Karla Gets A Pass; Linda [Gibbons] Still in Prison

[Connie Fournier]

Ontario’s Perverse Laws: Karla Gets A Pass; Linda Still in Prison

From Real Women.ca
http://www.socon.ca/or_bust/?p=8337

Karla Holmolka is Canada’s most notorious female criminal. The crimes she committed could only be described as heinous. She was incarcerated in 1995, and released in 2005, serving ten years of jail time. Ten years for the brutal slaying of three innocent girls.

Linda Gibbons has been in and out of jail for the past fifteen years. When you add it up, her jail time totals over seven years now. This last session has been a long one, with Linda in jail for over 570 consecutive days. So, what is Linda’s grave crime?

Linda is guilty of praying in front of abortion clinics and for offering counsel to the women who are about to undergo an abortion. Many of you will be astounded to learn that this is a crime in Canada. But it is the truth.

In 1994, Ontario NDP Premier Bob Rae and Attorney General Marion Boyd decided to clamp down on pro-life picketing by passing an injunction that would not allow pro-life people inside a 60 foot “bubble zone” around specific abortion clinics in Ontario. It was no secret that Bob Rae’s NDP government of the day was adamantly pro-abortion.

Pro-lifers were upset by the injunction. They felt duty-bound to attempt to counsel women to reconsider their decision to abort. Pro-lifers wanted to be present outside the abortion clinics, to be a prayerful and peaceful presence. The injunction forced pro-lifers across the street from the clinics, where they were virtually ineffective.

Linda Gibbons believes that she must answer to a higher authority than the provincial government when it comes to the issue of abortion. She thinks the legislation is shortsighted, as it does not allow women the opportunity for last minute assistance and it does not allow pro-lifers the opportunity to offer that assistance.

Linda is not willing to stand, ineffectively, across the street from the abortuary. Furthermore, she believes that sidewalks are public space.

And so, Linda’s epic battle against the provincial government of Ontario began on September 2, 1994 when she was first arrested for violating the bubble zone injunction. Linda has been arrested many times in the intervening fifteen years. She refuses to sign the conditions that will allow her bail, i.e. not to appear within the bubble zone. She does her jail time, and then goes back to the streets to continue her pro-life efforts.

Many of you will wonder what motivates Linda. Many of you will think her actions are futile. Or foolish.

She calls it a “street ministry” and firmly believes that “we need to maintain our witness in front of abortuaries.” Linda’s guide is her bible, which clearly states, “We ought to obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29) Through all her jail time, Linda’s bible has been her support and comfort. She has also been sustained by the outpouring of mail that she receives daily, from around the world.

Linda does not hide the fact that her own life was touched by abortion. She wants to spare women and men the pain that she experienced. The guilt that she feels because of her abortion motivates her to help others. She stands outside the abortion clinic, and offers to talk to the women going in. No hard sell and no heckling. Her manner is prayerful and peaceful.

But it is not lawful for Linda Gibbons to stand on the sidewalk and offer comfort, and so she is quickly re-arrested and returned to jail.

Slowly but surely, Linda’s plight is gaining public attention. Mainstream media have no ink to spare for a simple grandmother who refuses to accept the legality of a 1994 provincial injunction. Unless it’s from a “pro-choice” perspective, abortion is not a story that the mainstream media likes to visit anyway. But Linda’s persistence and perseverance are so extraordinary, that the story is gaining ground. Pro-life blogs mention her name frequently, and her story appeared, albeit briefly, in a recent National Post article.

Not many of us would be willing to go to jail to maintain our personal principles. Linda Gibbons is putting her pro-life beliefs on the line, willing to do serious jail time. Many consider Linda to be a pro-life heroine, a prisoner of conscience. REAL Women agrees with them.

To send a note of encouragement to Linda Gibbons, write:

Vanier Center for Women,
655 Martin Street, Box 1040,
Milton, ON, L9T 5E6
Attention: Linda Gibbons
- Authored by Pacheco

[Fabulous Fred]

Will the OPCP be any different?

Mike Harris wasn't, apparently.

This in itself is an unspeakable crime. I admire this woman greatly. She has the courage of her convictions.

I wonder what on earth is wrong with praying and talking to strangers on a public sidewalk?

Add a large measure of vulgarity and you have Whatcott.

Socialists! They love to kill innocence and fight for evil.

[Rambo Wong]

In China she would get what she deserves unless of course she is white.

[Marshall]

A travesty of justice but that is the lieberal MSM way. According to liberal thought she needs more time in jail to reflect on her unacceptable beliefs. IMHO this woman deserves the Order of Canada.

[ChangingColours]

Such a fair society we live in.

[Cecilia]

The National Post did a very good article on Linda Gibbons just yesterday.

Linda Gibbons
Is one woman’s 16-year protest a case of harassment or free speech?

Read more: http://life.nationalpost.com/tag/linda-gibbons/

[Hailey]

What is the address to write to Ms. Gibbons?

[RedDog]

This woman is in prison by her own free choice. If she choses to ignore court ordered direction that's her call. Of course, I also don't think inmates should be permitted to receive mail from any non-family member.

Conversely, the monster Karla fulfilled the terms ordered of her by the courts and the two cases have absolutely nothing in common.

[Hailey]

I found it:

Her address is:

Attention: Linda Gibbons
Vanier Center for Women
655 Martin Street, Box 1040,
Milton, Ontario
L9T 5E6, Canada

There are some mailing guidelines because the Detention Centre mailing department reads everything sent to the inmates:

1. Don't use stickers (address, return address, pro-life) on the envelope or card.
2. Don't send any laminated cards, bookmarks, prayer cards, pro-life pamphlets. Non-laminated items will get to her.
3. Don't ask direct questions about daily activity of the detention centre.
4. Put your address directly in the card or letter. (Sometimes the mail sorter keeps the envelope and Linda feels badly if she can't write back.)
5. If you would like to send a little monetary gift to Linda it must be a money order made out to “Linda Gibbons.” The detention centre will deposit the money directly to her account. She uses any donations for envelopes and stamps.
6. Many people add a variety of Christian reading material in their mailings to her. She often shares articles with others in the Centre. She can receive pro-life material that show the development of the baby but not post abortion photos. She can't receive books. Try to stick to one or two pages of reading materials or pamphlets

[Theresa]

RED DOG you make a valid point but at the same time I think you miss the point Connie is making via this article; which is the stark injustice of our Canadian Law.

If you read the National Post article you will discover the prosecutors have played games with Linda for years. They continuously charge her with different offenses so she cannot challenge the validity of the bubble zone, which opposes the Charters guarantee of free speech.

The bottom line here is that our Canadian juridical system has been manipulated to keep a conscientious objector in prison for 16 years. Her behavior may not constitute a crime if the charges were consistent and challenged properly in court.The same system was manipulated to allow a heinous torturer and murderer- to go free in less time then Linda has now served.

[T.G.]

If you read the National Post article you will discover the prosecutors have played games with Linda for years. They continuously charge her with different offenses so she cannot challenge the validity of the bubble zone, which opposes the Charters guarantee of free speech.

That's the real issue here. The culprits in this travesty should be sued to the hilt for malicious prosecution.

[Connie Fournier]

This woman is in prison by her own free choice. If she choses to ignore court ordered direction that's her call. Of course, I also don't think inmates should be permitted to receive mail from any non-family member.

Conversely, the monster Karla fulfilled the terms ordered of her by the courts and the two cases have absolutely nothing in common.

Sure. We can always blindly obey every unjust law that the state imposes on us, and we won't have to worry about going to prison (maybe).

[RedDog]

This woman is in prison by her own free choice. If she choses to ignore court ordered direction that's her call. Of course, I also don't think inmates should be permitted to receive mail from any non-family member.

Conversely, the monster Karla fulfilled the terms ordered of her by the courts and the two cases have absolutely nothing in common.

Sure. We can always blindly obey every unjust law that the state imposes on us, and we won't have to worry about going to prison (maybe).

It's not that I'm inclined to obey every unjust law - and I acknowledge that a great many are either unjust or simply in place to raise revenue. I've posted more than once that I would never register any firearm to any government of the day anywhere for example. I guess my point was that if one does jumping jacks in front of cameras looking for attention they shouldn't be surprised when they get it.

[Edward Kennedy]

The prosecutors in this situation are the same typeset of scum as the ones in the Bruce Montague case, they are better labelled persecutors and good men shot better people in the last two Great Wars.

[styky]

Serial abortion clinic protester released from jail

National Post Staff Jun 5, 2011 – 2:58 PM ET | Last Updated: Jun 7, 2011 10:01 AM ET

By Jane Switzer and Charles Lewis

Toronto — A 62-year-old grandmother released from jail after 28 months for picketing a Toronto abortion clinic says she promised her mother she would stay out of trouble long enough to visit her in British Columbia.

But Linda Gibbons vowed to return to the front lines of anti-abortion protests even if it almost certainly means an immediate return to jail.

“I want to, God willing, go see my mom in July. I haven’t seen her for three years,” Ms. Gibbons said in an interview Sunday, her second full day of freedom. “I believe I would probably be back at the abortion clinics shortly thereafter.”

Ms. Gibbons walked out of jail on Friday after Ontario Court Justice Mara Beth Greene granted her lawyer’s application requesting that she be released without conditions.

It was a surprising victory for the unrepentant protester who has spent 10 of the past 17 years in jail and inspired her 89-year-old mother to write a poem about her legal travails.

Amidst the Chile mining accident in 2010, her mother wrote: “It’s easier to get miners out of a hole than to get Linda out of a gaol.”

Over the past two decades Ms. Gibbons has been arrested repeatedly for breaching a court injunction forbidding her from protesting outside several downtown Toronto abortion clinics. Each time she could have walked free on bail she refused to sign an order agreeing to obey the injunction, calling her decision a “principled” stand against compromising her beliefs based on legal restrictions.

“For me to sign off is to say that I will compromise my commitment to the unborn when it comes to legal restrictions,” she said. “I’m not ready to toy with my commitment to pro-life. It would almost be like me telling the unborn, ‘Sorry, I can’t defend you this time.’”

Her most recent stint behind bars goes back to January 2009. Ms. Gibbons says the last 28 months were long, but that she compartmentalized her own problems to focus on counselling fellow inmates.

“I’m either counselling the women on their addictions, or I’m counselling some woman not to have an abortion, sharing the faith with them or giving them some encouragement to get through the day,” she says. “When you’re in there, you’re not saying, ‘I wish I wasn’t here.’ You’re just saying, ‘What do I do here?’”

In granting her release, the judge ordered Ms. Gibbons to return to court on Jan. 16, 2012 to face a charge of disobeying a court order that goes back to October 2008. The Crown has said that if Ms. Gibbons does not stay away from abortion clinics she would be re-arrested and charged, says her lawyer Daniel Santoro. But Ms. Gibbons insists she is not doing anything criminal.

“I’m there to defend my beliefs, but also to defend the Christian heritage of this country, that we are a country where we have freedom of expression, whether it be a religious or a value system.”

Since Aug. 30, 1994, when a civil court placed a temporary injunction around several abortion clinics in downtown Toronto at the request of the provincial Attorney-General, Ms. Gibbons has been arrested roughly 20 times for various offences under the Criminal Code. The injunction prevents protesters from standing a the door of the clinic but they are allowed to stand across the street.

Ms. Gibbons and others have said they need to close the door so they can counsel woman against having an abortion.

Mr. Santoro has argued that the case should never have been prosecuted criminally but should have been sent back to civil court. The civil court should have also decided whether to make the injunction permanent or quash it, he said.

This past winter, the Supreme Court of Canada agreed to hear Ms. Gibbons’ case. Mr. Santoro will argue a heavy-handed Crown used the Criminal Code to punish Ms. Gibbons beyond the severity of her offences.

“They have used the criminal process as a strategy to avoid an inquest on the civil side,” Mr. Santoro said in February.

The injunction was initially issued during a climate of great antagonism between those on both sides of the abortion issue.

It was only six years earlier that the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the country’s abortion law, making Canada the only Western country to have no rules and regulations on abortion.

In 1994, high-profile abortion doctor Henry Morgentaler wrote, “the freestanding clinics in Toronto are particularly vulnerable because service providers and women attending the clinics are easily identified.”

“These clinics have reported vandalism, arson and bomb threats. The seriousness of these activities is evident in the May 1992 destruction of the Morgentaler Clinic in Toronto as a result of a firebombing. In addition to these extreme measures, more common and ongoing tactics such as blockading clinics and assaulting patients and staff have had a profound impact on access.”

There was never any indication that Ms. Gibbons committed any violence or ever physically harassed anyone. She says the injunction muzzles legitimate pro-life free speech, and will return to her familiar posts outside abortion clinics regardless of the injunction.

“I have really said in my mind that as long as the injunctions exist and God gives me the ability to stand on my feet, that I will continue to challenge these injunctions as long as they exist.”

National Post
http://life.nationalpost.com/2011/06/05 ... from-jail/