Heather Stilwell (January 26, 1944 – December 4, 2010) was a Canadian political activist and former school trustee in

Surrey, British Columbia Surrey is a city in British Columbia, Canada. It is located south of the Fraser River on the Canada–United States border. It is a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver regional district and metropolitan area. Mainly a suburban city, Su ...

. A staunch

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

, she was well known for her opinions opposing

homosexuality Homosexuality is Romance (love), romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romant ...

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

, and

sex education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, sexual activity, sexual reproduc ...

. She and her husband Bill were involved in the creation of the Christian Heritage Party in 1984 after a dozen or so people discussed the concept of such a party, which was registered with

Elections Canada Elections Canada (french: Élections Canada)The agency operates and brands itself as Elections Canada, its legal title is Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (). is the non-partisan agency responsible for administering Canadian federal electio ...

in June 1986. From April 1993 to March 1994 she was the interim leader of the party and ran in the 1993 federal election in the riding of

Surrey—White Rock—South Langley Surrey—White Rock—South Langley (formerly known as Surrey—White Rock, South Surrey—White Rock and Surrey) was a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1968 to 1 ...

. One of the most contentious policies of the Christian Heritage Party Policy is Section 6.4.3. which states: "Concerning the welfare of this Nation's citizens, we favour recriminalizing in the

Criminal Code of Canada The ''Criminal Code'' (french: Code criminel)The citation of this Act by these short titles is authorised by thEnglishantexts of section 1. is a law that codifies most criminal offences and procedures in Canada. Its official long title is ''A ...

the murder of pre-born children,

sexual deviancy Paraphilia (previously known as sexual perversion and sexual deviation) is the experience of intense sexual arousal to atypical objects, situations, fantasies, behaviors, or individuals. It has also been defined as sexual interest in anything ot ...

, and

pornography Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,

." She entered the leadership race for the CHP at the 1994 convention, but withdrew and instead ran for the party presidency. Heather Stilwell was also executive vice-president and leader of the

socially conservative Social conservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional power structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institution ...

Family Coalition Party of British Columbia The Family Coalition Party of British Columbia was a social conservative, anti-abortion provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. In the 1991 election, it nominated 8 candidates in the province's 75 ridings. They won a total of 1, ...

which later merged into the

British Columbia Unity Party The British Columbia Unity Party was a political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party was founded as an attempted union of five conservative parties: the Reform Party of British Columbia, the British Columbia Social Credit Party, the Brit ...

. Stilwell ran unsuccessfully in the 2001 provincial election, as a candidate in the riding of

Surrey-Panorama Ridge Surrey-Panorama Ridge was a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada from 2001 to 2009. Demographics Geography 1999 Redistribution Surrey-Panorama Ridge was created from *the southern half of ...

. She was a national board member and Western Regional Coordinator for the

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respo ...

group

Campaign Life Coalition The Campaign Life Coalition (sometimes shortened to Campaign Life) is a Canadian political lobbyist organization founded in 1978. Based in Hamilton, Ontario, the organization advocates for socially conservative values. Campaign Life Coalition op ...

, which strongly opposed what she referred to as " special rights for homosexuals". She was President of the Alliance for Life, a national

group based in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

and one-time President of the Surrey-Delta Pro-Life Association, the Pro-life Society of British Columbia, the Surrey-Delta Alliance For Life and the federal (Canadian) Alliance for Life. She was a member of the socially conservative lobby group REAL Women of Canada. As co-founder of the publicly funded Surrey Traditional School in 1994, Stilwell played a key role in objecting to library books that offended her Christian beliefs. These books were temporarily banned as they dealt with topics such as

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observan ...

, the

Wicca Wicca () is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religion categorise it as both a new religious movement and as part of the occultist stream of Western esotericism. It was developed in England during the first half of the 20th century and w ...

religion and native-Indian spirituality. After pressure from the public, the school board allowed these books back into the library. Stilwell became a member and eventual chair of the Surrey School Board. She voted to ban sex education and condom machines in Surrey schools. In 1997 she also voted, along with the majority of the school board, that three books dealing with families where both parents were of the same sex not be included as optional learning resources. These books were requested by a kindergarten teacher to teach his pupils about diversity and tolerance. A legal battle to overturn the decision to ban the three books went all the way to the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...

, where the school board's decision was overturned in 2002. The judgement in the case cited the need for families headed by same-sex couples to be respected. Chief Justice

Beverley McLachlin Beverley Marian McLachlin (born September 7, 1943) is a Canadian jurist and author who served as the 17th chief justice of Canada from 2000 to 2017. She is the longest-serving chief justice in Canadian history and the first woman to hold the p ...

dismissed the board's concerns that children would be confused or misled by classroom information about same-sex parents. She pointed out that the children of same-sex parents are rubbing shoulders with children from more traditional families and wrote: "Tolerance is always age-appropriate, children cannot learn unless they are exposed to views that differ from those they are taught at home." The legal fees ended up costing Surrey taxpayers over $1,200,000. Stilwell ran as an independent candidate for the School Board in the Surrey municipal election held Nov 19, 2005, and won re-election. In May 2007 Stilwell proposed a motion to ensure that if the film ''

An Inconvenient Truth ''An Inconvenient Truth'' is a 2006 American documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about former United States Vice President Al Gore's campaign to educate people about global warming. The film features a slide show that, by Gore's own e ...

'', about

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

, were used as a resource in the Surrey School District, other resources which give an opposing view would also be used. This motion was unanimously passed by other members of the Board of Education. An article on the CBC website has quoted her on ''An Inconvenient Truth'': "I think there is climate change, there's no question about that. Whether what Al Gore says about it is the truth, I have questions."CBC News: "Inconvenient Truth raises questions in B.C. school district"
/ref>

Death

In 2008, she resigned from the school board when she was diagnosed with

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or ...

. She died from the cancer on December 4, 2010, aged 66.

References

External links

Heather Stilwell's website
accessed November 7, 2009 {{DEFAULTSORT:Stilwell, Heather 1944 births 2010 deaths British Columbia candidates for Member of Parliament British Columbia school board members Deaths from cancer in British Columbia Canadian anti-abortion activists Canadian Roman Catholics Canadian women in municipal politics Christian Heritage Party of Canada leaders Deaths from breast cancer Female Canadian political party leaders People from Surrey, British Columbia Women in British Columbia politics