10. Women facing biological men in competition
After the trans-identified Lia Thomas, a biological male, competed and won the 500-yard collegiate freestyle swimming competition in 2022, governing bodies of various sports have been forced to consider their policies of permitting biological males to compete against girls and women. World Athletics, formerly the International Amateur Athletic Federation, which governs track and field, began disallowing “trans men” who went through “male puberty” from competing against women, although it allows such men who took puberty-blocking chemicals to compete. The International Cycling Union allows cross-sex competition. The World Tennis Association allows men who identify as women to compete against women if they “declare (their) gender identity is female” and that once such a declaration has been made, it cannot be changed for four years and must not exceed a certain level of testosterone. The International Weightlifting Federation and Canadian Powerlifting Union both allow men who identify as women to compete against women. World Aquatics, which governs swimming competitions, created an “open” category for men and women to compete against each other and which would include trans-identified competitors, but had no such entrants during the world finals in Berlin. World Aquatics is reconsidering its policy. The German Football Association allows “trans, intersex, and non-binary players” if they have a civil registration that affirms their so-called gender identity. USA Fencing permits biological males to compete with women. FIFA, the governing body for soccer (football) is studying the issue and Swiss Olympic is lobbying the International Olympic Committee to permit cross-sex competition.
9. U.S. judge rules against the abortion pill
In April, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk reversed the Food and Drug Administration’s 2000 approval of the abortion drug mifepristone, which he found ignored the agency’s approval process and potential dangers to pregnant women, and that it was motivated more by politics than science. He also threw out the FDA’s relaxation of restrictions – such as requiring in-person prescriptions and permitting mifepristone to be mailed to patients — saying that liberalization of the abortion drug endangered women. He also acknowledged the humanity of the child in the womb referring to it not as a fetus but “unborn child.” The case was brought before the U.S. District judge by Alliance Defending Freedom, a group representing the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine and the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians & Gynecologists. The Biden administration appealed the decision and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and Supreme Court of the United States set aside the verdict so that the full case could be heard. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a split decision in August upholding the original approval by the FDA but restoring the regulations originally put in place by the FDA including moving back the gestational age for mifepristone prescriptions from 10 weeks to seven, banning sending them by mail, requiring in-person physician appointments, banning prescriptions by non-physicians, and requiring mandatory reporting of all adverse events. In December, the U.S. Supreme Court has announced that it will review the full case.
8. Backlash against woke companies
The culture war over corporate wokeism hit two major companies’ bottom-line in a big way in 2023 with a backlash against transgender celebrity Dylan Mulvaney’s promotion of Bud Light and the Target department store’s marketing of transgender children’s clothing. After Anheuser-Busch sent Mulvaney, an eccentric, extremely feminized male masquerading as a woman online, a personalized pack of Bud Light to be promoted in social media posts sponsored by the company, sales of Bud Light fell by 25 per cent in a month. JP Morgan predicted Anheuser-Busch’s earnings would not recover to pre-scandal levels until late 2024. Target promoted “tuck-friendly” clothing but removed those products from some stores in the U.S. South after protests against the company in June; it also removed “pride” displays from the front of some stores, a move that was condemned by pro-LGBQT groups. The company reported a five per cent decline in sales in the second quarter and Target’s chief growth officer Christina Hennington said, “The reaction is a signal for us to pause, adapt and learn so that our future approach to these moments balances celebration, inclusivity and broad-based appeal.” Will Hind, executive director of Consumers’ Research, a firm that has spearheaded campaigns targeting American Airlines and Levi’s for woke activism, said, “People now act fairly swiftly when they see companies going ‘woke’ in ways that are noxious.”
7. Josh Alexander saga
In January, Josh Alexander, a student at St. Joseph’s High School in Renfrew County, was suspended for organizing demonstrations against allowing biological males who identify as girls to use the girls’ restrooms and change rooms. When he attempted to return to school, the Renfrew County Catholic District School Board suspended him for the year, a decision reaffirmed in September. Alexander went to court to force the board to hear his appeal, which was held in November. A decision has yet to be made. In the meantime, Alexander has crossed the country speaking against transgenderism and in defense of female-only spaces.
6. Bill to protect mentally ill from euthanasia defeated
Bill C-314, the Mental Health Protection Act, was defeated on Oct. 18 in a 167-150 vote in Parliament. Conservative MP Ed Fast’s private member’s bill, if passed, would have reversed Bill C-7, which beginning on March 17, 2023 would permit euthanasia for patients suffering solely from mental illness. C-314 received unanimous support of all Conservatives, Green, and NDP MPs, as well as eight Liberal MPs and independent MP Kevin Vuong. 137 Liberals and all 30 sitting Bloc Quebecois MPs voted against C-314, which was enough to narrowly defeat it. Bill C-314 would have protected people from euthanasia who are living with mental illness, by expressly forbidding mental illness as a criterion for so-called Medical Assistance in Dying. During debate, Fast said, many psychiatry experts say, “the issues of suicidal ideation, irremediability and competency have not been resolved, ensuring that Canadians will needlessly die because we have rushed ahead with expanding MAID.” Speaking for the NDP, MP Don Davies said it was dangerous to permit euthanasia for those suffering solely from mental illness when there is “chronic underfunding” of mental health services.
5. Social conservative victories at party conventions
Pro-life, family, faith, and freedom policies were passed at both the federal Conservative Party national convention and the United Conservative Party of Alberta’s annual general meeting. At the Conservative Party of Canada’s biannual National Convention in September, 13 socially conservative resolutions were passed with the help of Campaign Life Coalition supporters. Among those policies were resolutions against chemical or surgical sex-changes and another banning biological males from female intimate spaces (washrooms, change rooms, prisons). The convention also passed resolutions opposing expanding euthanasia to those suffering solely from mental illness, against human trafficking and sexual grooming of minors, against vaccine mandates, and in favour of eliminating the GST on “essential maternity and newborn products.” CLC reported in its newsletter, “this was a very successful Convention for social conservatives because of the amazing policies that were enshrined in the party’s policy handbook.” At the Alberta UCP AGM in November, delegates passed pro-family policies including sexually explicit content in schools, requiring teachers and school boards to obtain written consent from parents of a student who wants to change his or her name or pronouns, establishing “a comprehensive Bill of Parental Rights” which would require all parents to be informed and empowered to make decisions for their children, and opposing the federal government’s expansion of euthanasia. While the policies passed at the national and provincial conventions are not binding, they send a strong signal to the leaders what the grassroots want to see in policy and provides encouragement to elected representatives in their respective parties to promote pro-life and pro-family policies.
4. Euthanasia deaths continue to climb
Health Canada revealed that there were 13,241 euthanasia deaths in Canada in 2022 or an average of 36 people killed by health care professionals each day. The Fourth Annual Report on Medical Assistance in Dying (2022) showed that it was the seventh consecutive year of increased euthanasia deaths, and up more than 31 per cent from 2021 when 10,092 people died by euthanasia. Bill C-7, which allows people whose natural deaths were not reasonably foreseeable to access assisted-suicide, took effect on March 2021 and there were 463 euthanasia deaths in 2022 committed on people whose deaths were not imminent, 3.5 per cent of all cases. The three main reasons for requesting euthanasia were the “loss of ability to engage in meaningful activities” (86 per cent), “loss of ability to perform activities of daily living” (82 per cent) and “inadequate control of pain or concern about controlling pain” (60 per cent). About one-third of patients listed not wanting to be a burden to loved ones and one-sixth listed feelings of loneliness or isolation. And, 568 euthanasia requests came from patients who needed disability support services but were not receiving them. Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, said that that data show that “Canada has quickly become the most permissive euthanasia regime in the world.”
3. Massive walkout against gender ideology
Campaign Life Coalition launched its inaugural “National ‘Pride” Flag Walk-Out Day” on June 1, a day during which many institutions celebrate the homosexual lifestyle by raising the rainbow or “progress” flag. CLC encouraged families to keep children at home to protect their innocence and to protest the foisting of the LGBQT ideology upon students. Many schools had absentee rates of 30 per cent or more, and one in Windsor had a 75 per cent absentee rate. There are unconfirmed reports that half of students in New Brunswick were kept at home. CLC national president Jeff Gunnarson said, “the huge success of the first-ever ‘National Pride Walk-Out Day’ is a strong indication that parents are fed-up with the homosexual and transgender indoctrination that is occurring in schools.”
2. Two premiers stand up for parental rights
In June, New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs announced he would rescind Policy 713 which allowed schools to socially transition the “gender” of students under the age of 16 without the consent or knowledge of their parents. Higgs said it was wrong to “purposefully” hide from parents what is happening with their children. Higgs maintained his position despite blowback from inside his own Progressive Conservative party and the province’s children’s advocate. The Premier threatened to call a snap election over the issue to get his caucus and riding presidents in line with the changes. In August, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe proposed to recognize parental rights when their children wanted to use names or pronouns at odds with their biological sex. When a judge temporarily suspended the policy arguing it was unconstitutional, Moe recalled the legislature to pass legislation invoking the notwithstanding clause to override the judge’s decision for five years. Polls show the positions of the premiers have the support of more than three-quarters of the public.
1. Million Person March for Children
On Sept. 20, hundreds of thousands of parents took part in demonstrations in more than 100 communities at school boards, in front of provincial legislatures and city halls, on Parliament Hill, and at other public institutions to oppose gender ideology propaganda in schools and reassert the rights of parents in their children’s education.” The crowds in Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Kitchener, Hamilton, Mississauga, Ottawa, and Toronto numbered in the thousands of concerned citizens, from numerous ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds. The event was organized by Hands Off Our Kids, an interfaith group, fed up with the promotion of LGBQT ideology in publicly funded schools.
