Jared White – Master of Ceremonies
Jared White has been the Executive Director of Advokate, BC’s largest life-affirming charity, for over ten years. In that time he has overseen the creation of three pregnancy care centres and a thriving Province-wide sexual integrity program that has reached nearly 30,000 public school students to date.
He lives in Abbotsford with his wife and four children, and is passionate about all social justice issues, especially those that impact children and other vulnerable people groups. In his free time, Jared is active at his local parish, an avid weightlifter, and enjoys playing games with his wife and children. An accomplished public presenter to all ages, Jared is routinely a featured speaker at pro-life events including the BC March for Life.
Bishop Gary Gordon
Most Reverend Gary Michael Gordon was born on June 10, 1957, in Vancouver, British Columbia. He attended Christ the King Seminary in Mission, British Columbia; Resurrection College in Waterloo, Ontario; and St. Peter’s Seminary in London, Ontario, where he graduated in 1982. Bishop Gary was ordained to the priesthood on May 22, 1982, by Archbishop James Carney at his home parish, St. Francis de Sales, Burnaby. On June 14, 2014, Pope Francis appointed Most Reverend Gary Gordon as the 17th Bishop of Victoria.
Since his ordination, Bishop Gary’s love of nature and connecting with his congregation, especially with First Nations communities, developed a lifelong bond with the Stó:lō Nation. Embodying the model to Authentically Witness Excellence, his adventurous, outgoing spirit, and gift of storytelling endeared him to the community. Shortly after being appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Whitehorse in 2006, in honour of his evangelising and connecting with the people, Bishop Gordon received the name Xyolhmetoxw, which means ‘taking care of the people’ in Halq’eméylem, the language of the Stó:lō Nation.
In November 2014, when Bishop Gordon was appointed Shepherd of the Diocese of Victoria, he continued to personally engage, accompany, connect, model, and mentor, encouraging his staff and clergy to follow suit. Bishop Gordon guides and teaches in his own special, personal, and unique way—whether it is creating sandboxes as a prop to explain the complexities of Truth and Reconciliation to Grade Two students, working with inmates, victims, and families through Restorative Justice, or simply connecting with people on their own terms while fishing.
Brittany Garisto
Brittany is a proud wife and mother of two with her third on the way. She has become extremely passionate about the pro-life movement since the death of her second child, Joey. He was born with a rare genetic disorder and lived for ten months. Joey may have been small but he taught her what it truly means to be loved unconditionally and what a gift every life is. He showed her that honouring life from conception to its natural death brings innumerable blessings and that even amongst the suffering there can be great hope, joy and love that makes it all worthwhile.
Amanada Achtman
Amanda Achtman was born and raised in Calgary. Study trips to Germany, Poland, Rwanda, and Bosnia prompted her to ask, “If dehumanization is at the core of genocide, then what does it mean to humanize humanity?” Her ethical sensitivity has also been forged by encounters with refugees, the homeless, and friends and loved ones struggling with mental health challenges. Determined to protect the vulnerable and become a friend to anyone at risk of being devalued by others, Amanda is passionate about defending life’s meaning in the midst of suffering. Through writing, speaking, producing short films, and organizing community events, Amanda works to prevent euthanasia and encouraging hope across Canada through her cultural project, Dying to Meet You.
Father Larry Lynn
Father Larry Lynn is the Pro-life Chaplain for the Archdiocese of Vancouver and Pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Coquitlam. He was married and has three children and five grandchildren who all live in Montreal. Father Larry is a very late vocation, being ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Miller December 3, 2008, at sixty-six years of age. He considers himself blessed beyond measure to have received his calling and for having had the sense to submit to it.
Having enjoyed a long career as an award-winning cinematographer, Father Larry also directed several documentary films, including “Kids In Jail” for the National Film Board and “In the Spirit of Reconciliation” about the Residential Schools in the Northwest Territories.
Being extremely grateful for his own life, Father Larry promotes the dignity of the human person and the awesomeness of God’s creation wherever he finds himself.
Alex Schadenberg
• Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC) since July 1999.
• Executive Director of EPC-USA since January 2023.
• Chairperson for EPC-International since November 2007.
• Authored articles published in newspapers worldwide.
• Maintains the worlds most widely read blog on issues related to assisted death,
www.epcblog.org The EPC blog has published more than 5,200 articles and has had almost
8 million page views.
• Co-produced the film Fatal Flaws: Legalizing Assisted Death, The Euthanasia Deception
documentary and the film Turning the Tide.
• Published the book, Exposing Vulnerable People to Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide,
re-printed by Connor Publishing in Australia.
• Published A Commemorative Compilation of great articles on euthanasia and assisted suicide.
International Experience
• Speaking tours in Australia in October 2010 and June 2012.
• Speaking engagements in Scotland, Ireland, New Zealand, Hungary, Switzerland, Belgium,
Austria, Germany and Italy as well as throughout Canada and in more than 25 U.S. states.
• Organized the first conference on euthanasia at the European parliament in November 2022.
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC)
• The EPC was founded in 1998.
• The goal of EPC is to build a well-informed, broadly based membership of groups and
individuals to establish an effective social barrier to euthanasia and assisted suicide.
• Released Turning the Tide: Dignity, Compassion and Euthanasia in 2007, a film about
euthanasia and assisted suicide.
• Published the book Exposing Vulnerable People to Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide in 2013.
• Released The Euthanasia Deception in September 2016, a documentary containing stories of
people with personal experiences with euthanasia and assisted suicide.
• Released Fatal Flaws: Legalizing Assisted Death in May 2018, a film that reveals the flaws
in assisted death laws around the world.
• EPC is working on a new video series based on the reality of euthanasia in Canada.
Pastor Jack Schoeman
Pastor Jack Schoeman began his charge at Emmanuel Free Reformed Church in Abbotsford, British Columbia in February of 2015. He previously pastored Providence Free Reformed Church in St. George, Ontario and Bethel Free Reformed Church in Monarch, Alberta. Pastor Schoeman completed his undergraduate studies at McMaster University in Hamilton, and post-graduate studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, and Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary in Michigan. He was ordained into the ministry at Bethel FRC in 2000. Pastor Schoeman is married to Susan and together they have been blessed with six children.
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