“It’s important for people to say that life is important. It’s precious,” said Michèle Gagnon, who joined a demonstration at Yonge and Steeles in Toronto.

Gagnon has participated in Life Chain for close to 20 years.  

“Just to remind people how precious life is from the moment of conception to natural death,” she said. “It is our duty to defend the weakest members of our society.”

What began as an American movement, the annual National Life Chain was brought to Canada by Campaign Life Coalition. It is an opportunity for people to pray, give peaceful witness and exercise their freedom of speech and expression in hopes of “changing hearts and minds of passersby” on the issue of abortion.

Each protest lasted 60 minutes. Participants held signs with messages such as: “Abortion hurts women” or “Life the first inalienable right.”

“In just one hour, a hundred people at a busy intersection, with pro-life signs, are able to communicate their message to thousands of passersby,” said Deny Dieleman, National Coordinator for Life Chain Canada.

Life Chain began in 1987 in California with about 2,000 participants. The annual event now involves hundreds of thousands of participants in more than 1,600 cities across North America.