal consultancy providing services to churches, charities, non-profits and religious institutionsAs 2024 draws to a close, Canadian social conservatives might be tempted to feel a sort of political seasonal affective disorder. Justin Trudeau is still prime minister.The federal government pushes extremist woke ideologies both at home, and abroad, where abortion and LGBT ideology are two of Canada’s primary exports. According to Canada’s annual “MAID” report, 15,343 people died by euthanasia in 2023. A horrifying — and largely unremarked — study from the University of Montreal revealed that one in four babies aborted at 23 weeks gestation in Quebec are born alive and left to die. Canada, as a number of foreign press outlets have noted, has become a “progressive” cautionary tale.Thus, it is particularly important to note that this is only part of the story. Social conservatives have also done incredible work to protect the vulnerable, and that work has yielded real results. On euthanasia, gender ideology, and abortion, we have seen good news, as well.In Alberta, Premier Danielle Smith put forward legislation protecting minors from sex change surgeries, puberty blockers, and recognizing parental rights. The legislation includes:Licensed doctors are prohibited from performing sex change surgeries on youth under 18 in Alberta.Puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones will be prohibited for minors under the age of 16 unless the minors have already begun taking those drugs.Those “born biologically male” (that is, males) will be prohibited from competing against women and girls in competitive sports.Parental opt-in will be required for “each instance” a teacher wishes to discuss gender identity, sexual orientation, or human sexuality.Parental notification is required for “socially transitioning” a student — that is, changing a student’s given name or pronouns. Unfortunately, 16- and 17-year-olds are still allowed to decide to change their name or pronouns in school, but parents must be notified.This is an enormous step forward, and Smith has already stated that she is willing to use the “notwithstanding clause” to ensure that these laws take effect. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe has already used the “notwithstanding clause” to protect parental rights, and in response to the stand being taken by provincial premiers, federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has staked out a similar position opposing aspects of gender ideology and supporting parental rights. Transgender ideology is deeply embedded in Canadian institutions, but we may be witnessing the high tide — and the turn.In February, the Trudeau government announced that it would once again delay expanding eligibility for assisted suicide to those suffering from mental illness, which would have come into effect in March. It is no exaggeration to say that this expansion would have placed the lives of countless Canadians struggling with mental illness at risk, as anyone who has ever walked alongside a loved one struggling with suicidal ideation is well aware. The expansion has been delayed until 2027— by then, a Conservative government will have had the opportunity to pass a law banning assisted suicide for the mentally ill.This delay was the product of an enormous amount of work. Conservative MPs traveled across the country hosting town halls to warn Canadians about the dangers of assisted suicide; I attended one in Oxford County, where parliamentarians from Alberta and BC spoke in refreshingly blunt terms about the moral dangers of euthanasia in general and its application to mental illness specifically. Disability rights activists, groups such as Canadian Physicians for Life, individual medical professionals, and ordinary Canadians also did tremendous grassroots work to protect our most vulnerable populations. Assisted suicide for mental illness would have been a disaster. For now, thank God, we have avoided it.Even on abortion, we are beginning to see a slow shift in public opinion. As Tristin Hopper noted in the National Post in 2022:An Ipsos poll from July found that just 56 per cent of Canadians supported abortion “whenever a woman decides she wants one.” An Ipsos poll from the year prior found that up to a quarter of Canadians opposed abortion in almost all cases. Notably, the July poll found that support for abortion was starting to wane among Canadians born in the wake of the Morgentaler decision. While 63 per cent of Canadian seniors support elective abortion in all cases, this proportion shrunk to just 50 per cent among Canadians born after 1988.This roughly aligns with a marked decrease in the numbers of Canadian women who are seeking abortions. After Canadian abortions peaked in the early 2000s, the raw number of terminated pregnancies has been decreasing markedly every year since 2008.This shift is no doubt due in part to the herculean efforts of grassroots pro-life organizations. The Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform, where I serve as communications director, had 88 people on payroll at our peak this summer, and reached over four million Canadians with the truth about abortion. Young people have been flocking to the pro-life movement in recent years, and we see ordinary Canadians change their minds about abortion every single day. For those who see only despair in the pro-life cause, I urge you to take a few moments to watch this mini-documentary, and witness for yourself what is happening on the ground across the country:.The great Albertan Link Byfield once noted, looking back at his career as a social conservative activist, journalist, and politician: “Think about how bad things would be if we hadn’t fought.”He was precisely right. If social conservative Canadians had given up stayed home this year, we would have seen euthanasia expanded to those with mental illness; no progress on protecting the young from transgender ideology; no movement in the pro-life movement; no babies saved from abortion.But that is not what happened. Instead, thousands of Canadians stepped up to fight for the vulnerable. There is no better fight, and I for one am grateful for all that was done, all who participated, and all that was accomplished.Jonathon Van Maren is a communications consultant with The Acacia Group, a legal consultancy providing services to churches, charities, non-profits and religious institutions.