By early this afternoon, 717,000 people had watched a YouTube video of a man roundhouse kicking a woman last Sunday at a Life Chain rally in Toronto. This fearless tough guy has since been identified as Jordan Hunt, according to Lianne Laurence.
The story has been picked up by a couple of Canadian outlets but by many pro-life sites. The victim, who fortunately was not seriously injured, is Marie-Claire Bissonnette, Youth Coordinator for Campaign Life Coalition.
She told what happened in a very disturbing post at LifeSiteNews. Here are a number of excerpts from her account in which she details what happened to her as she was handing out signs at the corner of Bloor and Keele. Worth noting is that Mr. Hunt had already been aggressively hostile before he physically attacked Ms. Bissonnette,
Life Chain is an annual event which consists of thousands of pro-life women, men and children standing on over 200 street corners across Canada holding signs that read, “Abortion Hurts Women”, “Abortion Kills Children,” “Adoption, the Loving Option”, “Life, We Stand On Guard For Thee”, and “Pregnant and need help? Call (local pregnancy help centre phone number)”. This is an explicitly peaceful and silent protest. Participants are not allowed to begin conversations with passersby, nor are they allowed to display any aggressive behaviour at any point. No abortion victim photography is permitted. ..
One pro-abortion woman, probably in her late twenties, stood amongst us holding a sign that read, “My body, my choice, my right”. She was the only counter-protester present throughout, and she peacefully shared the corner with the rest of us.
According to Bissonnette, the man later identified as Hunt defaced two of their signs. “After I warned people to shield their signs, he then proceeded to run up behind five of the participants (including a ten-year-old girl) and scribble with his markers on their backs, ruining their clothing.”
It got worse.
After these acts of vandalism, he approached the pro-abortion demonstrator, evidently in order to seek her approval, which she appeared to deny him by discouraging his tactics. At this point I took out my cell phone and began to record him, telling him that what he did was destruction of private property and it was against the law. He asked me whether a sixteen-year-old girl who gets pregnant after being raped should keep her baby. I attempted to explain that her baby should be treated no differently than a three-year-old child who may have been conceived by rape.
As you watch the video (all this is, of course, after the fact), you can see something was coming. Hunt
then forcefully roundhouse-kicked me in the shoulder, which sent my phone flying and I yelled for someone to call the police. In defence of his violence he claimed he’d meant to kick my phone, and then, as a fellow Life Chain participant dialed 9-1-1, he yanked off the ribbon I’d been wearing on my chest and ran away, heading east on Bloor.
Bissonnette is 100% correct. All she omits is that just before he clobbered her, Hunt , tongue sticking out, positioned himself to hit her. After she dropped to the ground, Hunt whined, “I meant to hit your phone.” The fact that he could have inflicted serious damage if he had hit her just a few inches higher, may have run through his head.
Bissonnette wrote that Hunt
yanked off the ribbon I’d been wearing on my chest and ran away, heading east on Bloor.
A police car arrived, five to ten minutes later. The policemen rolled down their window but did not exit their vehicle.
I approached them and told them I was just assaulted and explained the situation. I showed them the video. They replied,
“What do you want us to do about it?”.
Bissonnette has filed a report with the Toronto Police but as of yesterday, no arrests had been made, according to Laurence.
Chelsea Garcia is a political writer with a special interest in international relations and social issues. Events surrounding the war in Ukraine and the war in Israel are a major focus for political journalists. But as a former local reporter, she is also interested in national politics.
Chelsea Garcia studied media, communication and political science in Texas, USA, and learned the journalistic trade during an internship at a daily newspaper. In addition to her political writing, she is pursuing a master's degree in multimedia and writing at Texas.
