
Brian Dryden, Canadian Catholic News
‘Fundamental change’ needed
OTTAWA -- Some Catholic organizations fear efforts of reconciliation with Canada’s First Nations are at risk in the wake of protests and blockades over a B.C. pipeline project.
Two-tier euthanasia rules proposed
OTTAWA -- The federal government’s proposed changes to assisted suicide will eliminate the requirement that a person’s death be reasonably foreseeable, but the government will not open up the system to the mentally ill at this time.
Bill 21 challengers face a long battle
OTTAWA -- Opponents of Quebec’s Bill 21 are hoping that Canada’s Supreme Court will take on a legal appeal to have the law suspended until arguments against the law are fully heard in Quebec court next fall.
Feds request four-month extension for changes to assisted suicide
OTTAWA -- The federal government wants four more months to change Canada’s assisted suicide rules to comply with a Quebec court decision that came down in September that said the existing regulations are too restrictive.
Board caught in crossfire over Bill 21 fight
OTTAWA -- Montreal’s English language school board is vowing to continue its fight in the courts against Quebec’s secularism law Bill 21 even though it has decided not to accept funding from a federal court challenge program and the fact that the school board will soon cease to exist.
‘Somebody needs to step up’
OTTAWA -- As the federal government moves towards expanding who can access a legal medically-induced suicide, a vocal critic of state-sponsored death is demanding that conscience rights for doctors who don’t want to take part in what the Canadian government calls medical assistance in dying (MAiD) be protected by a federal law.
Senate takes on slave labour with bill
OTTAWA -- An organization associated with the Catholic Church in Canada is happy to see the issue of slave labour being addressed within the Canadian government, but says that a proposed bill introduced in the Canadian Senate falls short of taking meaningful steps to actually have a real impact.
Euthanasia law survey prompts backlash from Canadian bishops
OTTAWA -- The federal government is coming under increasing fire from critics of legal medically-assisted suicide in Canada for how quickly it is moving to change the regulations around assisted suicide and for how short a time period Canadians were given to express their views in an online survey overseen by the Ministry of Justice.
The race is on for ‘soul’ of Conservatives
OTTAWA -- Social conservatives are gearing up for what they call a battle for the “soul of the party” as the federal Conservatives head into a leadership campaign.
Church is given a design wake-up call
OTTAWA -- When flames ripped through one of the world’s most famous Catholic churches in Paris, France, on April 15, 2019, the world — not just Catholics — mourned the damage done to one of Western civilization’s most iconic structures.