The Barrhead and Neerlandia Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA) chapter was involved in the placing of over 10,000 flags on Monday, Nov. 10.
The flags are a display of pro-life, and could be seen from both near and far.
Pink and blue flags scattered the ground and fluttered in the wind, in the field beside the Barrhead Neighbourhood Inn located on just the outskirts of town.
Each flag represented 10 unborn children, and sent a strong message to everyone who came to see the demonstration.
“What we like to do is represent the unborn children that are aborted,” Barrhead and Neerlandia ARPA events coordinator Jaqueline Hamoen said.
“We wanted to make the display to make people aware that in Canada alone over 100,000 babies are actually aborted, and most of those are girls,” she said. “Between 60 to 75 percent of those are girls.”
Pre-born Human Rights is a program created in hopes of bringing an abortion law to Canada, especially in regards to gender selected abortions.
“We don’t have a law in Canada, we would like to see a law,” Hamoen said. “At the last conservative conference in Calgary, there was a unanimous vote that they were going to put a law in place against gender selection abortion.”
Hamoen then said it never went any farther than that.
“We have never heard anything after that,” she said. “We are just one of the three countries that don’t.”
China and North Korea are two of the other countries that do not have a law in place in regards to abortion.
Hamoen said that ARPA has made her open her eyes to the political side of things as well, and has helped her understand how to help push forward in creating laws.
“Our goal is to let’s make a law, we need a law for that,” she said.
Hamoen said that ARPA is available for those who do not know how to go about standing up against the government, and helping bring laws into the light of decision makers, and they are there to provide advice, and leverage.
The ARPA website weneedalaw.ca, says that Canada is the only nation in the Western world without a law in place regarding this subject, and ARPA are working hard to change that.
Hamoen said the demonstration was held on a Monday because of weather, and was brought to the area due to request.
“It was requested by a few people in Barrhead that they would like to see the display,” she said.
Hamoen added that if the ground freezes prior to the demonstration they are unable to place the flags in the ground, so they decided the sooner the better.
For Hamoen it was also convenient that the students were not in school, so they were available to help place the flags, and parents were available to ask questions.
The Barrhead/Neerlandia chapter began in 2009, and has continuously focused on a variety of human rights commissions, and has a membership base of over 100 people.
ARPA was established for a variety of reasons, including providing advice, help, and to help point young men and women in the right direction.
“That is the whole point, there are options out there, there is help out there,” she said, adding that another reason why ARPA exists is to educate.
One of the other options available is adoption, and it is often difficult for families to find children to adopt due to the small numbers of children in the agencies, Hamoen said.
“There is so little coming in,” she said.
Hamoen said the biggest thing for the ARPA is to have a voice for the children who don’t have one, and for them to speak up in a peaceful and remarkable way.
“That is why those flags were there,” she said, adding it is the way that ARPA uses their voice for the unborn.
“Other than the March for Life this is probably one of the biggest (demonstrations) we do across Canada,” Hamoen said.
When it comes to demonstrating in small communities, Hamoen said it is always a surprise for people how many babies are aborted in Canada each year.
“There is other one’s that did not realize that there are groups like this that speak out for the unborn,” she said. “The reason we do it as well is to get the community aware of what is going on in Canada.”
“If we can take small steps in making them aware of what is going on in Canada, whether they are for it, whether they are against it, they are aware of what is happening,” Hamoen said.
