By Nick Ubels (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: April 10, 2013
A pro-life presentation at UFV scheduled to take place tonight has been postponed by the university. Members of Life Link, the student club responsible for the event, contend that it has been cancelled by the administration.
The group invited Michael Schouten of WeNeedALaw.ca to speak in favour of a law banning sex-selective abortions in Canada.
In an April 8 press release, Life Link president Ashley Bulthuis framed the dispute as a censorship issue, asking “[w]hy has the university suddenly disregarded its commitment to free speech in regards to the gendercide and abortion issues?”
Last year’s Life Link president Rebecca Groen echoed these sentiments, citing a successful debate the club held last year with attendance of over 100 students as evidence that the university’s security concerns are not legitimate.
Ashley Bulthuis said that the organizers were asked to meet with Student Life manager Jill Harrison on Thursday to discuss some new concerns about event security.
“She told us … that protesters were planning on coming,” Bulthuis explained, “that there probably wouldn’t be enough time to put up security for that. So that was our first contact with her and we left with the understanding that it would be somehow worked out to have the event.”
Despite her optimism about the event following the meeting with Harrison, Life Link received an email from Student Life on the following day notifying them that the event would not be allowed to proceed as planned.
Anastasia Pearse, western campus coordinator for the National Campus Life Network, a nationwide organization that Life Link belongs to, provided additional details about their take on the dispute. Pearse explained that delaying the event so late in the semester was the same as cancelling it, since it will be difficult to reorganize before most students leave campus for the summer.
“I feel that there could have been time to work with the university during that time frame, but their solution was to just cancel the whole event,” Pearse said. “Being the end of the semester, there’s no chance to reschedule until September, and that’s effectively cancelling the event.”
Press releases from the National Campus Life Network have complained the decision was “illegal.” Elaborating on this, Pearse explained that there is no UFV policy that provides grounds for the postponement.
“They have no legal basis … to cancel the event,” she said.
In light of Conservative Langley MP Mark Warawa’s motion 408, recently deemed “undebateable” in Parliament, Pearse is unsatisfied with the option to postpone the event for long.
“There is a bit of urgency sharing the message given the political goings-on,” she added.
While Life Link and its affiliates have framed the dispute as a censorship issue, UFV officials have cited security concerns.
Preliminary planning sessions between the club and the university began in March, but according to VP students Jody Gordon, the university had not been notified that the event would include an external speaker and external advertising until, “late last week.”
According to Life Link president Ashley Bulthuis, full details of the event were not provided when the room was booked in March; she emailed Student Life programmer Martin Kelly on April 2 with the name of the speaker and further information about the planned event.
Gordon also cited security concerns over a planned protest that was brought to light by UFV’s Student Union Society on Friday.
“Due to the short notice, we did not have enough time to do a fulsome risk assessment to ensure the safety and security of our campus community and external visitors,” Gordon wrote in an email response to The Cascade’s questions.
“UFV did not cancel the presentation,” Gordon concluded.
Life Link has sought legal counsel from the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) who issued a letter to the university requesting that they reverse their decision to postpone the event.
JCCF has advocated in many controversial freedom of speech disputes, including other conflicts between anti-abortion groups and universities across Canada.
