Canadian News

News and events from across the country.

COVID won’t stop annual Ordinandi Dinner in Toronto

February 28, 2021

The annual Ordinandi Dinner last year went off without a hitch, celebrated just before COVID put Canada and the world in lockdown. But there was no such luck for this year’s event.

At-home Ash Wednesday services include inter-church provisions

February 27, 2021

This year Lent began with ashes in Northern Ontario, just as it does every year and everywhere. But this year’s ashes up north are a little different because they’re likely the most ecumenical ashes in Canada.

Teacher, track coach pays it forward

February 27, 2021

If Kurt Downes’ sixth grade students or fellow teachers are ever looking for him during his lunch break, they can usually find him where they can the rest of the school day — in his classroom.

Supreme Court quashes pro-lifer Mary Wagner's final appeal

February 26, 2021

Vancouver -- Mary Wagner’s long road toward achieving legal recognition of the humanity of the unborn has come to an end as the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed her leave to appeal Feb. 18.

Ontario enacts new human trafficking law

February 26, 2021

OTTAWA -- Ontario's government used the newly declared National Human Trafficking Awareness Day Feb. 22 to unveil major new funding and legislation as part of the province’s anti-human trafficking strategy, as governments in Canada continue to take action against what Pope Francis has called “a crime against humanity.”

Development and Peace cuts ties with 24 organizations following partner review

February 26, 2021

The Canadian bishops' conference and its international development agency will discontinue funding for 24 partners following the completion of a joint subcommittee’s review of international partner organizations that receive funding from Canadian Catholics.

Court grants final extension to pass Bill C-7 on assisted-dying

February 26, 2021

OTTAWA -- The federal government was granted one more month Thursday to expand access to medical assistance in dying even as its efforts to do so stalled in the House of Commons.

Canadian bishops prepare response to Bill C-15

February 25, 2021

Canada’s bishops are continuing to study federal legislation that provides legal protections for Indigenous communities in the form of internationally recognized rights.

Religious orders to match monthly donations to Development and Peace

February 25, 2021

Lenten alms-giving to Canada’s Catholic international development agency is getting turbo-charged by religious orders.

Supreme Court denies appeal of Saskatchewan Catholic school funding

February 25, 2021

The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed a Saskatchewan public school board’s leave to appeal the Theodore school decision, which enshrines in law public funding for non-Catholic students attending Catholic schools. The Feb. 25 decision confirms the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal’s unanimous decision last March that overturned a 2017 ruling by Justice Donald Layh that sought to limit the funding of non-Catholics in the Prairie province’s Catholic schools.