(LifeSiteNews) – A top Canadian constitutional legal freedom group says it will launch a constitutional challenge on behalf of a man who was fined by police for wearing a pro-life sign on the side of the road calling for people to “pray” to end abortion.

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) noted in comments to LifeSiteNews that it has hired lawyers to assist Brian Jenkins from the Sherbrooke, Quebec area, who was fined for expressing his pro-life views.

“This is a case where law enforcement agencies, in addition to applying their regulations in a clearly illegal manner, attempted to use them to suppress speech they did not like,” constitutional lawyer Olivier Seguin said.

Seguin noted that in a modern society where “almost all areas of life are regulated” it is “essential that regulations are applied for legitimate, relevant purposes, and not for the purpose of persecution.”

Jenkins’ placard sign, which he was wearing and standing next to the road during a public rally, was in French and contained the words, as translated to English, “Let us pray for the end of abortion”

Jenkins is an outreach director for a non-profit organization and was at the November 1 pro-life rally on Belvédère Street in Sherbrooke. 

A local cop gave Jenkins a fine under a municipal bylaw that bans the use of “sandwich boards” in public places.

The JCCF noted, however, that the Sherbrooke bylaw “explicitly applies only to commercial advertising and solicitation.”

“Mr. Jenkins was not advertising, selling, or promoting any commercial activity,” the JCCF noted.

In comments to LifeSiteNews via the JCCF, Jenkins said he was “confused when I was told that I was in violation of a municipal ordinance.”

“Especially since I had not been approached in the previous four years while doing the same activity,” he added.

The JCCF warned that the Jenkins case raises broader “concerns about the misuse of municipal regulations to suppress peaceful expression on matters of public debate, even where the governing law clearly limits enforcement to commercial activity.”

As of press time, a hearing date has not been scheduled.

Quebec, as reported by LifeSiteNews, is one of the most pro-abortion provinces in Canada and has in place so-called “bubble zone” laws in front of abortion clinics.

Indeed, the National Assembly of Quebec last year introduced a bill that aims to establish a provincial constitution enshrining abortion and euthanasia “rights.”

So-called “bubble zone” laws are becoming more commonplace in Canada, notably during former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s near-10-year reign from 2015 to 2025.