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Irish Eyes on Meghan and Harry

Peter Stockland

March 17, 2021

This might be the best Saint Patrick’s Day to skip the clownish caricatures and ponder the British monarchy from Ireland’s historical perspective, Peter Stockland argues.

For as Peggy Noonan perspicaciously points out from her position in a watchtower of the greatest republic in human history, the question that the furies besetting the House of Windsor raise is whether the family will escape with their skins before the institutional walls tumble down around them With...

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Chaos ’Round The Corner for CRTC

Peter Menzies

March 16, 2021

Peter Menzies looks into a planned major expansion of federal regulatory powers over the Internet. It’s enough to take your breath away, he reports.

Members of Parliament on the Canadian Heritage Committee examining Bill C-10 - which expands the authority of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to a breathtaking extent - were finally able to see the draft Order in Council expected to spell out how the regulator ...

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When A Pope Comes Home

Susan Korah

March 10, 2021

The welcome for Pope Francis on his visit to Iraq was a memorable first step. Now hope must become reality, Susan Korah reports.

A calculated risk in the face of pandemic fears and potential security threats, the visit of Pope Francis to Iraq brought incalculable benefits, say members of the country’s indigenous Christian community “When the media lights are turned off and the Pope’s visit becomes yesterday’s news, it is impo...

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HELP to Redefine MAiD

Tara Vreugdenhil

March 8, 2021

Speech-language pathologist Tara Vreugdenhil breaks down the definitions that make up medical assistance in dying and determines it’s really homicide masquerading as health care.

By these definitions, MAiD is meant to be a practice of medicine which provides medical treatment to help someone bring life to a close Investments in those programs would prevent much of the demand for MAiD requests by providing actual medical treatment which has the intention to end or reduce suff...

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Readers Respond to Sean Murphy

Peter Stockland

March 5, 2021

We asked our readers to let us know what they think about Sean Murphy’s initiative to amend the Criminal Code and make it an offence to compel anyone to participate in the act of non-culpable homicide that is currently called medical aid in dying. Here are some responses.

Health Care should be about saving lives, and in my view the moment Canada made Physician Assisted Suicide law they infringed on the rights of Canadians who feel life from conception until natural death is sacred It seems to me the government is more interested in investing in ending lives through a...

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When Covid Constraints Come to Church

Don Hutchinson

March 4, 2021

Don Hutchinson considers the complementary roles of Church and State vis-à-vis the pandemic and public health.

Third, in 2009 the Court decided the Government of Alberta was justified in requiring photographs on all drivers’ licenses because of national security concerns, even though the requirement violated the religious freedom of the Hutterian Brethren of Wilson Colony, Christians who believe being photog...

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It’s How The Light Gets In

Alisha Ruiss

March 1, 2021

As our pandemic winter shadows withdraw like halting springtime snow, Alisha Ruiss reminds us that even the tiniest crack in the darkness can begin to illuminate God’s promise anew.

Yet, if there is anything I can speak of with certainty, it is the heavy shadow of depression that regularly haunted me from my pre-teen years, one that seemed bent upon obscuring the desire so present at my birth: to truly see What if hope disappoints? What if the light disappears? What if the pro...

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How MAiD Aids Ableism

Keith Dow

February 25, 2021

Bill C-7’s expansion of medical aid in dying encodes into law discrimination against disabled Canadians by treating them as less worthy of life than the able-bodied, Keith Dow writes.

Ableism is the prevalent discrimination of and social prejudice against people with disabilities and it is like a poisonous rot that eats away at the roots of opportunity, care, and life-giving supports for the disabled COVID-19 has exposed the frailty of many of these points of connection and care,...

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COVID’s Media Monologue

Peter Menzies

February 24, 2021

Bad news sells but Peter Menzies wonders why journalists eager to echo alarms about pandemic case numbers ignore the social devastation of lockdown policies.

Deena Hinshaw (Alberta) roll out their morbid numbers and fears at daily news conferences, there has been much less frequent scrutiny regarding the consequences of their recommendations beyond the spread of the virus and its impact on health and the health care systems Much may have changed in how n...

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The Unlawfulness of Lockdown

James Sikkema

February 22, 2021

Contrary to theologian David Hionides, James Sikkema argues no one has a moral obligation to obey COVID-19 lockdown orders and that civilly disobeying them is justified.

Given that the purported benefits of lockdown are to safeguard public health at the expense of the rights and freedoms constituting the condition of the possibility of the true promotion of public health, lockdown measures are orders of magnitude less beneficial than their harms Rather than make pro...

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A Plan to Unmake MAiD

Peter Stockland

February 18, 2021

A former veteran Mountie and local coroner has a sure-fire way to protect health care workers from being made to administer MAiD. So why won’t anyone answer Sean Murphy’s call? Peter Stockland reports.

Given that most people don’t go into health care to commit even non-culpable homicide against the vulnerable, the elderly, the disabled, or the mentally ill – as the Senate amendments would allow – a consequence could be far fewer hands willing to inject death into their fellow citizens’ veins What ...

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Pandemic Pancake Tuesday

Don Hutchinson

February 16, 2021

On this day before Lent, Don Hutchinson counsels Convivium readers to prepare for the 40 days before Easter as a mix of self-denial and doing unto others as we would have them do for us.

There are two different stories told about William Booth, co-founder of The Salvation Army along with his wife Catherine, sending a telegram containing the single word, Others The second story suggests that in 1911 Booth sent a Christmas telegram to Salvation Army leaders around the world ...

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How Sanctions Cheat Children

Susan Korah

February 12, 2021

Leading voices are urging Canada to rethink Middle East sanctions that make daily life a struggle just to get daily bread, Susan Korah reports.

If Canada’s goal is to enhance international peace and stability rather than the country’s status on the world stage as a benevolent, refugee-welcoming country, it is time for the government to lift sanctions that are exacerbating the misery of vulnerable people in countries already devastated by wa...

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Cancel That Cancellation

Peter Stockland

February 11, 2021

Desecration of the U.S. Capitol and undermining of North American institutions are both being rebuked by those willing to stand up for reason and sanity, Peter Stockland writes.

Late last month, in the later stages of a long and respected career, Douglas Farrow was subjected to an open letter from students in the Religious Studies department In late January, Kay published a superb piece of journalism on the cancel culture malice and cowardice at the heart of former CTV real...

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The HandMAiD’s Toll

André Schutten and Anna Nienhuis

February 9, 2021

As the Senate studies Bill C-7’s dramatic expansion of medical assistance in dying, Anna Nienhuis and André Schutten warn of a MAiD copycat effect on those tempted to suicide.

As the Senate continues its review of Bill C-7’s dramatic expansion of medical assistance in dying (MAiD), possibly proposing amendments before sending it back to the House of Commons, Senators should consider the evidence for copycat and coupling effects when it comes to suicide, and how that will ...

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