On Sept. 29, members of the Select Special Public Health Act Review Committee of the Alberta legislature debated adding abortion access to the province's Public Health Act. The motion was put forward by NDP MLA Kathleen Ganley (Calgary-Mountain View) and was defeated in committee the following day on a straight party-line vote, with the NDP committee members supporting it and the United [...]
On Oct. 3, an 83-year-old Nova Scotian was killed by lethal injection following a legal battle in which his wife of 48 years tried to prevent the euthanasia killing. Katherine Sorenson, 82, failed in her legal bid to stop the medicalized killing of her husband Jack. Lawyers for the wife may seek leave to appeal to Canada’s Supreme Court to address several [...]
By Paul Tuns Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World by Tara Isabella Burton (PublicAffairs, $35, 320 pages). We are told, by pundits and polling data, that fewer people are practicing any religion in the West, and the secularization of America is happening at an ever-quickening pace. Recent surveys show that “religious Nones” — those who do not adhere to any [...]
By Paul Tuns One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Bigger by Matthew Yglesias (Portfolio, $37, 267 pages) Matthew Yglesias is a policy wonk and political commentator for the left-wing Vox website. His new book, One Billion Americans, could have been a good and important contribution to American discourse, adding to the dearth of serious, or at least ambitious, ideas. Yglesias makes [...]
On Sept. 28, Amnesty International, the international human rights group, announced it was updating its "sexual and reproductive rights" policy, essentially reaffirming its pro-abortion position. Amnesty International had previously supported abortion in certain circumstances, although it released papers and launched campaigns that supported broadening abortion in numerous countries and circumstances. It now calls for full decriminalization of abortion. Amnesty International is "calling [...]
On Oct. 22, a coalition of 32 countries led by the United States and representing 1.6 billion people issued a declaration that there is “no international right to abortion.” The declaration explains its purpose is to express, “the essential priority of protecting the right to life” and promoting “strength of the family and of a successful and flourishing society.” It also states [...]
Disabilities group condemns C-7, EPC says safeguards are being eroded Justice Minister David Lametti introduced Bill C-7 on Oct. 5, bringing back the federal government’s legislation to broaden so-called Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD). Last September, a Quebec court threw out several provisions of the federal euthanasia and assisted-suicide law, most notably the requirement that death be “reasonably foreseeable” in order to [...]
Paul Morgan, a long-time pro-life activist in Peterborough, passed away on Sept. 2 at the age of 85. Jim Hughes, president emeritus of Campaign Life Coalition, told The Interim that he met Morgan more than 35 years ago, and that he was involved in everything the pro-life movement was active in. Morgan became a board member for CLC Ontario in the 1980s [...]
Dalhousie University in Halifax is now offering a course to its health students in an effort to make abortion “normal” in healthcare practices and society. The course, “Interprofessional Care of Surgical and Medical Abortion Patients,” is officially a “mini-course,” consisting of four 90-minute sessions. The school’s course guide says, “This mini course will help provide students with information on the history of [...]
By Rick McGinnis While our collective anxiety was being ramped up amidst stories of plague and rioting, 2020 reached deep into its awful cornucopia this summer with a reprise of cancel culture. That apparently ceaseless turkey shoot, insuring that anyone employed in politics, the arts, academia, journalism and science – so far agriculture, fisheries and forestry seem immune, but the year isn’t [...]
By Josie Luetke Shortly after I became involved in the pro-life movement, I became cognizant of the push by mostly younger members to secularize its branding, even though we were all Christian. Green as I was and enamored with the clarity of the science of when life begins and the simplicity of the philosophical arguments against abortion, I was sympathetic. Pro-life could [...]
By Rory Leishman For the past three years, every federal and provincial jurisdiction in Canada has prohibited discrimination on the basis of gender identity, yet none of our legislators, lawyers and judges can have any clear idea about precisely what this wide-ranging legislation entails. In an attempt to clear up the confusion, the Ontario Human Rights Commission has issued a policy statement [...]
The lockdowns have now become a permanent violation of our Charter Rights and Freedom to move, travel, assemble, associate, and worship. Governments are showing no intentions of removing restrictions, even as COVID-19 deaths slow to a trickle, and are now proven to be a small fraction of the dire predictions made by politicians in March. Masks have become mandatory for children to attend [...]
In July, the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition received a phone call from Katherine in Nova Scotia who was very upset because her husband, who lives with a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but is not otherwise dying, was seeking approval for euthanasia. Katherine was shocked when a known euthanasia doctor determined that her husband qualified for euthanasia even though another doctor’s assessment stated that [...]
Calgary city council is considering banning advocacy displays near schools after a council committee approved the proposed bylaw on Sept. 9. The new rules, if passed, would prohibit any signs larger than a postcard (5 inches by 3.5 inches) that express an opinion on any issue or cause within 150 metres of a school, although the bylaw would not apply to school [...]