
Michael Swan, The Catholic Register
Michael is Associate Editor of The Catholic Register.
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A unanimous decision of the Federal Court of Appeal has ordered Citizenship and Immigration to consider the AWOL American soldier's religious, political and moral beliefs before deciding whether the Hinzman family can stay in Canada. The Hinzmans reside in Toronto.
Published in
Canada

Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant bishops and leaders sent a letter to Harper June 25 urging him to "publicly and prominently" recommit Canada "to the energetic pursuit of the early elimination of all nuclear weapons."
Published in
Canada
June 26, 2010
Development agencies respond to G8 aid initiatives

The Catholic development agencies have named "the rising food crisis" as their number one priority for the summit of the world's most powerful leaders.
Published in
Canada
June 24, 2010
Another aid group fears CIDA cuts

The Canadian Council for International Co-operation is assuming it won’t get the $1.7 million the federal government normally contributes to its $2.4-million budget, said executive director Gerry Barr.
Published in
Canada
June 22, 2010
Tracking G8 accountability: hype vs. substance

However, an independent academic assessment of G8 performance and comments by aid agencies and activists from poor countries aren't quite so kind.
Canada has lost its traditional second place ranking in the G8 Research Group analysis, keeping just 17 of 24 commitments it made at the last G8 meeting in L'Aquila, Italy.
Published in
Canada
June 18, 2010
Maternal health the right choice for G8

Leaked drafts of the final Huntsville communique indicate Canada is offering $1 billion over five years to tackle maternal and child deaths in poor countries — a commitment that comes in less than the $1.1 billion security budget for the G8/G20 summit and less than the $1.5 billion recently pledged for maternal and child health by Bill and Melinda Gates.
Targeting the health of women and children is the right thing to do, said Michael Casey, executive director of the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace.
“It is certainly a huge development priority,” Casey said.
Published in
Canada
June 17, 2010
G8 can't ignore moral dimension of economy

Infinium doesn’t make its trades based on the value of companies involved or their plans for new investment. The thousands of trades per second are triggered by computer programs based on mathematical models.
At the G20 meetings in Toronto June 26-27 European countries want to slow down companies like Infinium and their breakneck, second-by-second bets on financial products. Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper says no.
It’s a pretty sure bet the Pope is not on Harper’s side on this one.
Published in
Canada
June 9, 2010
Burundi AIDS clinic honours slain Canadian Jesuit

“The decision to name this clinic after Martin Royackers has been motivated by two things,” said SYM director Jesuit Father Desire Yamuremye in an e-mail to The Catholic Register. “The principal one is that the centre is at the service of the poor living with HIV and AIDS. I think Martin Royackers was murdered while he was at the service of poor people. The second reason is that part of the funds came from the Canadian Jesuit province.”
Published in
Canada

When an adult tells church officials that as a child he or she was abused in the church, the internal process these days is pretty clear. But what about the police?
When Fr. George Smith was accused this May of inappropriately touching a young person while working in Deer Lake, Nfld., between 1986 and 1991 he was immediately suspended from his duties as a parish priest in Prince Edward Island. An internal investigation was launched in the diocese of Corner Brook and Labrador. Police, however, were left out of the picture.
Published in
Canada
May 31, 2010
Vigil supports American soldier

The Federal Court of Appeal has reserved judgment on legal issues underpinning Hinzman’s application for humanitarian and compassionate leave to remain in Canada despite a 2008 deportation order. The court’s decision on Hinzman’s case could take months.
Published in
Canada