LSN From My Eyes

LSN From My Eyes

Editor’s Note: Patrick Craine is one of LSN’s main writers, covering primarily Canadian, but also a fair number of US and international developments. He wrote the following letter from Halifax, Nova Scotia with the Atlantic Ocean just a short walk from his home.

Patrick is a meticulous investigative journalist whose reports are respected by Canadian and US leaders for their quality and obvious thorough research.

Hello LifeSiteNews Readers,

As we make our regular and oh-so-necessary plea for funds during this campaign, I wanted to take the opportunity to share with you why I believe LSN’s work is so important, and make a case for why you should give generously during this campaign.

My wife, Jenna, and I both attended Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy (OLSWA) in Barry’s Bay, Ontario, and later moved home to Halifax after the birth of our first child, Noah, who is now nearly 14 months old.

I first learned about LifeSiteNews when I started at OLSWA in 2005, and really started following the daily news about two years ago. I’ve always appreciated LSN’s ‘bias for the truth’, or what could simply be called truthful reporting, and getting news on the crucial issues of our day – often ignored or distorted by most media.

While I always respected LSN’s work, I must say that I didn’t truly grasp how important it is in promoting life and family in Canada and throughout the globe. Since I began working for LSN in May 2009, I have been amazed to see the impact our reporting can have. In many cases, there have been stories that would never have seen the light of day without LSN’s investigative work.

For example, Canadians will remember the grassroots furor that erupted in Ontario in April over a new sex ed curriculum that had grade 3 students discussing homosexuality and grade 6 kids learning that masturbation is “common” and “not harmful.”

Fortunately, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty quickly heeded the complaints of parents across the province, agreeing to take another look at the program. But the curriculum was old news to LSN readers, who knew about it in March, over a month before it hit any other media.

Or what about the story of United Minister Dr. Christopher Levan, who began moonlighting as an escort for Henry Morgentaler’s abortuary in Fredericton, New Brunswick while holding a teaching position at a Catholic university? In a culture with sound values such hypocrisy would be major news, and so it was for LSN.

When Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Quebec City was getting slammed by Quebec media and politicians last month for affirming the right to life of children conceived in rape, LSN mounted a defense, in part by publishing public words of gratitude to the Cardinal by a woman had aborted a child conceived in rape, and another, Deborah Morlani, who herself was conceived in rape. In fact, the Morlani piece made such an impact that we had Quebec media calling for her contact info.

LSN has also taken a leadership role in calling our faith leaders to present speakers and role models that witness to life and family values. Without LSN, hardly anyone would have known that the York Region Catholic school board (next door to Toronto) showcased two flagrantly homosexual twin fashion designers, Dean and Dan Caten, as models for their students during Catholic Education Week in May.

Likewise, a talk by abortion activist Stephen Lewis at the normally very pro-life Christian Reformed Redeemer University-College in Ancaster, Ontario, was first reported by LSN.

These are all stories dealing with key issues in the culture war, and would not have been reported without LSN. But there are also many stories already reported in mainstream media, but where LSN’s work has been essential in relating the real significance of those stories and giving a voice to the most vulnerable in society. Our reports are crucially different.

We’ve worked to bring a pro-life voice into the debates over the Canadian government’s maternal and child health initiative for this month’s G8 summit – for example, by refuting the claims made in pro-abortion media that abortion reduces maternal deaths.

I can tell you for certain that people in high places in government and media have paid close attention to our G8 reports. One of my reports, on Hilary Clinton’s pre-G8 comments to the Canadian government while she was in Canada, was even posted on the massively accessed US DrudgeReport website.

We’ve also sought to correct and expose the misinformation surrounding the Canadian debates on euthanasia – particularly that from the Quebec College of Physicians, who have, in the words of Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, been “deliberately misleading the public” by claiming that the proper use of palliative sedation is euthanasia.

We could look to the heart-wrenching story about Baby Isaiah May, the disabled Alberta baby whose doctors sought to remove his respirator against his parents’ wishes. Our readers were given, from the beginning, the testimony of Dr. Paul Byrne, the veteran and strongly pro-life neonatologist, who insisted that Baby Isaiah’s doctors had already been denying him appropriate care before threatening to remove the respirator.

We should also not neglect to point out further some of the numerous examples over the years where our reporting has had a key impact in prompting concrete and positive change. For example, sources tell us that we made big waves in Ottawa with our report last June on the federal Conservatives’ $400,000 grant to Toronto Pride. In fact, our interview with Conservative and pro-life MP Brad Trost, who said that the decision came as a shock to most of the caucus and even some in the Prime Minister’s office, was quoted in many media and again even as late as this May by the Toronto Star when they reported that the government would not be funding the homosexual Pride event this year.

Of course, we can’t avoid pointing out that the Canadian Catholic bishops’ funded Development & Peace would still be going along on its merry unaccountable way funding many pro-abortion and even anti-Catholic groups were it not for our reports.

There’s obviously much more work to be done, as D&P continues to deny the evidence, but LSN’s painstaking research has led to ongoing investigations by the Canadian Catholic bishops and several bishops have restricted D&P’s funding.

I have also produced many reports on the very similar Catholic Campaign for Human Development funding scandals in the United States. Our US pro-life and pro-family friends have told us that they really appreciated that support.

As one of LSN’s Canadian writers I’ve mostly focused on examples from my home country, but I know that each of our American and international writers would offer similar testimony.

Far from beating our chests in pride, LSN’s staff view these many accomplishments as a true testimony to the strength of our crucial support team – our many readers, donors, and prayer warriors.

We would not have been able to get out most of these stories if it weren’t for the news tips we receive daily from pro-life and pro-family activists and supporters. They are invaluable.

And of course we simply could not run without the financial sacrifice of our readers in responding generously to our fundraising campaigns.

With this in mind, I am writing you, our supporters, today to beg on behalf of the voiceless that you join our support team with ever more vigour, and so help us in bringing the truth to the culture. We need you to keep sending in important news tips (we always honor confidentiality), to keep praying, and to discern carefully whether you are capable of digging deeper into your pockets during this summer fundraising campaign.

We especially need those of you who have never donated before to become part of our support team by sending a contribution either online, by mail or by making a phone call to our LSN donation line.

I have outlined for you only a very few of the many ways LSN has been able to make a major impact in advancing the pro-life and pro-family cause. We are committed to keeping up the fight, to continue the hard investigative work of promoting a culture of life amidst a rampant culture of death. We need you to commit to joining us in this work.

Your increased support will give us the resources needed to not only keep going, but to also expand our efforts and get out more and more of the culture-changing reports you have come to expect from LSN.

For life and family, please donate today.

Patrick Craine

Canadian Bureau Chief

LifeSiteNews.com

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