Canada On Jan. 1, the abortion drug Mifegymiso became available to Canadian women in their first seven weeks of pregnancy. Sandeep Prasad, executive director of Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, applauded the introduction of the abortion drug (formerly RU-486) because it will “expand choices when it comes to terminating a pregnancy.” But he condemned Health Canada’s requirement that only a [...]
On Saturday, January 23, tens of thousands of San Franciscans, joined by young pro-lifers from as far away as Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma and Alaska filled the city’s Civic Center Plaza and Market Street at the 12th Annual Walk for Life West Coast. Organizers would not give a firm number of attendees, saying only “tens of thousands” but crowd size was consistent with [...]
Judge convicts Linda Gibbons, labels pro-life protesters 'violent'. An Ontario judge convicted Linda Gibbons Jan. 21 of breaking a 1999 civil injunction that bans pro-life activities within 500 feet of Toronto’s Morgentaler abortion facility. Under the terms of the injunction, the judge also convicted Gibbons of being a “nuisance.” Gibbons was arrested Sept. 2, 2015 while walking back and forth [...]
Bishop Henry spoke out against the NDP's government's new 'gender identity' guidelines. An Alberta Catholic school trustee and the chair of a Catholic school board believe that Catholic parents should not have been sent home a strongly worded letter from Calgary Bishop Fred Henry last week that denounced the NDP government’s new “gender identity” guidelines as “totalitarian” and “anti-Catholic.” Edmonton [...]
Bioethicist John Haas clarifies church teaching on extraordinary medical care. A Quebec study showing a 20-fold increase since 2000 in the number of babies who survive abortion only to die in hospital demonstrates the need for a Canadian “born-alive infant protection law,” says the Toronto-based Campaign Life Coalition. The Quebec study, just published in Neonatology, studied 12,000-plus infant deaths between [...]
Catherine Ferrier of Living with Dignity condemns assisted-suicide being treated "an additional option' for patients. A Quebec regional health agency has blandly announced what is believed to be the province’s first officially approved euthanization of a patient, but the news came in a manner that critics warn both trivializes homicide and bodes ill for the safety of vulnerable patients. “There [...]
I didn’t really mean it. Honest I didn’t. I was only fooling when I suggested that Canada make aboriginal languages official. I never dreamt that anyone would take seriously what I wrote in The Great Canadian Comedy, a 2008 collection of essays. If not the book, I thought that at least the title betrayed a humorous intent. Nevertheless, seven years later, Perry Bellegarde, Chief [...]
In his latest book, Telling Lives, Ian Hunter, emeritus professor of law at Western University, presents an entertaining and inspirational series of sketches of 10 people with “effective, forcible, striking” personalities. The book begins with an intriguing essay entitled “Jesus: The Evidence.” Drawing upon decades of experience as an award-winning teacher and practitioner of criminal law, Hunter applies his expertise on the rules of [...]
Since I began writing this column almost seven years ago, I have had a few mantras – dictums that I’ve thought you can rely on when judging popular culture and its baleful evolution. One is that cheaper usually beats better (as in mp3s or video on cellphones versus high end audio gear and movie theatres). Another is that there’s no such thing [...]
The Supreme Court of Canada has granted the government another four months to come up with a law on euthanasia and assisted-suicide, after Parliament failed to pass a new law within the original one year window it was given. During the Court’s hearing, Justice Russell Brown asked the justice department lawyers why, if the new Trudeau government needed more time to craft [...]
On Jan. 14, Chief Electoral Officer of Ontario, Greg Essensa, de-registered the New Reform Party of Ontario. New Reform is the former Family Coalition Party which reconstituted itself in late 2014. According to a release from the New Reform Party, last August Elections Ontario stating they were ready to de-register the party if a copy of New Reform’s audited paperwork for the [...]
The rules under which the next Conservative leader will be selected have not yet been decided, but leadership hopefuls now know the date on which they would ascend to the post if they ultimately decide to run and win. The Conservative Party’s Leadership Election Organizing Committee announced that the convention will be held May 27, 2017, more than 16 months after the [...]
A pro-life club at the University of Toronto Mississauga Campus is taking the student union to court for refusing to renew the group’s club status for the 2015-2016 school year. The court action against the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU) was filed in the Superior Court on behalf of Students for Life by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms on [...]
Why is electoral reform suddenly an issue? During the 2015 federal election campaign, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau vowed it would be the last election under the first-past-the-post (FPP) system, the system that Canada has used since Confederation. Critics say that the winner-take-all nature of FPP is unfair and even undemocratic. The candidate with the most votes in the riding is elected MP [...]
CLCY's Alissa Golob (left) and Sarah MacDonald (right) with PEI MLA James Aylward. On Jan. 5, Abortion Access Now PEI issued a press release announcing it was suing the Prince Edward Island government to force it to provide taxpayer-funded abortions on the island. Last summer, newly elected Liberal Premier Wade MacLauchlan liberalized the province’s abortion regulations, making it simpler for [...]