by PATRICK LEJTENYI

Montreal might not seem the ideal place to hold a national pro-life, anti-gay-marriage, curse-the-secular- humanist-agenda conference. Don’t we take great pride in our city for being open-minded, socially liberal and happily louche? Aren’t we miles away—literally and metaphorically—from the thundering, fiery brimstone and hellfire of Evangelicals and the rigid codes of Catholicism? Aren’t we the ultimate northeastern liberal city?

Generally yes, but don’t tell Luc Gagnon. The bespectacled 36-year-old francophone heads Campagne Québec Vie (CQV), whose catchphrase, “Un peuple qui tue ses enfants n’a pas d’avenir (a nation that kills its children has no future),” pretty much tells you where they stand on the political spectrum. A devout, practising Catholic, Gagnon will be playing host to the who’s who of Canada’s religious right at the Life and Family 2005 conference at St. Joseph’s Oratory, running from Thursday, Nov. 17 to Saturday, Nov. 19. Featured guests include Archbishop Emeritus of Vancouver Adam Exner, Bruce Clemenger, president of the B.C.-based Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, Jean Migneault of the local Knights of Columbus, former Montreal Gazette editor Peter Stockland and Conservative Party MP Stockwell Day.

The conference’s overarching theme is values—how Canada lost them, and how Canadians are headed to Hell in a handbasket as long as we keep on losing them. “Only by returning to traditional values can Canadians be assured of a happy and prosperous future,” Gagnon tells the Mirror.

Look south, Christian

In terms of specifics, the conference will be broken down into 10 sessions, each one looking at big issues facing the family-values crowd. “They will, for the most part, be deliberations and not debate,” says Gagnon. “Everyone attending is pro-life and pro-family.”

From the opening mass on Thursday evening to the closing prayer service on Saturday, gay marriage, euthanasia, abortion and stem-cell research will be condemned. Session titles include the usual Christian right gravitas and hyperbole: “The Family and Marriage in Crisis,” “Life Versus Death: Today’s Cultural Battles,” “Quebec and Canada Towards the Abyss of Death,” etc. Others will look at the role media and politicians play in defending “life and the family.”

If this all sounds rather red-state, it’s no accident. “We look to the U.S. as a model,” says Gagnon. Not just for moral leadership, but also as an example of how a re-energized and mobilized religious right can dictate elections and political agendas. “The U.S. has changed over the past 30 years, it went through a total change,” Gagnon says. “Bush was re-elected last year thanks in large part to his opposition to gay marriage.”

Gagnon, who is unmarried, claims CQV has “several thousand” members, while the Campaign Life Coalition, the umbrella federation of pro-life groups in Canada, has members “in the tens of thousands.” Its supporters come from all political stripes: there are Conservatives, naturally, but also dissenting Liberals like Ontario MP Dan McTeague and former bloquiste Ghislain Lebel, who’ve fallen out with their parties over the gay-marriage issue.

“This is not a partisan conference,” says Gagnon, although he hopes to mobilize grassroots into supporting candidates who share his group’s views. “I consider it the duty of Canadian citizens with strong moral values to get involved in electoral politics,” he says.

Abort mission

While there won’t be much of a debate inside the Oratory, protesters will be gathering outside to denounce what they consider an anti-woman and anti-immigrant platform. “Everyone I know is just outraged that they have the audacity to hold this conference in Montreal, which we consider to be a tolerant, inclusive city,” says Amy Miller, a spokeswoman for the Coalition avortons leur congrès (CALC—Abort Their Conference Coalition). “But we don’t tolerate hate within our community.”

To Miller, the conference is the wrong event at the wrong place at the wrong time. The Oratory is up the street from the Université de Montréal’s École Polytechnique, where, on Dec. 6, 1989, Marc Lepine murdered 14 women, claiming feminists ruined his life.

“For me, it’s very evident,” Miller says. “This conference is systematically targetting women and promoting the same discourse Marc Lepine did: women should be at home, being homemakers and giving birth.”

The coalition is planning two demonstrations, the first on Thursday evening at 6 p.m., meeting at Côte-des-Neiges metro, which, Miller says, will have a “carnival-esque” atmosphere, with signs, banners, blown-up condoms, noisemakers and the like. The demo will be “theatrical, and a little crass,” she promises. The second will be Saturday at noon, meeting at Parc Jean-Brilliant, corner Decelles. That one, she promises, will be more family-friendly.