From October 29-31, 2009, the Hilton Garden Inn in Saskatoon was the setting for “Building Bridges: Making Choices for Life,” this year’s National Pro-life Conference. The gathering was hosted by the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association and co-sponsored by Campaign Life Coalition and Life Canada. An impressive line-up of speakers inspired the more than 200 registrants in attendance. Friday’s schedule began with Rev. Dr. [...]
Nothing could have prepared Gillian DeSouza for the news she would receive during what was supposed to have been a routine pregnancy care check-up in June of 2008. At the 20th week in her pregnancy, the doctor told Gillian and her husband, Jason DeSouza, that their unborn child had a rare anomaly called “Trisomy X.” Commonly referred to as Triple [...]
Fearful Symmetry: The Fall and Rise of Canada’s Founding Values by Brian Lee Crowley (Key Porter, $34.95, 360 pages) In an important new book, Fearful Symmetry: The Fall and Rise of Canada’s Founding Values, Brian Lee Crowley persuasively argues that the future prosperity of Canada depends on a revival of marriage and the family. For Crowley, this is a new understanding. Until [...]
There are two rituals at the onset of every fall television season; in the first, someone looks over the crop of failed shows from the last season and announces some venerable genre – the three-camera sitcom, the police procedural – as being creatively dead, followed by the unexpected success of a show that singlehandedly revives it. The cycle’s tedious regularity is just [...]
November is the month of fallen heroes. We honour the memory of the soldiers who fought for freedom during the violent struggles of the last century – those who died in the trenches in Europe and those who gave their lives resisting a madman’s frightening dream. But, as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Canadian pro-life movement this year, we cannot [...]
At the age of 25, Andrew Scheer ran for office under the banner of the new Conservative Party of Canada in the NDP stronghold of Regina-Qu’Appelle, defeating former NDP leadership candidate Lorne Nystrom by just under 900 votes. Although he was confident he would win, he told The Interim in a recent interview, “There was an element of ‘wow.’” Scheer, [...]
A Medical Detective Story; What You Felt Before You Were Born by Paul Ranalli (de Veber Institute, 60 minutes, $20) Review The issue of fetal pain is an aspect of the abortion debate that has been consistently overshadowed by the more dominating question of the personhood of the fetus. While outsiders may find this somewhat odd, the reasoning of pro-lifers is simple. [...]
In 1990, Denise Hounjet-Roth was asked to become president of Campaign Life Coalition Saskatchewan. The invitation came as a surprise for the young mother, pregnant with her second son. She had been a pro-life activist for less than three months. Her introduction to political activism had come in response to pro-life MP Tom Wappel’s announcing his bid for the federal [...]
For living in a great country in which pro-life activism, despite the obstacles and difficulties, still flourishes. For the means to be actively pro-life – our health, our families, those in the background that make things happen. For the unwed mothers who keep their babies despite feelings of hopelessness and vulnerability or in the face of challenging emotional or physical environments. For [...]
One of Canada’s most committed pro-life politicians, Stanley Haidasz, passed away August 6 at the age of 86. Haidasz, a Liberal, served in Parliament for nearly a half-century. First elected in 1957, he lost his re-election bid the following year, but regained his Parkdale seat in Toronto in 1962 and was then re-elected five times. In 1978, he was appointed [...]
It’s back-to-school time and parents and students alike are experiencing the university jitters. First-year students are anxious about the unknown social and academic challenges that lie ahead, while parents – well, parents always worry. The students want to know what they are facing and the parents will want to know whether there is any real basis for concern. Should they [...]
Increasingly abortion advocates acknowledge the child “Maybe we won’t agree on abortion, but we can still agree that this is a heart-wrenching decision for any woman to make, with both moral and spiritual dimensions. So let’s work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions by reducing unintended pregnancies and making adoption more available and providing care and support [...]
Ottawa-area pro-life activist Rita Curley passed away last month at the age of 87. During her funeral Mass on July 13, Fr. Pedro Arana of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Vanier, Ont. noted that, “Rita was very strong in her faith and she was not afraid to express her belief.” That summed up Curley very well – [...]
Charles Gonthier, a former justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, passed away recently at the age of 80. Appointed by Brian Mulroney in 1989, he developed a reputation as a conservative during his 14 years on the country’s top court. The Canadian Press reported in its obituary that Gonthier offered “a more conservative interpretation of the individual rights guaranteed [...]
In June 2009, as the Catholic church began its celebration of the “Year of the Priest,” Monsignor Vincent Foy celebrated a truly remarkable milestone: his 70th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood. We offer our sincere congratulations and express our profound gratitude to him on this happy occasion, for no priest has worked as hard, as long or as well to defend [...]