It was perhaps appropriate that Dr. Andre Lafrance should have passed away while coming back from a demonstration in support of one of the causes close to his heart. Lafrance collapsed and died Nov. 23 while walking from a prayer vigil he had held with Father Tony Van Hee on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Van Hee is a Catholic priest who has [...]
The Interim For years, the centerpiece of a beautiful Christmas display on Boston Common has been a majestic Christmas tree from Nova Scotia, a thank you gift for Boston’s outstanding help in the wake of the devastating Halifax Explosion in 1917. The lighting of the “official Christmas tree” on Dec. 1 has come to mark the traditional start of Boston’s Christmas season. [...]
Americans are bracing themselves for a divisive cultural battle, because on Jan. 9, the U.S. Senate will begin confirmation hearings for Judge Samuel Alito, who was nominated as an associate Supreme Court justice by President George W. Bush in October, to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Unlike the relatively genteel John Roberts, however, who was easily confirmed as chief justice last [...]
Interim Staff On Dec. 2, 2005 the Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Catholic Bioethics Institute hosted a meeting in Toronto for the purpose of bringing Catholic leaders from across Ontario together to focus on euthanasia and assisted suicide. Alex Schadenberg, of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, found the meeting to be an excellent opportunity to bring leaders from the Knights of [...]
Heather MacNaughton, who chaired the three-panel B.C. Human Rights Tribunal in the mixed judgement of the Port Coquitlam Knights of Columbus v. two lesbians, is the same justice who fined Christian printer Scott Brockie and denied an appeal by Christian teacher Chris Kempling. In 2000, MacNaughton was the adjudicator in a Ontario Human Rights Commission decision against Scott Brockie, a Toronto printer, [...]
“What took place during the 60s was a moral tsunami,” the musician said between songs. “Please allow me to explain. The name of this moral tsunami was contraception. The world laughed at Pope Paul VI when he warned us about the dangers of the pill, but he was right. Contraception was followed by abortion during the 70s, no-fault divorce during the 80s [...]
By now, you have probably heard of Katelyn Sills. As my friend John-Henry Weston reported at LifeSite, this vivacious Catholic teen “was expelled from Loretto High School in Sacramento last week, two weeks after the teacher, who was found to be an abortion clinic escort, was dismissed at the behest of the local bishop, William Weigand ... Katelyn informed her mother after [...]
Interim Staff Pro-family supporters are treating with some ambivalence the decision of a British Columbia human rights tribunal. The ruling upheld the right of church-affiliated groups to deny access to their facilities for purposes opposed to their core religious beliefs. The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal ruled Nov. 30 that a Port Coquitlam Knights of Columbus council could discriminate against a lesbian [...]
Parliament can and must act to protect unborn life Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the June 2004 The Interim. We live with a terrible reality in Canada. Unlike any other modern democracy, there is no law regulating abortions at any stage of pregnancy. A pregnant woman can get an abortion at any time, for any reason, at any stage of [...]
So what is our task as Christians? We are to be salt; we are also to be like leaven. Salt arrests the decay in meat. Leaven permeates the flour and transforms it into sustenance. As Canada searches for values to live by, we can join the discussion and be advocates and exemplars of virtues that bring Shalom. We will not seek to [...]
Here’s to you, Mr. Robinson. Over the years, Svend Robinson’s flagrant contempt for the law, disregard for parliamentary decorum, and general antipathy towards the time honored traditions of Canada and her people, have made him a symbol of everything unserious in our political process. His pranks are almost more troubling than his policy positions. After the Supreme Court ruled against euthanasia, he [...]
With a federal election in full swing, anti-American attitudes have once again sprung to the surface among Canada’s political class. In December, Prime Minister Paul Martin took a swipe at the United States for failing to yield to the “global conscience” on the perceived global warming crisis. The U.S. ambassador to Canada, David Wilkins, responded with a thinly veiled rebuke, saying Canada [...]
Liberal, Conservative approaches differ over the best venue for raising children The Interim “Beer and popcorn.” That’s supposedly what Canadian parents will waste their money on under the Conservative party’s new choice-in-childcare allowance. And that’s what two of Liberal leader Paul Martin’s closest advisers, Scott Reid and John Duffy, were saying about the Conservatives’ “Choice in Childcare” plan. At least, they were [...]
“Don’t let up! The lines for the next attempt to legalize euthanasia are being drawn right now!” That’s the current battle call of pro-life groups and other concerned parties. Due to political divisions, the Gomery report and other factors, an election was called and as a result, Bill C-407, the bill to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada, died a natural [...]
One of the key figures in the social conservative political revival in the U.S., and in the election and re-election of President George W. Bush, brought his formula for success to Canada recently, in the hopes that some his accomplishments south of the border would rub off in this country. Ralph Reed, the former head of the influential Christian Coalition who has [...]