Michael Swan

A backbench MP who gets things done

May 9, 2021

Liberal MP John McKay doesn’t give a damn whether he’s in cabinet or not. But he does give a damn.

Development and Peace reconciles with two exiled partners

May 7, 2021

Two of Development and Peace’s 24 exiled partners have been welcomed back by Canada’s Catholic development and aid organization and the remaining 22 may re-apply once the organization finalizes a new partnership policy in the coming weeks.

Inadequate housing for migrants cited in coroner report

May 6, 2021

A coroner’s report into the COVID-19 deaths of three migrant farm workers last year has highlighted the role crowded, inadequate housing played in spreading the deadly virus on Ontario farms, plus a jumble of overlapping jurisdictions overseeing the living and working conditions of temporary foreign workers.

Quebec bishops push for ‘just recovery’

May 1, 2021

Quebec’s Catholic bishops don’t just want a recovery, they want change.

Farms could be COVID hotspot, again

April 30, 2021

A year after three migrant farm workers died in Ontario and COVID-19 infections ran rampant in bunkhouses, Fr. Peter Ciallella is worried about this year’s growing season.

Beyond high school: Preparing for life’s next big step

April 29, 2021

In May of 1968 student protesters in Paris put up signs that read, “Be realistic — demand the impossible.” Other signs read, “Life, quickly.” Meanwhile in the United States young people rose up in disgust over their government’s conduct of the Vietnam War and Canadian universities began filling up with American draft dodgers.

Canadian bishops, religious push for passage of Bill C-15

April 26, 2021

With the legislation already forwarded to the Senate for study and third reading in the House of Commons expected within days, Canada’s bishops and religious orders have come out strongly in support of Bill C-15, a law that would implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

Too many challenges with drive-in Mass

April 24, 2021

This past Easter Sunday, Fr. Harrison Ayre remembers walking back into St. Peter’s in Nanaimo, B.C., just to gather himself after celebrating the most stressful Mass of his life. Then, just as he sat down in a pew, he heard a bang.

Global development goals hit hard by pandemic: UN report

April 23, 2021

If COVID has been a setback for Canadians, what has it done to villagers in Malawi, slum dwellers in Manila, small farmers in Honduras, Indigenous people in the Amazon?

Legal tussle over termination of federation agreement looms at Laurentian University

April 23, 2021

The University of Sudbury has turned to the courts to put a stop to Laurentian University’s rapid dissolution of its founding agreements with three church-affiliated universities — the University of Sudbury (Jesuit), Thorneloe University (Anglican) and Huntington University (United Church).