By Paul Tuns The Interim On June 28, the United States Supreme Court ruled against Nebraska's partial-birth abortion ban, dealing a blow to 30 other states that prohibit or regulate a procedure that is aptly described as infanticide. In the 5-4 Stenberg v. Carhart decision, written by Justice Stephen Breyer, the court faulted the ban for its broad language, which critics claim endangers [...]
By Paul Tuns The Interim The charges against two journalists covering the Linda Gibbons arrest last October have finally been dropped. Eight months after their ordeal began, Steve Jalsevac of Toronto and Gord Truscott of Guelph were vindicated of obstruction charges. After reviewing the evidence, the Crown admitted there was "no reasonable probability of conviction." Blaise MacLean, Jalsevac's and Truscott's lawyer, told The [...]
Commentary by Paul Tuns The Interim On July 8, Canadian Alliance (CA) members elected former Alberta Treasurer Stockwell Day as their new leader, giving hope to pro-life, pro-family conservatives that a national leader might finally represent their views in Ottawa. Day beat his competitor, party founder Preston Manning, by almost two to one. The four-month campaign was relatively quiet until late May [...]
Lobbysists help Third World delegates resist anti-family demands of Western countries and NGO's By Paul Tuns The Interim Despite organized and virulent opposition to their lobbying efforts, pro-life and pro-family groups scored a major victory at the recent intersessional preparatory meetings for Beijing+5. Pro-life and pro-family non-governmental organizations (NGOs) including Canada's Campaign Life Coalition and REAL Women, prevented anti-life, anti-family language from [...]
This month's editorial cartoon is about scratching the surface - of this newspaper. Recently we've received a handful of letters from readers who feel that The Interim is hateful toward people who are homosexual. The gravity of the charge, and the apparent sincerity of those who have written, merits a response. Even a casual reader will no doubt be aware that we strongly [...]
Do you not know me? There has been a debate of late, dealing with the issue of what does it mean to be truly pro-life. I'm thankful for the input and thoughts of Calgary's new Catholic bishop, Bishop Fred Henry, for his helpful and insightful remarks, made public, delivered to a convention of Alberta Pro-Life last month. I won't repeat those remarks [...]
The preoccupation of pro-life and pro-family people in federal politics these days is the Canadian Alliance leadership race, so much so that pro-life leaders have had to fend off allegations that they are shifting from their traditional non-partisan stance. For the longest time Canada's pro-life movement has endorsed or rejected individual candidates, whatever their party affiliations, based on their track records and [...]
I looked at my TV set recently, which was turned off at the time (actually there's not that much to look at anyway), and lo and behold I was shocked at what I saw on the screen! Suddenly the front page of the National Post appeared before my eyes with screaming headline: ‘HARRIS TORIES DEFEATED.' I looked at the date. It was [...]
On May 10, the industry "watchdog" Canadian Broadcast Standards Council ruled that radio talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger's characterization of the sexual behavior of homosexuals as "abnormal," "aberrant," "deviant," "disordered," "dysfunctional" and a "biological error" are in violation of the human rights provision of the voluntary Code of Ethics of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters. In so doing, the Council not [...]
A suburban Toronto school. A young women teacher with obvious liberal tendencies explains to her class of small children that she is an atheist. She asks her class if they are atheists too. Not really knowing what atheism is but wanting to be like teacher, most of the hands of the eager young students punch the air like fleshy fireworks. There is, [...]
Review by Pat Hansard The Interim Every woman who has given birth has a story to tell. When a woman has an abortion, she also has a story, but it's likely she will never tell anyone. For those who have been touched by abortion, telling the story is one of many healing steps on the road to recovery. They stand in the [...]
By Paul Tuns The Interim On May 30, former Pennsylvania governor Robert Casey died at the age of 68. He was a pro-life Catholic Democrat who criticized his party's position on abortion and was ostracized for it. Long plagued by various health problems, in 1987 Casey underwent quadruple bypass surgery. He also suffered from the genetic condition familial amyloidosis, which required a [...]
Pro-lifers must identify profoundly with every human being who waits in hope of rescue By Donald DeMarco The Interim Experience may be the sharpest teacher. "One thorn of experience," the poet James Russell Lowell tells us, "is worth a whole wilderness of warning." But only the most insulated individual can learn no other way. More often than not, unfortunately, learning through experience [...]
By Catherine Fournier The Interim On Friday April 28, at 7:30 in the morning, Andrew called his sister Faustina from Parliament Hill in Ottawa. He had walked extraordinary distances in the last three weeks, pushing himself nearly a week ahead of schedule, for this moment. "Andrew, where are you?," she mumbled, still half asleep. As far as she (and the rest of [...]
Focus on the Family event aims to strengthen youth and families in Christ By Tony Gosgnach The Interim Although attendance fell slightly below the figures hoped for, organizers of the Life on the Edge event at Hamilton's Copps Coliseum April 28-29 are calling its first-ever appearance in Canada a success. About 4,000 young people and their parents took in the happening, which [...]