The pro-life advocacy organization Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) is weighing its legal response after being publicly labelled a “far right Christian nationalist group” by a federally-subsidized anti-fascist network.
“There are potential repercussions from a label like this,” said Pete Baklinski, communications director for Campaign Life Coalition. “It’s not something we take lightly. We’re going to fight this. We’re going to pursue what legal options we can.”
In a recently published handbook, 40 Ways to Fight the Far-Right, the Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN) blacklists both CLC and the Catholic media LifeSiteNews as “far right” and “Christian nationalist” groups. CAHN enjoys access to the ears of Ottawa officials, and over the past two years has received federal government funding totalling $640,000.
A search of the Open Canada site shows CAHN, founded in 2018, received $200,000 in April 2024 from Public Safety Canada for an agreement to create an “Ethical Framework for Research on Far-Right Organizing in Canada.”
At the end of 2023, CAHN received a two-year $440,000 grant from Heritage Canada for a project called “Informing, Connecting, and Encouraging Anti-Hate Activities in Canada.”
Its recent 40 Ways handbook is a Canadian adaptation of a 2018 book of a similar title by Spencer Sunshine, an antifascist activist from the United States. The book offers techniques for targeting, disrupting and undermining groups that CAHN deems dangerous to the body politic.
It suggests that anti-hate activists should drive “wedges between individuals and groups,” “remove and replace far-right propaganda,” “make it hard for far-right groups to meet,” “document their rallies” and “organize counter-demonstrations.”
The authors provide as an example the counter demonstration by the group that gathers each year to shout down the National March for Life in Ottawa, which has been organized every year since 1998 by Campaign Life.
Baklinski says publicly labelling the pro-life organization “far right” could “grieviously” impede its ability to function.
“We work with government organizations to run our events. We run the National March for Life every year. We must apply for a permit in preparation. If we have this hate label attached to us, and the government has policies about not working with explicit ‘hate groups’ who have been labeled as such by their pet organization, are we going to be denied our ability to get permits and to do our operations?”
In addition to CAHN’s hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding, its leadership has provided counsel to the government on certain legislation and policy.
Bernie Farber, founding chair of CAHN, was appointed in 2022 to a government advisory group mandated to help draft a proposal to combat “online hate.” In March 2024, the government tabled Bill C-63.
In an opinion piece written for the Toronto Star, Farber introduced the legislation with vigour.
“Hate online has become the communications of choice for extremist murderers to choose their minority victims from twisted ideologies consumed online…. So now with Bill C-63 we have more tools in our legal tool chest to hopefully prevent such radicalization and grief in the future.”
Provisions of the legislation have created concern in the legal community, particularly its section 320.1001 which states that anyone who commits an offence deemed a “hate crime” “is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for life.”
Baklinski noted Campaign Life was caught off guard by the extremist labelling.
“The Canadian Anti Hate Network usually goes after us for being pro-marriage and pro-life. To suddenly list us as a Christian nationalist group? That was surprising.”
He noted CAHN defined the term “Christian nationalism” as the belief that “Canada was founded on authoritarian, conservative Christianity, and should be governed accordingly today.”
Given that Canada’s Charter of Rights says the country is “founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law,” Bakinski questioned whether by holding “what the Charter holds, all of a sudden you are a hater and a hate group.”
He added CAHN is doing the opposite of the government’s stated intention of breaking down barriers between Canadians.
“The government is funding an organization that is doing the very thing it’s trying to campaign against. The Canadian Anti-Hate Network is spreading division amongst Canadians. By trying to shut down groups, attempting to remove them from the public square, you are doing the very thing that you’re supposed to be campaigning against.”
