Powerful Speech by U of C Students‏

What follows is the speech that Cameron Wilson, U of C student, gave to the media on Monday, April 19, 2010. He read it on behalf of the team of pro-life students who were charged with non-academic misconduct for displaying the Genocide Awareness Project on campus:

Welcome friends and members of the press.

We of Campus Pro-Life have been told countless upon countless occasions that the Genocide Awareness Project, and the pictures contained therein, are offensive and hurtful to look at. But if an action is too terrible to look at, how then can it be tolerated? Why should we leave unchallenged and undebated a practice so horrific that words alone fail to describe it? In the many times we have exhibited this display, we have opened up discussion on campus, a place where ignited and educated debate should always feel at home. Furthermore, we have watched and offered counsel to many men and women who have been hurt by abortion, and who have never openly confronted this pain. There is an immense capacity for healing inherent in this display, and that – in and of itself – makes this display, without a shadow of doubt worth the cost that the university seeks to exact from us individually.

We hold that the university campus is meant to be a place of frank discussion and debate. A place where viewpoints are judged by their merit rather than extinguished by the use of force based on their relative unpopularity. We of Campus Pro-Life have a long history with the University of Calgary documenting our commitment to the principle of freedom of speech which needs not be long expounded here.

We simply wish to deliver a message to the University of Calgary about their suppression of our freedoms which we but used to defend society’s weakest elements.

Our message to the University is this: do unto us whatever you desire, punish us however you wish; but our convictions shall not change, and we shall not alter our actions based on intimidation.

We shall not abandon the unborn child to be murdered.
We shall not desert the single mom in crisis.
We shall not allow the evil of abortion to remain unexposed.
We shall not be intimidated by the threat of force.
We shall not be scared by the threat of expulsion.
We shall not back down from the stand we have made.

If they are to punish us, then we are content to let history revile them for their suppression of liberty.
If they are to punish us, then let the blood of the unborn child be upon their heads.
If they are to punish us then let the pain of the suffering mom be upon their conscience.
History will not remember what illegitimate excuse they used, other than as a derogative footnote; but history will remember their transgression against freedom, and it is upon this that posterity shall judge them.
So let the university do whatever action their twisted worldview sees fit, for we fear not the judgment of tyranny.

For further information, contact
CPL Club President Leah Hallman at (403) 808-3412, or
Vice-president (external) Cameron Wilson at (403) 668-9624.