Undated photo of Father Jean-Marie-Raphael Le Jeune’s grave at the Oblate Cemetery in Mission. The Archdiocese of Vancouver and the Kamloops Indian band discovered a mutual respect for Father Le Jeune, which will be acknowledged on Easter Sunday at a reconciliation event in Kamloops. (B.C. Catholic Archives)
Almost three years ago, reports of underground anomalies near a former Kamloops residential school caused a firestorm of media mistruths about mass graves, which became a focus of Pope Francis’ visit to Canada in 2022. Now, the Church and the Kamloops First Nation are about to acknowledge historical and recent painful experiences and continue “walking...
Caritas staff work with children who have been left homeless by the war in Gaza. (Photo by Majdi Jildeh/Caritas media officer)
Staring death, destruction and starvation in the face on a daily basis, Christians in Gaza are staying steadfast to their commitment to love and serve, sharing ever-dwindling resources with their Muslim neighbours, report employees of two Catholic charities active in the Middle East. “For example, the Christians sheltering in the Latin compound have decided to...
MP Arnold Viersen has introduced a bill targeting online exploitation. Photo from mparnold.ca
In contrast to the controversial Online Harms Act (Bill C-63) recently tabled by the federal government, Conservative MPs are putting their weight behind Bill C-270 to prevent young people from being exploited by online pornography. Bill C-270 is also known as the Stopping Internet Sexual Exploitation (SISE) Act. If it becomes law, making or distributing...
The B.C. Catholic has filed a Freedom of Information request seeking detailed information about MAiD’s costs and savings to B.C.’s health care system.
The grim calculus of tracking the cost of Medical Assistance in Dying shows that B.C. doctors receive $283.85 for every “MAiD Event preparation and Procedure” they perform. Moreover, the Ministry of Health’s payment schedule lists six specific euthanasia-related services for which medical practitioners can be paid, from “MAiD Assessment Fee—Assessor Prescriber” ($43.24) to “MAiD Medication...
St. Raphael Palliative Care Home and Day Centre in Montreal
A Quebec Superior Court judge has denied the Archdiocese of Montreal’s request for a stay of the legal obligation placed on a Montreal palliative care centre to offer assisted death to its residents. Justice Catherine Piché said in her March 1 ruling that “the balance of convenience does not favour the issuance of a stay.”...
A Christian advocacy organization is challenging a St. Catharines city bylaw barring flyers with “graphic images” from being delivered to city homes. In a Feb. 20 application to the Ontario Superior Court, ARPA (Association for Reformed Political Action) asserted that city council stepped outside its authority by suppressing Charter-protected political speech. In September, after only...
Boxes of mifepristone, the first pill given in a chemical abortion, are pictured in a Jan. 13, 2023, photo.OSV News photo/Evelyn Hockstein, Reuters
A Canadian non-profit has become a major player in the drive to help women “self-administer abortion at home” through the distribution of abortion pills by mail, all below the radar of Health Canada. Women on Web moved its operations from the Netherlands to a head office on Toronto’s Yonge Street in 2016 and claims to...
Calgary Bishop Emeritus Fred Henry has made a Catholic magazine’s Top 10 people of 2023 for challenging the narrative on graves at former Indian residential schools. (Canadian Catholic News photo)
Calgary Bishop Emeritus Fred Henry has been named one of the world’s “Top 10 people of 2023” by Inside the Vatican magazine for challenging the consensus on graves at former Indian residential schools. Henry was notified out of the blue in late February that he was featured on the cover along with Catholic luminaries such as...
June 7th saw the first Parliamentary debate of Bill C-63; The Online Harms Bill. (Unsplash photo)
Two proposed bills, the Online Harms Act (Bill C-63) and Bill C-367, have critics suggesting that if passed, they could threaten the freedom to express beliefs and convictions online and in the public square. Social media harms targeted include intimate content that is communicated without consent, sexually victimizes a child or revictimizes a survivor, foments...
The new pharmacare program’s focus on contraception is just an extension of the “culture of death” that permeates modern society, says a Campaign Life Coalition spokesperson. (Simone van der Koelen/Unsplash)
With the framework of a national pharmacare program launched by the Liberal-NDP coalition, some are finding its initial focus on contraceptives a “deeply troubling” aspect of the deal. The pharmacare program promises to improve access to contraceptives for nine million Canadians, along with medication, including insulin, for an estimated 3.7 million people living with diabetes....
