Turkish immigrant Aysun Sesen, 25, was pregnant with her four-month child when she was found stabbed twice in the abdomen, alongside her injured mother-in-law, in their Toronto home. She later died of her wounds and the baby was born stillborn. Sesan’s husband, Turan Cocelli, 29, was charged with one count of second-degree murder and one count of assault. The police said, “In [...]
While fierce tornadoes wreaked havoc on homes and farms across Manitoba, a spiritual tornado of sorts swept through the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada as it debated same-sex blessings in Winnipeg June 19-25. At the end of the triennial Anglican parliament, the one thing that was apparent to all was that the church they loved was deeply divided. All [...]
A dramatic episode of the popular evening television drama, House, that showed an unborn child from an opened womb grasping a surgeon’s finger during surgery, vividly demonstrated the humanity of the unborn. The Fox network drama featured a story line where a 42-year-old pregnant rock and roll photographer suffers a stroke and doctors discover the cause is a rare condition called Maternal Mirror [...]
The United Kingdom has seen the passage of a series of new laws and implementation documents under the Labour government that have created a state of unease about the future of religious freedom in Britain. Many have commented on the slide towards a heavy-handed state intolerance of religious dissent from the secularist ideologies, particularly as they relate to homosexuality, and some religious [...]
France’s highest court upheld the decision of a lower court and rejected the 2004 “marriage” of two homosexual men. The court declared the marriage annulled, finding that “under French law, marriage is a union between a man and a woman.” In 2004, Noel Mamére, mayor of the Bordeaux suburb of Begles, illegally “married” the two men, despite a prior warning from then-president [...]
A report issued at the behest of the provincial government of Quebec directs the government to fight “homophobia” and “heterosexism” in every sphere of public life and especially in schools. Quebec’s justice minister asked the Quebec Human Rights Commission to create a task force in 2005 and that group has published its report, called, “From Legal Equality to Social Equality: Toward a [...]
Civil liberties association steps into fray The Canadian Civil Liberties Association unexpectedly entered a battle for freedom of speech on the abortion issue, acting as intervenor on behalf of a Saskatchewan nurse sued for demonstrating against abortion. The CCLA filed an affadavit declaring that the organization backed the rights of pro-life nurse Bill Whatcott, who in 2004 was fined $15,000 and given [...]
If you think the Charter of Rights and Freedoms truly safeguards our democratic rights, think again. In fact, in one notorious case, the Charter did nothing to prevent bureaucrats, politicians and judges from squashing the most basic of all democratic freedoms: the right to free election speech. I know all about this case, because it involved my group, the National Citizens Coalition. [...]
It is hard to imagine gay rights activists being so successful in getting their agenda implemented, were it not for the complicity of sympathetic courts invoking the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in various rulings to advance special rights for homosexuals in piecemeal fashion over the course of several years. Between 1995 and 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada granted new rights [...]
In 1995, Trinity Western University sought certification of a teaching program from the British Columbia College of Teachers. The BCCT governing council refused. Why? Well, BCCT did not approve of TWU’s Mission Statement: “To develop godly Christian leaders: positive, goal-oriented, university graduates with thoroughly Christian minds;” still less with its student conduct code that required students “to refrain from practices that are [...]
Niccolò Machiavelli, the teacher of modern politicians, including Canada’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau, writes that while Romulus founded Rome, the second king, Numa Pompilius, made an even more important contribution by instituting its civil religion. Numa’s contribution unified the Romans. Machiavelli also claims that by making them fearful of the gods, it made the Romans a ferocious military power, which allowed them to [...]
Perhaps not surprisingly, the entity that oversees the conduct of judges in Canada – which, remarkably, is itself made up exclusively of judges – has ruled that Ontario’s chief justice did not act improperly in two matters: when he legalized so-called same-sex marriage in his province in 2003, despite the fact his daughter was involved in a same-sex relationship at the time, [...]
A Canadian representative to the United Nations, originally appointed under the previous Liberal administration and now supposedly acting under the direction of the current Conservative government, berated delegations from several Muslim countries for opposing the observer status of a Quebec-based gay activist group. The National Post reported on Feb. 2 that the Coalition gaie et lesbienne du Quebec (CGLQ) was rejected by the [...]
The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled 7-2 that the federal government - that is, Canadian taxpayers - does not have to fund a lawsuit levelled by a homosexual bookstore against the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency. Last April, the Supreme Court reserved its judgement in the case brought by Little Sister’s Book and Art Emporium, a Vancouver retail shop specializing in [...]
Jan. 21, the date that President George W. Bush chose for his fellow Americans to honour the sanctity of human life, is significant for two reasons. First, it falls on a Sunday, the Lord’s Day. Secondly, it is one day prior to the 34th anniversary of the infamous Roe v Wade decision that drove a sword into the nation’s commitment to the [...]