We have heard and read so much recently about nuclear war, the arms race, acid rain and the inevitability of ecological disaster, that it is a relief to wake up in the morning and find that the world is still with us! I do not wish to deny that these are all serious dangers but I am not so [...]
Several weeks ago, through The Interim mail, I was surprised to learn from supporters in Manitoba that their group was praying for us. Well, we need all the prayers we can get, but the reason given was that they had heard we were going out of business. Not long after that, a friend in B.C. reported that a similar [...]
It seems that the Toronto Star allows its columnists complete freedom in whatever they write. This is creating difficulties for pro-life people as well as Catholics who find their activities and their faith misrepresented, without having an equal opportunity to correct or to rebut. The most recent example is Lynda Hurst’s May 7 column headed “Catholics question Church’s stand [...]
We are about to be conned again. This time it is the daycare question. A federal task force likely will give it solid endorsement, while much of the Big Media see proliferating daycare as a desirable objective. But is it? As I noted in an earlier column, in Sweden daycare has become a nightmare where parents now are [...]
Radical feminist groups continue to build pressure on the PC government in Ottawa to secularize and revolutionize Canadian society and the family. NAC, the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (President Chaviva Hosek; Vice-President Louise Dulude) held a three-day lobbying effort in Ottawa in May. They came armed with resolutions from a three-day conference, including a call for [...]
In recent months, as demonstrations in support of and in opposition to the existence of abortion clinics have taken place in major cities throughout Canada, the level of debate concerning abortion has deteriorated. The major organs of mass communication have contributed to or have at least been passive agents of an illegitimate attack upon the Catholic Church. News stories [...]
According to a Catholic Register (April 13, 1985) report by Paulist Father Thomas Ryan of the Montreal (Catholic) Ecumenical Centre, the National United Church – Roman Catholic Dialogue Group has agreed to discuss abortion. The dialogue group has been meeting three times a year since 1975. In February 1985, according to Fr. Ryan, the group decided to devote the [...]
On February 16,1985 the Toronto Star reported the proposal of the present Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, Rev. Alex Calder, to tighten the abortion law in order to permit abortions only where there is “imminent threat to the mother’s life.” ( See The Interim, April 1985). One month later, on March 16, the same newspaper, on its [...]
Two months ago I related what might be called “The Sad Saga of the Pro-Life Postcards” or “How to Get Thumped in Your Own Church!” Soon after that experience (and I am still waiting patiently for a reply to my letter to our temporary Rector) another bombshell hit: the Canadian Churchman, which is the “National Newspaper for the Anglican [...]
On May 9, 1985 the Supreme Court split sharply on how to measure pornography in obscenity trials. By a 4-3 majority, with two judges missing, the court ruled that it does not matter who the supposedly obscene material is aimed at. The only measure that counts Madame Justice Bertha Wilson said for the majority, is the national community standard of tolerance. [...]
Suicide is now the leading cause of death among teenagers, according to a federal government task force, whose five-year study is expected to be released this summer. Psychologist, Dr. Diane Syer-Solursh, head of the task force, announced some of its findings at an April meeting of the American Association of Suicidology in Toronto. Dr. Syer-Solursh pointed [...]
On January 29, 1985, Member of Parliament Bill Gottselig (Moose Jaw) condemned in Parliament the misuse of public funds by the National Film Board to promote pro-abortion views in the film “Abortion: Stories North and South.” He said it was outrageous that the National Film Board provide funds “to pro-abortionist Gail Singer to present her one-sided view of this matter, which [...]
Tuesday April 17, 1985, was the date when the equality rights provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms went into effect. Stated the Hon. Flora MacDonald (Minister of Employment and Immigration) speaking for the Government: As of today the Constitution of Canada guarantees that every individual in Canada is equal before and under the law, and has [...]
On April 16, 1985, Margaret Mitchell, NDP (Vancouver East), requested the Minister of Justice to “celebrate equality” (according to the Charter of Rights): by designating major funding for an independent endowment… through a credible organization such as the Legal Action and Education Fund, so that women may fight equality cases under the Charter. The Minister of Justice pointed out [...]
On March 26 the House of Commons Justice Committee agreed to refer the issue of “sexual orientation” to a sub-committee to see whether it qualifies as a form of discrimination prohibited in the Charter of Rights. New Democrat MP Svend Robinson, (Burnaby) introduced a private member’s bill calling for the inclusion of sexual orientation in the [...]