Recent Canadian News

Wednesday October 13, 2010 BC Court Allows Challenge against Prostitution Laws By Thaddeus M. Baklinski VANCOUVER, October 13, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The BC Court of Appeal ruled on October 12 that a Vancouver based pro-prostitution lobby group will be allowed to challenge Canada’s prostitution laws in court. Madam Justice Mary E. Saunders overturned a December, 2008 ruling by the BC Supreme Court and told representatives from the Downtown Eastside Sex Workers United Against Violence (SWUAV) lobby group that she was granting them legal standing to challenge the Criminal Code, despite the group not being actively involved in prostitution themselves. The 2008 Supreme Court decision found […]

By Patrick B. Craine OTTAWA, Ontario, October 15, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The arrests of five pro-life students at Carleton University last week should inspire pro-lifers to step up and engage in the pro-life battle, said Fr. Simon Lobo, brother of arrested Carleton Lifeline President Ruth Lobo, in a powerful homily in Ottawa on Sunday. “Yes – yes I am the brother of Ruth Lobo,” said the priest, a member of the Companions of the Cross community.  “I’ve never been more proud to admit that, actually, than I am now.” The students – four from Carleton and one from Queen’s University – were […]

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski VANCOUVER, October 15, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The trial of Don Spratt and Cecilia (Sissy) von Dehn, charged with breeching the Access to Abortion Services Act in June 2009, is set to continue March 16th 2011, after presiding judge Jeanne E. Watchuck found the four days set aside in BC Provincial Court, Oct 4-7 2010, proved to be insufficient to hear all the testimony. The BC Access to Abortion Services Act forbids any counseling against abortion to be given within 50 metres of an abortion mill, however, Spratt and von Dehn were not counseling against abortion in the bubble […]

Tuesday October 12, 2010 Canadian MP Decries ‘Censorship’ at Carleton U over Pro-Life Arrests By Patrick B. Craine OTTAWA, Ontario, October 12, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Canadian Member of Parliament has decried what he termed the “censorship” at Ottawa’s Carleton University, following the arrest last week of five pro-life students who were attempting to erect a pro-life display. “Free speech is a foundational principle for Canada’s free and democratic society. Academic freedom, a key aspect of freedom of speech, has long been protected and promoted in Canadian universities,” said Maurice Vellacott, MP for Saskatoon-Wanuskewin. The students – four from Carleton and one from Queen’s University […]

Tuesday October 12, 2010 Alberta Government Sued by Eugenics Program Victim By Thaddeus M. Baklinski EDMONTON, October 12, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An Alberta woman has filed a lawsuit against the Alberta government claiming she was sterilized as a teenager in 1961 without her knowledge or permission. Darlene Gabler, 64, says she was wrongfully certified as mentally deficient at 15 and irreversibly sterilized under the Sexual Sterilization Act by the Alberta Eugenics Board, a government-run eugenics program which operated from 1928 to 1972, sterilizing over 2,800 teenagers who were deemed “mentally defective.” In 1972, the year the Sexual Sterilization Act was repealed, 55 people were sterilized […]

By Patrick B. Craine TORONTO, Ontario, October 14, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Toronto Star report Wednesday claiming the Canadian government is set to add strippers and escorts to its national job bank is “completely and utterly false,” says a spokesman for the government. The Star cited an October 1st ‘draft memo’ from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada that said occupations such as exotic dancer, nude dancer, striptease dancer, and escort, among others, would “be acceptable for posting on Job Bank.” The piece, written by Star reporter Richard J. Brennan, suggested the “surprise” memo was a change in Conservative policy, noting that the […]

Monday October 4, 2010 Canadian Bishops’ Agency Goes to Court to Conceal Info on Groups they Fund Editorial by John-Henry Westen MONTREAL, October 4, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – LifeSiteNews (LSN) has learned that the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (D&P) has applied to the federal court to block an access to information request from LifeSiteNews. In April, after D&P refused numerous requests for information from LSN, we paid the required $300 government fee and made the formal application. The request was simply for the names of each D&P partner group and how much in funding each was given this year and […]

Thursday October 7, 2010 BC Government Sues Contraceptive Patch Manufacturer By Thaddeus M. Baklinski VANCOUVER, October 7, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The British Columbia government has filed a lawsuit against pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson Inc., claiming the maker of the “Ortho Evra” contraception patch “aggressively marketed the contraceptive without disclosing the safety hazards associated with Evra.” The lawsuit claims that women using the patch “did not receive any warnings about the increased risk of developing blood clots, pulmonary emboli, strokes, heart attacks or deep vein thrombosis associated with Evra.” The BC government is seeking to recover past and future health care costs associated with […]

Wednesday October 6, 2010 Antigonish Diocese to Run Conference with Dissident Paul Lakeland By Patrick B. Craine SYDNEY MINES, Nova Scotia, October 5, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Diocese of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, has organized a conference this month to be delivered by dissident theologian and former Jesuit priest Dr. Paul Lakeland of Fairfield University in Connecticut, who openly holds views on abortion, homosexuality, contraception and women priests that go against Catholic teaching. The conference, entitled ‘Catholicism at the Crossroads: How We Can Save the Church’ and scheduled for October 22-24, has a strong emphasis on the role of lay people in the Church. […]

Tuesday October 5, 2010 Fewer Children, Later Marriage, More Divorce in Canadian Families: Study By Thaddeus M. Baklinski OTTAWA, October 5, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Vanier Institute of the Family has released “Families Count: Profiling Canada’s Families IV,” the fourth in a series of publications since 1994 that draw on the most recent data to provide a new picture of Canadian families and the challenges they face. For pro-family advocates, the report paints a worrying picture of increased cohabitation and divorce, later marriages, and fewer children. Timed to provide a backdrop for National Family Week (October 4-9), Families Count details the trends that are […]