Your response is needed. This month (January, 2014) a petition was created to express opposition to Guelph & Area Right to Life’s bus ads. Over 2500 people have signed this petition. While this petition carries very little usefulness a) because of wording b) because of who it is directed to, the petition does make these bus ads appear unpopular. It will shortly be sent to Mayor Karen Farbridge, the City of Guelph and Guelph Transit. As a result Guelph & Area Right to Life is asking you to quickly express your support for Guelph & Area Right to Life’s bus advertisements in three easy steps.
1) Forward this email to [email protected]
2) In your forward write
a) Your first and last name
b) Your organization (if applicable)
c) Your mailing address (you will not be added to a mailing list)
d) Your phone numberBy providing your information you are agreeing to the Statement of Support written below. Your name and organization will be included in a list of social movements, human rights organizations and individuals who share the beliefs expressed on Guelph & Area Right to Life’s bus ads. This list will be sent to Guelph’s mayor, the City of Guelph and Guelph Transit.
3) IMPORTANT: Please cc the following in your forward to [email protected]
Mayor Karen Farbridge: [email protected]
City of Guelph: [email protected]
Guelph Transit: [email protected]Cc’ing the email addresses above immediately highlights to them existence of support for beliefs expressed in the bus ads while Guelph & Area Right to Life waits for all names and organizations to send in their support.
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STATEMENT OF SUPPORT
Guelph & Area Right to Life’s advertisements carried on Guelph Transit buses express important belief held by Canadian citizens; Canadians believe 1) scientific data exists to provide evidence showing a human who is not yet born is a human child and 2) there are alternatives to abortion.
Expression of this belief, and opposing beliefs, is protected under Section 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: “Everyone has the…freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication”. While this belief is offensive to some, the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards states offense “…is not sufficient grounds for objecting to an advertisement…”. Further, these ads do not breach or violate the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards.
The social movements, human rights organizations and individuals listed below welcome and support the initiative taken by Guelph & Area Right to Life to express their belief and opinion through advertisements carried on Guelph Transit.
by 
I wonder if those of us who live on the other side of the country would be helping or hindering this effort if we were to write in. I know that if I were a local politician, I would immediately ignore responses from outside my jurisdiction, and I would be awfully annoyed if there were lots of them. I tend to think that the people in Guelph ought to be the ones who have the say on this issue, and the rest of us ought to butt out.
But then, you’ve gotta wonder how many of the people who signed the petition to remove the ads were not Guelph residents.