In 2022, the City of London enacted a by-law prohibiting the door-to-door distribution of any image of an unborn child unless it is sealed in an envelope with a warning that it may be offensive or disturbing. Breaching the by-law can result in fines of up to $5,000.
The by-law significantly hinders pro-life organizations—such as ARPA Canada—from including ultrasound images in their informational materials even though such images are not graphic or disturbing. ARPA Canada has brought a legal challenge in the Ontario Divisional Court, arguing that the City lacks the statutory authority to enact this form of content-based regulation and that the by-law unjustifiably infringes freedom of expression on a matter of profound public importance. ARPA Canada expects a hearing to take place in the spring of 2026.
You can read our factum here.
The CHP tried to run an ad on a bus shelter that said, “Woman: Adult Female” beneath a picture of a smiling young woman. The ad also had the tagline, “Bringing respect for life and truth to Canadian politics, The Christian Heritage Party of Canada.” The City rejected the ad, alleging that the ad was discriminatory and denied transgender persons’ identity and experience. The CHP challenged that decision before the Ontario Divisional Court and lost. The Ontario Court of Appeal, the province’s top court, granted leave to appeal. ARPA was granted leave to intervene in the appeal as a friend of the Court. ARPA submits that defining “woman” is a matter of profound public importance and deserves strong free speech protections, and that publicly stating a political party’s position on the issue is not unlawful discrimination.
You can read our factum here. The appeal hearing is scheduled for February 3, 2026.
The Supreme Court of British Columbia
Summary:
Former Jehovah’s Witnesses requested access to personal information about themselves in the possession of their former congregations, in the form of elders’ notes. The congregations refused, arguing that the information sought included notes on confidential deliberations about the spiritual status of the now disfellowshipped members. The B.C. Privacy Commissioner ordered that the documents be handed over to the Commissioner for review. The elders of the congregations challenged this order in Court. In 2023, ARPA intervened, defending the institutional freedom of religious organizations and urging the court to ensure that any compelled production of religious records serves a legitimate civil law purpose. The lower court found in favour of the Commissioner. The elders have appealed and ARPA has intervened in the appeal as well.
ARPA Canada’s submissions to the Supreme Court of British Columbia.
ARPA Canada’s submissions to the British Columbia Court of Appeal.
Articles:
B.C. court decides Jehovah Witnesses must turn over church records to Privacy Commissioner
Summary:
St. Catharines’ city council voted to adopt a by-law on the use of fetal images, supposedly in response to images of aborted babies being distributed in St. Catharines. The bylaw prohibited delivering a “graphic image” to private residences unless it is in a sealed envelope with a warning that it “contains a Graphic Image that may be offensive or disturbing to some people.” The bylaw defined “graphic image” as “an image or photograph showing, or purporting to show, a fetus or any part of a fetus,” meaning it also applied to ordinary ultrasound photos such as those used by We Need a Law. The bylaw also required the person who delivered the flyer to include their name and address on the envelope. ARPA Canada challenged the by-law, arguing that the City lacked jurisdiction to impose such a by-law, which was an exercise in politically motivated censorship. Three weeks before the scheduled court hearing, and six months into the litigation, the City of St. Catharines repealed the bylaw.
Articles:
Bylaws regulating fetal images are unacceptable acts of political censorship
Legal challenge launched against St. Catharines by-law that targets pro-life speech
The Supreme Court of Canada
Summary:
Mikhail Kloubakov and Hicham Moustaine were convicted of two offences, which are part of Canada’s laws against prostitution enacted in 2014. First, obtaining a material benefit from prostitution of another person and second, procuring a person to offer or provide sexual services for compensation. The accused challenged the constitutionality of these provisions. Their case made it all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada in 2024. ARPA Canada intervened jointly with the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada to defend the legitimacy of a law that prohibits prostitution per se, as a law that enforces and preserves fundamental societal norms connected to human dignity and equality, and that condemns the degradation of human sexuality inherent in prostitution.
The Supreme Court of Canada unanimously upheld the offences of materially benefiting from prostitution and procuring persons for prostitution in a unanimous judgment on July 24, 2025.
ARPA Canada’s submissions to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Articles:
Supreme Court Upholds Canada’s Prostitution Law, for now
Ontario Court of Appeal
Summary:
The accused participated in a pride parade under false pretenses, distributing flyers that condemned aspects of homosexuality. The flyer contained graphic images. It also contained a few Bible references. The Crown charged the accused with wilfully promoting hatred under the Criminal Code. The trial judge acquitted the accused, reasoning that while the flyer was offensive, it did not meet the high threshold for wilfully promoting hatred because it did not call for violence or call for the segregation of gay persons as dangerous. The Crown appealed the acquittal, arguing that Whatcott, by urging men to abstain entirely from homosexual sex, was calling for the abolition of gay men, and that this was inherently hateful. ARPA intervened, arguing that morally condemning someone’s conduct is not the same as advocating hatred or harm against that group. Thankfully, the Court of Appeal did not endorse the Crown’s line of argument mentioned above. The Crown did succeed in obtaining a re-trial, however, because the Court of Appeal found that the lower court had wrongly excluded certain evidence.
ARPA Canada’s submissions to the Ontario Court of Appeal.
Articles:
Ontario Court Of Appeal Orders New Trial on Criminal Hate Speech Charges
ARPA Intervenes in Criminal Hate Speech Case
Ontario Superior Court of Justice
Summary:
In 2023, ARPA challenged the City of Hamilton for refusing to post a Defend Girls campaign ad on public transit. The City claimed that the ad was misleading for implying that unborn children are human beings and that the ad thus violated its advertising policy. ARPA’s submissions picked apart the City’s reasons regarding the supposed inaccuracy of the ad and argued that Ad did not violate the City’s policy. A week before the court hearing, the City of Hamilton wrote to the court to say that the City had failed to take into consideration ARPA’s freedom of expression when rejecting the ad. The Court consequently declined to hear the case on the merits, accepted the City’s admission that it had not considered freedom of expression – despite the City’s evidence that it had done so – and directed the City to reconsider its decision and to pay $20,000 to ARPA for ARPA’s legal costs. In the end, the City accepted the Defend Girls ad.
ARPA Canada’s submissions to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
Articles:
ARPA Files Court Arguments Against City Censorship
Ontario Superior Court of Justice
Status: Active.
Summary:
An organization in favour of legalizing prostitution challenged Canada’s entire legislative framework on prostitution, which prohibits purchasing sex, profiting from the prostitution of others, promoting the prostitution of others, or recruiting or coercing others into prostitution. The Applicants argued that these criminal offences violated sex workers’ Charter rights to life, liberty, and security of the person by imposing dangerous working conditions on prostituted persons. ARPA intervened, arguing that prostitution is harmful to women and threatens their equality, and that a law designed to suppress prostitution to the greatest extent possible helps to combat the harm and inequality that prostitution causes. Thankfully, the court dismissed the entire challenge to Canada’s prostitution laws, concluding that Parliament has the power to prohibit prostitution.
ARPA Canada’s submissions to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
Articles:
Big win as Ontario Court upholds Canada’s prostitution laws
Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench
Summary:
This case dealt with the constitutionality of public health orders issued in Manitoba during COVID-19. The public health orders limited gatherings at places of worship. Churches and individual residents challenged the orders, arguing that the orders violated their freedom of religion, expression, and assembly. ARPA intervened in the case in the lower court and the Court of Appeal, arguing that the Charter’s strong support for institutional pluralism and lack of minimally impairing restrictions shows that the government’s restrictions on religious gatherings were unconstitutional. The Manitoba court acknowledged that the orders infringed Charter rights, but the court concluded it was justified under section 1 because of the seriousness of the public health emergency.
ARPA Canada’s submissions to the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench.
ARPA Canada’s submissions to the Manitoba Court of Appeal.
The Supreme Court of British Columbia
Summary:
Pastors were ticketed for disobeying public health orders after they organized a public gathering for in-person worship services. The pastors challenged the public health orders against in-person worship services. The chambers judge struck down the health orders to the extent they infringed the right to organize and participate in outdoor protests, but upheld the orders as they applied to worship services. That decision was appealed. ARPA intervened at both levels, arguing that governments must respect religious associations’ freedom to meet at least as well as secular and commercial associations or organizations. The lower court affirmed ARPA’s submission regarding the “sphere of spiritual authority” that churches have and which civil government must respect, although it upheld the public health order. The Court of Appeal also concluded that the ban on in-person gatherings for religious worship fell was reasonable in the circumstances. Both levels of court found that any difference in the way that religious gatherings versus other gatherings were treated was justified by the different nature and circumstances of religious gatherings, which made them potentially more likely to spread a virus.
ARPA Canada’s submissions to the Supreme Court of British Columbia.
ARPA Canada’s submissions to the British Columbia Court of Appeal.
Articles:
Recap of the Beaudoin v. B.C. Court Hearings on B.C.’s Prohibition of Corporate Worship