Brian Dryden, Canadian Catholic News
Proposed legislation bans conversion therapy for minors
OTTAWA -- The federal government has proposed legislation that would make it a crime to force anyone into conversion therapy or provide the controversial therapy to minors.
Statistics don’t tell whole poverty story
OTTAWA -- The federal government is touting recent statistics that indicate that the poverty rate in Canada is on a downward spiral, but social justice and anti-poverty groups say the statistics don’t tell the whole story and there is still a lot of work to be done if Canada is going to reduce poverty levels for Indigenous Canadians and those who live in remote areas of the country.
MP’s bill targets sex-selection abortion
OTTAWA -- Sex-selection abortion is “antithetical to our commitment to equality” and should be banned, said a Conservative MP as she introduced a private member’s bill that targets health workers who knowingly abort a fetus because it is a girl.
Government given more time to change law
OTTAWA -- The federal government’s request for a four-month extension to comply with a Quebec court ruling that struck down a key element of Canada’s legal suicide regulations has been granted.
‘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.