A Montreal priest has turned away young pro-life pilgrims from entering the city’s basilica because their message in defense of the unborn was too political. Wearing stylish jeans and a white button-down shirt, Fr. Robert Gagne, insisted that the young people walking across Canada to promote the pro-life message could not enter the famous Basilica to pray because of the ‘pro-life’ [...]
After more than 5,600 kilometers, and less than three months after setting out from Vancouver on May 23, 12 pro-life students have ended their walk across the country to draw attention to abortion. Crossroads sponsored the Canadian leg, plus four walks in the United States and, the first walk in Ireland. Crossroads was started in 1995 in response to Pope John [...]
There will be a ‘Defund Abortion Rally’ in Toronto at Queens Park on Saturday, Oct. 22. The purpose of the rally is “to make defunding abortion an issue in the newly elected provincial government,” organizer and head of Campaign Life Coalition Youth Alissa Golob told The Interim. The rally will be just the beginning of a nationwide movement to defund abortion, as [...]
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms is an organization that, according to its website, seeks “to advance human rights and constitutional freedoms... through research, education, and litigation to safeguard individual freedom and equality before the law.” Their fight for human rights and liberty has led them to defend pro-life students facing university censorship and other cases protecting the freedom of speech of [...]
It’s no secret to those who know me that I am a firm supporter of the use of graphic images when it comes to pro-life activism. However, when I signed up for the Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform’s Summer Crash Course and was told we would be using them outside of the Calgary Stampede, I have to admit I was a [...]
Catholic parents fight separate system to maintain moral teaching Ontario bishops have issued a memo urging Catholic school boards to set up clubs explicitly aimed to counter “bullying related to sexual orientation,” even though they banned the establishment of Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) at Catholic schools just months ago. Meanwhile, parents at the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) are speaking out against [...]
Linda Gibbons now awaits Supreme Court date On April 12, a provincial court judge dismissed a defence application for a stay of proceedings on the basis of abuse of process with regard to a charge of disobeying a court order laid against Linda Gibbons in January 2009. Madam Justice Mara Beth Greene then found Gibbons guilty of the charge, after an agreed [...]
On March 28, after spending 48 days in jail awaiting trial, pro-life activist Mary Wagner had her day in court. She was arrested and charged with mischief in February after allegedly entering the Choice in Health Clinic, and offering assistance to pregnant women seeking abortions at the Toronto abortion facility. Wagner was arrested Feb. 9 after peacefully handing out roses to pregnant [...]
Editor’s Note: Statement read by pro-life activist Mary Wagner in court during his trial for mischief, March 28. Your Honour, I stand before you accused of mischief. The Crown has presented the case against me, having argued to the effect that I did interfere with the enjoyment or operation of a lawful “business.” Were I to try to defend myself by arguing [...]
The 40 Days for Life campaign in Toronto was a great success. Five weeks into the campaign, the organizer for 40 Days for Life Toronto reported that at least three babies had been saved. 40 Days for Life is a worldwide campaign that seeks to raise awareness about the evil of abortion through prayer and fasting, a vigil in front of an [...]
More than 120 people participated in the kickoff rally for 40 Days for Life in Kitchener to hear several guest speakers and hear inspirational music as they prepared for the Lenten vigil to pray for an end to abortion. Retired auxiliary bishop Matthew Ustrzycki of the Hamilton diocese and Debbie Fisher of the Silent No More Awareness campaign spoke and [...]
On Monday, March 7, a downtown Toronto courtroom took a trip back in time to the early 1990s and the days of NDP rule in Ontario, when the government of premier Bob Rae and attorney general Marion Boyd attempted to squelch pro-life activism throughout the province by way of a wide-ranging court injunction. It was part of the first day of a [...]
Linda Gibbons, who has been arrested more than 20 times in connection to activities near a Toronto abortuary, will get her day in court. The Supreme Court of Canada, that is. Gibbons, who prays outside abortion the Scott abortuary on Gerrard Street in downtown Toronto and counsels women to not kill their babies, has never been charged with violating the 1994 “temporary” [...]
Interim reporter Pauline Kosalka interviewed Zuza Kurzawa, a Queen’s student arrested at Carleton University in October for participation in a GAP demonstration, by email. Kurzawa was a 2009 Fr. Ted Colleton Scholarship winner. The Interim: Why did you enter the 2009 Father Ted Scholarship contest? What was your essay about? What especially did you want to convey to the readers? [...]
In an important decision, a provincial court judge has ruled that there is enough merit in a complaint by Linda Gibbons’s defence lawyer of abuse of process in the prosecution against her to warrant three days of hearings into the matter this coming March 7, 8 and 9. In a downtown Toronto courtroom Jan. 12, Madam Justice Mara Beth Greene [...]