Top court denies abortion protester’s final appeal

Woman faces charges for violating civil order

OTTAWA — A peaceful but relentless Toronto anti- abortion crusader who has spent more than nine years over two decades in jail for repeatedly violating a court order to quit picketing outside abortion clinics has lost her appeal before Canada’s highest court.

In an eight- to- one decision Friday, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled Linda Gibbons could be charged criminally for disobeying a civil order that dates back to 1994.

The 63- year- old, who is in jail again for disobeying a different court order and who is poised to resume her trial on that charge next week, has long argued she has a right to peaceful protest and that the courts were unfairly pursuing her because of her unpopular views on abortion.

The top court, however, was asked to rule on a far more technical matter — whether it is lawful that she be charged criminally for a civil violation.

Gibbons’ lawyer, Daniel Santoro, was hoping for a win so that the case could be brought before the same civil court that made the original order. He argued the criminal court judges his client has and will continue to face have little power to interpret, let alone quash the order.

That said, he vowed to continue the fight. “I will pursue my argument that the charge is an abuse of process because she is facing a charge for breaching an 18- year- old temporary order,” he said.

Gibbons was first charged in 1994 for breaching what was supposed to be a temporary civil injunction to keep 50 metres away from several Toronto abortion clinics.

It occurred six years after the Supreme Court struck down Canada’s anti- abortion laws and two years after the firebombing of Henry Morgentaler’s Toronto clinic at the height of tense anti- abortion protests.

She’s since been arrested more than 20 times for violating the injunction and has spent considerable time behind bars for it, the longest stretch being 700 consecutive days.

This case relates to her 2008 arrest for holding a sign within 18 metres of The Scott Clinic in Toronto. Her most recent arrest happened in December, days after her case was brought before the Supreme Court, and relates to a breach of a different civil injunction.