Law Matters John Carpay If you think smoking is really, really bad, does that mean you hate smokers? Or if you believe that alcoholism is a serious health problem in Canada today, would your belief lead you to kill alcoholics, or to approve of someone else killing alcoholics? Of course not. You can disagree with a particular activity, yet not wish death [...]
Our first reaction to the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision striking down part of the Criminal Code’s prohibition on bestiality was incredulousness: the newspapers and broadcasters were playing a joke on readers and viewers. Sadly, they were not. On June 9, all but one of the wise jurists on the Supreme Court decided that a ban on bestiality that did not involve [...]
In June, the Fraser Institute’s Barbara Mitchell Centre for Improvement in Education released a study – the first of its kind in Canada – on the country’s current independent (private) schools, finding that that they are not the elitist institutions of popular imagination. The Fraser Institute study says they are diverse schools, represented by religious and specialty learning methods that many Canadian [...]
Since 1969, we, in Canada, have brutally put to death almost 4 million pre-born children. Some of these children were poisoned and burned to death with a concentrated salt solution (Saline abortion). Others were suctioned limb by limb from the womb (Suction abortion). Still others were cut up into pieces with a sharp curette (D & C and D & E abortions). [...]
Newfoundland Pro-lifes In late June, lawyers for three Newfoundland pro-lifers and the Athena Health Center abortion mill in St. John’s, agreed to the creation of a 40-meter bubble zone around which there will be no protests. Rolanda Ryan, owner of the Athena Health Centre – the abortion facility at the site of what was once Henry Morgentaler’s first Atlantic Canada [...]
The House of Commons passed C-14, the government’s “Act to amend the Criminal Code and to make related amendments to other Acts (medical assistance in dying),” on May 31, a day after defeating ten amendments limiting the scope of euthanasia and assisted-suicide, and a week before the Supreme Court’s deadline to pass a law, after which the practices would be permitted and [...]
On June 29, the Ontario Court of Appeal allowed the Ontario legal profession to exclude graduates from Trinity Western University’s proposed law school. TWU, a British Columbia Christian university, said it will appeal the decision. The Law Society of Upper Canada said it would not permit graduates of TWU’s law school, which is not operational, because the private universities Community Covenant requires [...]
A Canadian pro-abortion group compared the pro-life movement to “racists” and “white supremacists” to get Prince Albert’s mayor to take down a pro-life flag, but could only wring from Mayor Greg Dionne the concession to consult the British Columbia Human Rights Commission over the dispute. Joyce Arthur, executive director of the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, sent Dionne and Prince Albert’s city [...]
John Carpay The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is wrongly seen as the sole guarantor of freedom of expression. In fact, Canada’s tradition of tolerance for free speech dates back to 17th century England. In the 18th century, British politician and philanthropist William Wilberforce exercised his freedom of expression to turn public opinion against the slave trade. The right of Canadians to offend [...]
Uniting with the estimated 22,000 pro-life advocates who marched in Campaign Life Coalition’s Ottawa March for Life on May 12 – to mark May 14, 1969, the day Pierre Trudeau’s Liberal government legalized abortion – pro-life Canadians held similar marches in provinces across the nation. Newfoundland and Labrador The March for Life “is truly a national event from sea to sea,” noted [...]
Media downplayed the massive annual pro-life demonstration in the nation’s capital, counter-protesters attempted to “end the March for Life,” and police re-routed the march through the streets of Ottawa to prevent a clash with a small group of pro-abortion activists , but organizers and 22,000 participants are pleased with the National March for Life, inspired by the messages of hope from religious [...]
Interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose interfered with the policy committee to nix pro-life proposal. After months of grassroots engagement at the riding and regional level, the National Policy Committee of the Conservative Party of Canada took it upon themselves to scuttle socially conservative proposals to the party’s convention in Vancouver. One resolution was reportedly reconsidered and nixed after the intervention of [...]
Amusements Rick McGinnis As the father of daughters, I always feel a bit guilty when I find myself railing against the excesses and absurdities of contemporary feminism. I mentally prepare myself for the counterarguments my position will invite: Don’t you believe women should have the same opportunities as men? Don’t you think equal work should mean equal pay? Do you [...]
John Carpay, founder of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms. The routine censorship of pro-life speech at Canadian universities has now expanded into a new realm. In early April, the Men’s Issues Awareness Society launched a court action against the Ryerson Students’ Union for having denied this student group official recognition as a campus club. Without official club status, MIAS cannot [...]
The government introduced its assisted-suicide legislation, C-14, and immediately made both sides unhappy. The pro-life and disabilities communities are concerned that doctors are going to become assassins, abandoning their mission to heal in order to kill. The pro-euthanasia side does not like that there are restrictions on who can be killed, wanting a broader law with fewer restrictions. National Post columnist Robyn [...]