{mosimage}TORONTO - More than 60 religious organizations, many of them ecumenical and many of them Catholic, have backed a petition asking Ottawa to halt deportations of U.S. soldiers who have come to Canada to avoid serving in Iraq.

The online petition sponsored by the Quakers asks Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Citizenship and Immigration Minister Diane Finley to create a policy to allow conscientious objectors to stay in Canada. The petition cites the June 3 advisory vote of Parliament which would have allowed American soldiers to stay in Canada as permanent residents.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Though nobody’s exactly sure what it will look like after it has been shifted about 200 metres west, redesigned and reconceived, the defenders of the old Peace Garden in Nathan Phillips Square are cautiously optimistic they will still recognize their beloved landmark after the square in front of city hall has been revamped.

“It started off that they were going to tear everything down, you know? And then we started to scream and holler,” Fr. Massey Lombardi told The Catholic Register.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Toronto’s Catholics are on pace to double the number of refugees they sponsor in 2008, but they face increasing frustration over Iraqi refugees tangled in red tape in Damascus.

It now takes the better part of two years for privately sponsored Iraqi refugees to be processed through the Canadian consulate in Damascus.

{mosimage}OTTAWA - A scientific poll commissioned by Campaign Life Coalition shows a majority of Canadians do not think abortionist Henry Morgentaler should have been appointed to the Order of Canada.

Coalition President Jim Hughes said the poll’s results challenge the pervasive “lie” that Canada has “social peace” over the issue of abortion.

{mosimage}OTTAWA - Healing and reconciliation formed the agenda for a meeting of Catholic bishops with Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine in Quebec City July 16.

“I recognize that thousands of Catholic men and women religious worked during the Indian residential schools era in what they sincerely believed to be in the best interest of Indian residential school students,” Fontaine said, according to an AFN news release. “However, it is important for these religious entities to both openly acknowledge their role in Indian residential schools and to hear directly from First Nations regarding their experiences.”

{mosimage}TORONTO - Shareholders trying to nudge corporate boardrooms in a more ethical direction had one of their most successful springs ever.

Spring is when most companies hold annual general meetings, reporting their accomplishments and future plans directly to shareholders, electing new boards of directors and voting on shareholder proposals. This year the Vancouver-based Shareholder Association for Research and Education (SHARE) tracked 171 shareholder proposals.

{mosimage}OTTAWA - The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace has released a 22-page booklet blaming the roots of the current worldwide food crisis on the rise of for-profit agribusiness.

Entitled Food System in Crisis: Hunger and the Pursuit of Profit, the booklet calls for a return of decision-making power to the people who grow and consume food, promoting “food sovereignty.”

{mosimage}OTTAWA (CCN)—Members of the lay apostolate Madonna House returned the Order of Canada award their foundress received in 1976 to protest the appointment of abortionist Henry Morgentaler.

“The awarding of the Order of Canada to Dr. Morgentaler compels us to protest in the most forceful, peaceful way available to us,” said Mark Schlingerman in a prepared statement to media gathered at Princess Gate, the main entrance to the Governor General’s residence July 8. “Not only do we find his medical practice at the dark side of the medical profession but his inclusion in the awards diminishes them.”

{mosimage}TORONTO - “God don’t make no junk.” You will find these words printed on a wall of pro-life posters in the second-floor office of Birthright co-president Mary Berney.

Birthright, the world’s first international crisis pregnancy service, is one of several organizations which provide alternatives to abortion. Some pro-life advocates say not enough is being publicized about these options for women.

{mosimage}TORONTO - A firestorm of protest continues to sweep across Canada in the wake of a July 1 announcement that abortion doctor Henry Morgentaler would receive the Order of Canada.

Catholic bishops from coast to coast joined numerous pro-life groups in condemning the decision by Governor General  Michaëlle Jean to give the country’s highest honour to the man whose name is most widely associated with the fact that Canada, almost alone among civilized nations, has no legal restrictions on abortion.