Dear Vice-President Vance,
Your remarks earlier this year at the Munich Security Conference made it clear that under the current administration, the United States will not ignore the erosion of fundamental freedoms, whether at home or among its allies.[1] Your stand for free speech, religious liberty, and the moral and spiritual foundations of democracy has inspired many of us who find ourselves increasingly marginalized in our own country.
On behalf of Quebec’s pro-life and pro-faith community, I write to draw your urgent attention to the escalating suppression of freedom of religion and pro-life speech in Quebec and across Canada. Once a nation that championed many fundamental truths, Canada is increasingly muzzling those who uphold the sanctity of life and our shared Christian heritage. In Quebec – a society transformed by the 1960s Quiet Revolution’s rejection of its Catholic roots – we now face a regime that openly treats public faith and pro-life advocacy as enemies to be purged rather than voices to be heard. The situation has become dire.
In recent years, Quebec’s government has enacted a 50-meter “bubble zone” around abortion facilities, making it illegal for us even to pray or offer help on public sidewalks near the facilities. Peaceful pro-life citizens have been threatened with heavy fines simply for holding signs reading “Pregnant and worried? We can help” inside these zones.[2] Meanwhile, militant pro-abortion demonstrators – including Antifa-style agitators armed with smoke bombs – are effectively given free rein to intimidate and attack pro-life gatherings.[3] This past May 31st in Quebec City, what should have been a peaceful March for Life turned into a street battle: Radicals ignited smoke bombs inside crowds of families and elderly believers, and even threatened a local hotel into cancelling our pro-life banquet through fear and intimidation. Disturbingly, Quebec authorities stood by in seeming complicit silence as this mob trampled our rights.[4]
This pattern extends beyond street activism into government policy. Under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, federal authorities have threatened to strip churches and pro-life charities of their charitable status merely for upholding biblical teachings on life and family. A parliamentary committee recently recommended removing “advancement of religion” as a recognized charitable purpose and specifically targeting pro-life organizations for denial of charity status.[5] If implemented, this would mean churches, faith-based food banks, pregnancy centers and countless charities losing tax-exempt status – a move that a Canadian cardinal warns would devastate the very fabric of our civil society.[6] Indeed, nearly 40% of Canada’s 70,000 charities are religious, and many vital social services would vanish if Ottawa carries out this purge.[7] This is, in truth, a direct attack on the freedom of religion that has characterized our nation. As one prolife leader observed, “it’s a direct assault on religious freedom and the values that have built this nation, founded, as our Charter states, on principles that recognize the supremacy of God.”[8]
Quebec’s own provincial leaders have become unapologetic in their hostility toward public faith. Premier François Legault has already banned religious symbols for many public servants under the guise of “secularism” (Bill 21) – a law that forces teachers and police to remove visible crosses, hijabs, or yarmulkes or else lose their jobs.[9] He even boasts that this aggressive secularism is “in continuity with the Quiet Revolution…a principle that unites us as a nation in Quebec.”[10] Now, Legault’s government is entertaining an outright ban on public prayer anywhere in Quebec – an almost unthinkable measure.[11] This proposal was floated after a few isolated incidents of Islamic street prayers in Montreal, but rather than address those reasonably, the province’s response was to consider prohibiting all public expressions of faith. Such a blanket ban is alarming and disproportionate. As I told Rebel News, banning public prayer for everyone in Quebec because of a single disturbance is “like killing a fly with a bazooka” – it reeks of a pretext to drive all religion from the public square.[12] Many of us suspect the true target of this policy is Christianity itself. The current progressive elite in Quebec – secularists who view the Church as their “true rival” – seem determined to eliminate any public influence of faith that challenges their ultra-liberal agenda.[13]
Mr. Vice-President, we appeal to you and the U.S. government to not remain indifferent. We know you have warned allies in Europe that America will not overlook the erosion of freedom.[14] We urge you to warn Canada as well. The Canadian government’s blatant violations of free speech and freedom of religion – from criminalizing silent prayer to punishing faith-based charities – must have consequences on the international stage. Specifically, we call on you to use all diplomatic and economic tools at your disposal to press for an immediate end to these abuses. Trade and partnership with the United States should no longer be a blank check for regimes that crush basic liberties.
Finally, we ask that you stand with the millions of Canadians of goodwill who are fighting to reclaim our country’s true spiritual and moral principles. In the long term, only political change will end this persecution. The current government in Quebec (and its allies in Ottawa) have made clear that pro-life Christians are not welcome as full participants in our own society. This must not stand. With support from leaders like you on the world stage, we are hopeful that we can peacefully usher in a new government – one that once again recognizes the sanctity of human life, respects freedom for religion to flourish, and upholds legitimate expression as rights. Until that day, we will continue to resist injustice through every legal and peaceful means. We ask for your prayers, your voice, and your action on our behalf.
Sincerely,
Georges Buscemi
President, Quebec Life Coalition (Campagne Québec-Vie)
Date: June 30, 2025
[1] Munich Security Conference 2025 Speech by JD Vance :
[2] Campagne Québec-Vie to Challenge Quebec’s 50-Meter Buffer Zone
Law in Superior Court Next Week – Quebec Life Coalition
[3] Hundreds of pro-abortion activists attack, intimidate March
for Life in Quebec – LifeSite
[4] Ibid.
[5] Finance committee calls for stripping religious, pro-life groups of charitable status
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Faith under fire: The federal proposal that could wipe out 32,000 religious charities
[9] Quebec’s highest court upholds law banning public servants from wearing religious
symbols – LifeSite
[10] Ibid.
[11] After religious symbols law, Quebec eyes ban on public prayer: Where the province is headed on secularism
[12] Police on site as Christians deliver petition against public prayer ban in Quebec City
https://www.rebelnews.com/police_on_site_as_christians_deliver_petition_against_public_prayer_ban
[13] Ibid. (See accompanying video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-GW9GyQ97g)
[14] Munich Security Conference 2025 Speech by JD Vance :
