Tag Archives: Country: Canada

LifeSiteNews: If Premier Dalton McGuinty pushes forward his controversial anti-bullying bill, known as Bill 13, without amendments to respect the “religious and conscience rights of many parents” Ontario will face years of expensive lawsuits, warn the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada in a new open letter to McGuinty.

LifeSiteNews.com: fter denying a pro-life group official club status in 2010, Carleton University’s student union is proposing a referendum to ban pro-life groups from the campus altogether.

LifeSiteNews.com: In his first public statement since controversy broke last year, the Winnipeg Catholic school principal who was fired in November after promoting the 40 Days for Life campaign argues that he was used as a “scapegoat” by Church and school leaders to escape negative media attention.

LifeSiteNews.com: Carleton University has made yet another attempt to quash a lawsuit against the university by Carleton Lifeline, the university’s pro-life club.

LifeSiteNews.com: Pro-life students at Simon Fraser University set up a display on campus depicting the horror of abortion without incident Monday morning, despite the university’s disapproval.

LifeNews.com: Trespassing charges that had been pressed against pro-life students at Carleton University for putting up a pro-life displayed banned by the administration of their own college campus have been withdrawn.

LifeSiteNews: Last year, a graphic display set up by pro-life students at the University of British Columbia was obstructed by protesters, who covered the pro-life posters with large cloths and impeded discussions as university security and police stood by. So last Thursday, as UBC Lifeline prepared to set up this year’s display of the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP), they were prepared for a large and raucous protest.

One News Now: ADF attorney David French reports that when a small number of pro-life students were denied access to the campus, they continued their demonstration anyway, “doing nothing but holding signs.” “Then it seemed like a literal squad of police officers descended upon them, and as [a] student literally read from the school’s handbook, [which] promised her free speech, they arrested her,” French continues. [more quotes from David French]

Winnipeg Free Press: Carleton University’s student association has upheld its decision to ban a campus anti-abortion group.

LifeSiteNews: “A pro-family leader in Quebec is warning that parental rights are coming under attack yet again in the province following the government’s announcement last week that they will begin re-offering sex education.”

National Post: “The lawyer for an anti-abortion group just decertified at Carleton University said Friday he will take the school’s student association to court unless the ban is reversed. Albertos Polizogopoulos called the decision to decertify Carleton Lifeline by the Carleton University Student Association (CUSA) ‘totalitarian’ and ‘ludicrous.’”

National Post: Anti-abortion students force us to look at our commitment to free speech

Metro News: “The fate of a Carleton University anti-abortion group remains in limbo while the university’s student association considers reversing a ban on pro-life student clubs . . . Though the deadline has passed, members of the association have introduced a motion to amend the policy and allow pro-life groups to register as clubs. A vote on the proposed change is planned for December, meaning the group could be reinstated, says Khaldoon Bushnaq, a spokesman for the association.”

Related:

Canada: Carleton University Student Association seeks to ban pro-life groups

National Post: “The student association at Carleton University has decided that any club that is opposed to abortion has no place on campus and would have its funding as a student club cut off. On Monday, Carleton Lifeline, an anti-abortion group, was told by CUSA, the Carleton University Student Association, that it was in violation of CUSA’s anti-discrimination policy.”

ADF Attorney David Hacker writing at Speak Up Movement / University: “I’ve taken a particular interest in the pro-life activities of Canadian students in recent years because of the bravery and commitment these students display in the face of unbearable restrictions on their speech. I’ve also warned that if we do not zealously protect our freedom of speech in America, then pro-life students here will begin to encounter the same restrictions as their friends north of the boarder. But only recently have I realized how similar we’ve become. Events this month at Carleton University in Ontario are strikingly similar not only to our video series about Hanna, but also to our case involving Rock for Life at University of Maryland, Baltimore County.”

LifeSiteNews: “The embattled University of Victoria pro-life club, Youth Protecting Youth (YPY), is declaring victory after reaching a settlement last week with UVic’s student society (UVSS) that reinstates the club’s status and funding. … YPY filed a lawsuit with the BC Supreme Court in May, but UVSS opted to settle out of court. They agreed to restore YPY’s club status and funding and rescinded the offending changes within their constitution. They also gave YPY over $700 to make up for the funding that been denied for the last two years.”

CBC News: “Alberta’s controversial legislation that gives parents the option of pulling their children out of sexual education or religion classes they deem inappropriate or offensive will not affect how Catholic schools are run, board officials say. The specifics of Bill 44, which comes into effect this September, were indexed in the Education Department’s annual Guide to Education on Wednesday. The new legislation, which came about through changes made to the Human Rights Act last year, will give parents the option of excusing a child from class while those subjects are being taught. A school’s failure to comply with the new rules could result in a human rights commission hearing.”

John Carpay writes at the Canadian Constitution Foundation: “At the University of Calgary, setting up a pro-life display on campus can end your academic career. Last week, vice-provost Meghan Houghton found eight students guilty of a ‘major violation’ of rules governing ‘non-academic misconduct’ — a category that also includes theft, vandalism, arson, violence and sexual assault. Of course, the U of C is being careful about how it is framing its case, using the canard of campus security as a pretext for censorship . . . ”

CBC: “Eight University of Calgary students engaged in non-academic misconduct when they refused to turn their graphic anti-abortion signs away from passersby on campus, the school’s vice-provost has ruled. The students, who are members of the Campus Pro-Life Club, were accused of failing to comply with campus security procedures in connection with a display they put up in April depicting aborted fetuses. The penalty is a formal, written warning.” | Related: University of Calgary may expel pro-life advocates

Vancouver Sun: “A pro-life group at the University of Victoria has filed a petition with the B.C. Supreme Court, saying it has illegally been denied club funding on campus.The lawsuit, filed Monday by Youth Protecting Youth against the UVic Students’ Society, says it has not received the funding normally given to student clubs since September 2008.”

LifeSiteNews: “The University of Calgary is proceeding with individual non-academic misconduct hearings, which include the possibility of expulsion, for eight members of the Campus Pro-Life (CPL) student group regarding a pro-life display held earlier this month . . . ”

The Globe and Mail: “The revision, outlined in 208 pages that were quietly posted on the Ministry of Education’s website in January, will for the first time teach Grade 3 pupils about such topics as sexual identity and orientation, and introduce terms like ‘anal intercourse’ and ‘vaginal lubrication’ to children in Grades 6 and 7. The new curriculum begins in Grade 1 with lessons about the proper names of body parts.” | National Post

Wintery Knight, a blog “integrating Christian faith and knowledge in the public square”: “The headline should be that these Canadian universities both continue to censor pro-life students. … The academic left uses the power of the lectern and the grading marker to impose their views on generations of students. They use techniques like speech codes, expulsions, degree denials and promotion denials. The secular left is intolerant of other points of view. … This 15-minute podcast from Jennifer Roback Morse came out a while back and it talked about free speech on campus and the work of the Alliance Defense Fund to defend free speech rights from the academic left. I’ve listened to it twice, and I found it good. You young law students should consider going to work for firms like the ADF – they do good work. Canada has nothing like the ADF.”

LifeSiteNews: “The Student Society of McGill University (SSMU) has reinstated the club status of Choose Life, the campus pro-life club, but only after forcing them to submit to special requirements that restrict the club’s ability to share the pro-life message.”

LifeSiteNews: “The Student Society of McGill University (SSMU) has reinstated the club status of Choose Life, the campus pro-life club, but only after forcing them to submit to special requirements that restrict the club’s ability to share the pro-life message. The SSMU Council voted April 1st to reinstate the club, but also required them to attach an appendix to their constitution in order to ‘facilitate their compliance’ with SSMU’s equity policy.”

LifeSiteNews: “Dozens of pro-abortion protesters at the University of British Columbia (UBC) disrupted a pro-life demonstration last Tuesday, which was being sponsored by the University’s pro-life club, Lifeline.”

LifeSiteNews: “On Wednesday the undergraduates at McGill University voted against a motion that would ban the current pro-life club, Choose Life, and any future pro-life club on campus . . . While this result prevents Choose Life from being permanently banned, the club is still suspended as a result of a motion SSMU voted in favor of on November 12th.”

LifeSiteNews: “The Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario have rejected a ‘Gender Studies’ course that is being promoted by the Ontario Ministry of Education.”