A Canadian delegation organized by Campaign Life Coalition stood in front of the Canadian embassy at the March for Life in Washington, D.C., Jan. 22. About two dozen youth from CLC Youth and the National Campus Life Network were joined by CLC national president Jim Hughes as tens of thousands of U.S. marches walked by their three banners: “Canadians stand with pro-life [...]
Justin Trudeau Resolutions that the Liberal Party of Canada will consider at their biennial convention in Montreal Feb. 20-23 include endorsing the legalization of euthanasia and prostitution. The Liberal Party website says, “this convention will be a key milestone on the road to the next federal election in 2015,” because “delegates will vote to adopt the policy resolutions that will [...]
The Canadian Press obtained 20-year-old cabinet meeting minutes on the Mulroney abortion bill, C-43. The 83 pages of documents reveal a cabinet split into various factions on how to best deal with the aftermath of the Morgentaler decision, which sent the abortion issue back to Parliament if it chose to deal with it. The recently declassified documents were obtained by CP through [...]
Editor’s Note: This story contains graphic content. Toronto’s public health agency developed graphic sex education resources to assist teachers in delivering Ontario’s health and physical education curriculum, The Interim has discovered. Toronto Public Health’s website contains three sets of lesson plans: Teaching Puberty: You Can Do It! for Grades 5 to 6, Grade 7/8 Sexual Health Curriculum, and High School Sexual Health [...]
At her trial for mischief and failing to comply with probation order, Mary Wagner (pictured above) testified that she felt justified approaching women in the abortion mill because she needed to inform them about the baby developing inside them and to offer support for mother and child. In early December, there were three days in hearings in the Ontario Court [...]
Maurice Vellacott has tabled two motions that would establish a parliamentary committee to examine the legal obligations owed to pre born children. On Dec. 6, Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott (Saskatoon-Wanuskewin) filed a pair of pro-life motions. (Both Motions M-482 and M-483 listed below) Both motions call for the creation of parliamentary committees to examine the rights of the unborn. M-484 [...]
Three recent books about Canadian politics go a long way to explain why our politics is the way it is as they highlight the role of marketing and messaging in campaigns and governing. They raise important issues about authenticity and principles in Canadian politics, providing sometimes contradictory lessons. Michael Ignatieff’s political memoir Fire and Ashes: Success and Failure in Politics (Random House, [...]
In my new book The Future of Catholicism (Signal Books/Random House) I devote the longest chapter to the issue of same-sex marriage, and other chapters to abortion, euthanasia, and contraception. But, some critics have argued, why spend so much time on these issues when the book is about the future of the Catholic Church? Simple. Because this is precisely the future of [...]
Ah, Christmas! It’s a wonderful time of the year. Many families will be trimming their trees, wrapping presents, putting up wreaths and boughs of holly, and stringing colourful lights. The old caroling books will be dusted off, eggnog will be consumed, and the unenviable task of last-minute shopping will be suffered by a few well-meaning souls. I’ll be doing many of these [...]
13. Supreme Court hears challenge to Canada’s prostitution law In June, the Supreme Court of Canada heard arguments for and against Canada’s prostitution law, which was challenged by Terri-Jean Bedford, Valerie Scott, and Amy Lebovitch. In 2010, the Criminal Code ban on brothels, pimping, and communication to buy sex was struck down by the Ontario Superior Court and in 2012, a 3-2 [...]
The cover of a recent New York magazine promised so much – far more than I knew it would deliver, but I couldn’t resist. “There are over a million terminated pregnancies in American every year,” it read, under the headline “My Abortion,” “yet few women will ever talk about their experience.” Living in a country where actually talking about abortion is discouraged [...]
Hassan Rasouli In a ruling of vital national significance, the Supreme Court of Canada has held in the Rasouli case that the Ontario Health Care Consent Act (HCCA) prohibits a physician from unilaterally terminating life-support for a patient who is incapable of consenting to medical treatment. While this case dealt specifically with Ontario, physicians in other provinces should beware that the Court [...]
How Duck Dynasty became a television and cultural sensation After years of celebrating little-watched cable television shows like The Sopranos (about the mafia and laced with profanity) and Breaking Bad (about a drug dealer and laced with profanity), the North American entertainment media took notice of the ratings success of Duck Dynasty, which attracts millions more viewers. In the February 2013 season [...]
Dr. Donald Low became a public figure during the Toronto SARS crisis of 2003 when, amid innumerable news conferences, the staid and reassuring microbiologist became a familiar face. He returned to the public’s mind last month after a video was released following his death at age 68. In this video, recorded just one week before he succumbed to natural causes, Low makes [...]
How the West Really Lost God: A New Theory of Secularization by Mary Eberstadt (Templeton Press, $26.50, 268 pages) I’ve almost been trained to smile on cue when I read Mary Eberstadt’s name in the media, even though How the West Really Lost God was only the second of her works I’d read in its entirety (an early draft of The Loser [...]