Vancouver’s St. Paul’s Hospital’s policy of not allowing euthanasia onsite is the subject of a lawsuit by the parents of a terminally ill woman who was transferred to another facility to be euthanized. (Terry O’Neill photo)
The parents of a terminally ill woman who was transferred to another facility to be euthanized after St. Paul’s Hospital refused to allow the procedure on its premises are suing the provincial government and Providence Health Care, the Catholic health-care provider that operates St. Paul’s. The couple’s lawsuit says their daughter’s Charter of Rights and...
Expo 4 Life organizer and Holy Cross teacher Luke Gloanec and the expo’s creative director Elisha May Gloanec speak to students during the day–long event. “We are not trying to indoctrinate; we are trying to create dialogue. The goal is that they leave this expo with their perspective broadened,” Elisha May Gloanec told The B.C. Catholic. (Submitted photos)
The annual Catholic schools’ pro-life conference got a fresh coat of paint this year in the form of the Youth 4 Life Expo. Organizers urged students to engage with pro-life ideas on their own terms. They transitioned from a traditional conference format, where content is presented to students, to an expo format, allowing students to browse...
June 7th saw the first Parliamentary debate of Bill C-63; The Online Harms Bill. (Unsplash photo)
More than 100 days after its introduction, Bill C-63, The Online Harms Act, which immediately sparked passionate reactions of furor or support, was debated for the first time in the House of Commons June 7. Minister of Justice and Attorney General Arif Virani said during his sponsor’s speech that the legislation will reduce exposure to...
For 122 years, the monks who called the Cistercian-Trappist Monastery of Our Lady of Calvary in Rogersville, N.B., home bonded over their devotion to God and a love of agriculture. The Cistercian monks arrived in 1902 at the invitation of local parish priest Fr. Marcel‑François Richard, who wanted to provide refuge for the brothers from...
The Court of Appeal of Alberta has granted the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC) intervenor status in the controversial case of a 27-year-old Calgary woman with autism seeking approval for medical assistance in dying (MAiD) against her father’s wishes. On May 17, the non-profit that opposes assisted suicide submitted a five-page application to intervene containing legal...
A Vancouver refugee family from Gaza is working to bring family members to Canada. Amal Khames is a Muslim who worked in Gaza with the Missionaries of Charity. The sisters in Vancouver are trying to connect the family to local resources. (Photos submitted)
By James Risdon Amal Khames illustrates the complex religious and cultural reality of the war-torn Holy Land. A Muslim woman, she worked with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in the Gaza Strip. Now, she is trying to rebuild her life in Port Coquitlam while helping her sisters, who remain stranded in Egypt after fleeing the...
Unsplash photo
Amplifying advocacy and pastoral care efforts, bolstering educational resources and championing life-affirming legislation are among the recommendations emerging from an international interfaith symposium on palliative care staged in Toronto late last month. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) and the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAV) bestowed health care, medicine, ethics, legal and pastoral care...
Steve Weatherbe holds a Christians for Israel sign in Victoria with other supporters. The group gathers to protest pro-Palestinian rallies in Victoria. (Contributed photos)
Sometimes, a free afternoon is all you need to start a counter-protest. Catholic pro-life organizer and retired journalist Steven Weatherbe was visiting Vancouver with his wife, who was attending a conference. He was at a loss for what to do with his afternoon, and then he saw a pro-Palestinian rally forming at the Vancouver Art...
The federal government has turned down Toronto’s request to decriminalize possession of hard drugs.Register file photo/Michael Swan
As British Columbia throws in the towel on its experiment of decriminalizing hard drugs, admitting defeat in liberalizing its drug laws, the country’s largest city has had its desire to ignore B.C.s evidence and move down the same path quashed by the federal government. On May 17, the federal government rejected a request from Toronto’s...
Society’s loss of the ability to centre conversations on “a common set of facts” is a theme of recent essays that lament the state of journalism. (Tomasz Mikołajczyk/Pixabay)
By Catholic Conscience On May 12, Pope Francis marked the 58th World Day of Social Communications by saying a world increasingly permeated by artificial intelligence must never lose sight of the “wisdom of the heart.” The following essay from Catholic Conscience makes the point that communication also depends on truth, a point increasingly being lost in today’s...
