Recent Canadian News

By Patrick B. Craine TORONTO, Ontario, September 23, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A public school trustee candidate from Ancaster says the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board’s equity policy, now being implemented in accordance with the Ontario government’s equity and inclusive education strategy, “represents sexual abuse in the first degree.” “To manipulate a child’s mind and coerce them into believing that it is permissible and acceptable to do something which is against their parent’s beliefs is reprehensible,” said Klaas Detmar.  “This makes me mad!” The Hamilton policy, adopted in 2008 despite strong objection from parents, commits all the board’s policies and procedures to be […]

By Patrick B. Craine TORONTO, Ontario, September 21, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Ontario government is not yet prepared to fund in vitro fertilization (IVF), as recommended in August 2009 by a government-appointed panel, because it would be too expensive, reports the Ottawa Citizen. “There are some pretty compelling reasons why we should [do it],” Health Minister Deb Matthews told reporters.  “But at this time in our economy, we have to weigh all the pros and cons very carefully.” Yet Premier Dalton McGuinty indicated that the proposal is still on the table.  “I know that, for young families in particular, this […]

Wednesday September 15, 2010 Stop Harvesting Organs after ‘Cardiac Death,’ Say MDs By Patrick B. Craine CALGARY, Alberta, September 15, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A group of doctors have called on the medical community to cease harvesting organs from patients whose hearts have stopped pulsating, saying that doctors are misleading families to believe that the patient has died when in fact their loved one is still alive. The story was featured Wednesday on the cover of Canada’s National Post. “A longstanding tenet of ethical organ donation [is] that the nonliving donor must be irreversibly dead at the time of donation,” explain […]

Thursday September 16, 2010 Canadian Dad Sacrifices Self to Save Wife, Unborn Child in Car Crash By Kathleen Gilbert VANCOUVER, B.C., September 16, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A heroic split-second decision by a young husband and father in the moments before a severe car accident that ultimately took his life has made headlines across the continent. Brian and Erin Wood were driving across Washington State to visit relatives Friday when a car, later found to contain drugs, swerved suddenly into oncoming traffic in front of the couple’s car. Erin maintains that her husband made the quick decision to swerve the car […]

Wednesday September 15, 2010 BC Polygamy Case May be Used to Test Polyamory By Thaddeus M. Baklinski VANCOUVER, September 15, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A group calling itself the Canadian Polyamory Advocacy Association (CPAA) has asked Chief Justice Robert Bauman of the BC Supreme Court to declare whether polyamorists might be prosecuted as a result of the hearing, scheduled to begin Nov. 22, on the constitutionality of the ban on polygamy. In January, 2009, BC polygamists Winston Blackmore and James Oler from the community of Bountiful were arrested and charged under Section 293 of the Criminal Code of Canada, but the […]

Thursday September 16, 2010 Ontario Premier Says No Euthanasia Debate By Thaddeus M. Baklinski TORONTO, September 16, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said he is not in favor of Quebec-style public hearings on euthanasia and assisted suicide, according to an Ottawa Citizen report. “That’s not the kind of thing we’re looking at pursuing in a formal way,” McGuinty said. “I think that continues to be an important discussion between families and their doctors, and that’s where it should be.” The Quebec government began a ten-city tour of public hearings, to look at euthanasia and assisted suicide in the […]

Wednesday September 15, 2010 Abortion Activist MD Sued for Inseminating Wrong Sperm By Patrick B. Craine OTTAWA, Ontario, September 15, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A leading Canadian pro-abortion activist who runs a fertility centre has been accused by two families of using the wrong sperm when their children were conceived in 2005 and 2007, respectively. In a suit lodged with the Ontario Superior Court, they even ask for a DNA test of the man, Norman Barwin, to determine if he used his own sperm. Barwin and his Ottawa facility, Broadview Fertility Clinic, are facing two lawsuits alleging the two children are […]

By Patrick B. Craine TORONTO, Ontario, September 17, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The pro-life movement lost a fearless defender of human life this week as revered Canadian Catholic writer Anne Roche Muggeridge passed away in her 75th year on Tuesday after a decade struggle with an advanced Alzheimer’s-like illness. Wife of the late John Muggeridge and daughter-in-law of famed journalist and author Malcolm Muggeridge, she is remembered by countless admirers as a fierce and unyielding proponent of the pro-life cause and Catholic orthodoxy. Muggeridge wrote numerous articles, but is most known for her two books, The Gates of Hell (1975) and […]

By Patrick B. Craine HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, September 14, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A volunteer-run Catholic bookstore in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia that has been subject to increasing vandalism due to its promotion of life and family has responded by raising its voice even louder in encouraging locals to get more involved in pro-life activities. On Saturday, the windows at Veritas Catholic Books & Gifts were pasted with pro-abortion posters advertising “underground abortions.”  The posters were posted so as to cover up an ad for the local 40 Days for Life campaign. In recent months the store’s windows have been scratched and […]

By Patrick B. Craine TORONTO, Ontario, September 13, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – As Ontario’s October 25th municipal election approaches, Archbishop Thomas Collins of Toronto has called on the Catholic constituency to choose school board trustees that exemplify the practice of the Catholic faith. In a pastoral letter read at Sunday Masses this past weekend, the archbishop emphasized that a Catholic trustee “should be a faithful practicing Catholic.” “This election is enormously important,” he said.  “It allows the members of our Catholic faith community to have essential input into the governance of our Catholic schools.” Archbishop Collins’ letter comes as Catholic schools […]