L anguage is rooted in our common experience of the world. As every toddler quickly learns, each thing has a name, and every object within the range of the child’s eye and pointing finger has a word by which it can be called. After a time, the same vocabulary that clothes the visible world with language is used to dress the otherwise [...]
National Affairs Rory Leishman Pro-lifers across Canada have been dismayed by the decision of Michael Coren to endorse same-sex “marriage” and leave the Catholic Church. What could have led this erstwhile champion of the Catholic Church and the traditional principles of Judeo-Christian morality so sadly astray? When Coren first disclosed that he had “moved on” in his thinking on same-sex [...]
The recent scandal involving Josh Duggar of 19 Kids and Counting has prompted calls for the cancellation of the show and speculation that the whole genre of reality TV might have played itself out. While I don’t think that the end is in sight for the most cost-effective production model TV has invented since the game show, it might be time for [...]
On June 4 LifeSiteNews received a complaint letter from the law firm Keel Cottrelle, acting on behalf of Ontario’s Peel District School board, threatening legal action regarding two April news reports by reporter Peter Baklinski, in a suit that LSN’s editor is calling “frivolous.” Baklinski’s reported on a workshop given by two lesbian teachers about how they incorporate lessons about homosexuality in [...]
Donald DeMarco was honoured by the Catholic Civil Rights League. On June 18, the Catholic Civil Rights League bestowed their Archbishop Adam Exner Award for Catholic Excellence in Public Life to professor and pro-life activist Donald DeMarco, a long-time contributor to The Interim. Gwen Landolt, last year’s winner of the award, introduced DeMarco, calling the retired St. Jerome’s College philosophy [...]
On June 7, at least 5,500 protesters took part in a protest at Queen’s Park to demonstrate against the Ontario government’s sex-ed program. Many then took part in a march through downtown Toronto calling upon Premier Kathleen Wynne to withdraw the new curriculum and for the premier to resign. The protest was organized by the Canadian Families Alliance, an umbrella organization representing [...]
The official policy of the Canadian Pediatric Society is that preemies born under 23 weeks of gestation should only receive palliative care, not intensive care. However, an American study published on May 7, 2015, in the New England Journal of Medicine revealed that nearly a quarter – 23 per cent – of babies born at 22 weeks survived if actively treated and [...]
Liberal leader promises 'more free votes' but offers fewer free votes For his first two years as Liberal leader, Justin Trudeau offered few specific policies and Canadians were largely left guessing what he would do on most policy files. Trudeau repeatedly stated he would liberalize Canada’s marijuana laws and in 2014 he issued a diktat that under his leadership no [...]
A philosopher once pithily observed that “the map is not the territory.” The same can certainly be said of statements about the Roman Pontiff made in the mainstream media: they do not offer trustworthy maps for navigating the territory of what Pope Francis actually did or said on any occasion. One always needs a ressourcement, a return to the sources, when judging [...]
Mary Wagner Judge Mavin Wong sentenced pro-life prisoner of conscience Mary Wagner to 10 months in jail May 5, following Wagner’s April 16 conviction on one count of mischief and two of breach of probation. Crown prosecutor Craig Power asked for a sentence of six months for the mischief charge, and ten months for the breach of probation charges. Power [...]
The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC) has launched the “Give Us Time” postcard campaign in response to the Supreme Court of Canada’s assisted suicide ruling. When the Carter v. Canada decision was released on February 6, the Criminal Code prohibition against assisted suicide was struck down. Previously, section 241 of the Code stated that everyone who aids another person in committing suicide, or [...]
Linda Gibbons Pro-life prisoner of conscience Linda Gibbons walked free May 15 after more than seven weeks in jail following her March 24 arrest outside a Toronto abortion facility while peacefully sidewalk counseling. Gibbons has been arrested numerous times in the past for violating “bubble zone” laws that prohibit pro-life activities within a certain radius of Toronto-area abortion facilities. A [...]
Light is Right Joe Campbell While reading, I often stop to meditate, and not just on sacred texts like the Bible and the Catechism. I also meditate on secular texts like the Constitution and the Criminal Code. Usually, the sacred uplift me. Too often, the secular depress me. I found especially depressing a Supreme Court of Canada text entitled Saskatchewan [...]
Rory Leishman The issue was brought before the Court by Alain Simoneau, a professed atheist in Saguenay, a municipality in the Lac-St.-Jean (Maria Chapdelaine) region of northern Quebec. In 2006, Simoneau filed a complaint against the municipality with the Quebec Commission des droits de la personne on the ground that the longstanding practice of reciting a Christian prayer at the [...]
Six years after I was laid off from my job at a national daily newspaper and sent back out to the uncertainties of freelancing as a writer and photographer, I’ve found myself with a steady gig again. Of those six years I can’t say much except that it’s no way to earn a living. The new job is more interesting – editing [...]