OTTAWA - This fall, Catholic parents of girls from 10 to 13 years of age may face a quandary when schools in several provinces start offering a new vaccination program against a sexually transmitted virus that can cause cervical cancer.

OTTAWA - As a Canadian federal agency authorized the use of  unfrozen human embryos for stem cell research, a highly placed Vatican official warned that Catholics involved in any aspect of the destruction of human embryos could face excommunication.

In an interview published in an Italian magazine June 28, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo said, "destroying human life is equivalent to abortion."

OTTAWA - Terri Schiavo's slow death by dehydration and starvation after the March 18 removal of her feeding tube has pro-life activists and experts in medical ethics concerned about the implications for euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide in Canada.

The mainstream news media have framed Schiavo's story as a 'right to die' issue, because her husband's decision to have the feeding tube removed was based on his claims that Terri had told him she would not want to live should she be stricken with a disability like the persistent vegetative state doctors say was brought on by heart failure 15 years ago.

OTTAWA - The RCMP investigation into a complaint laid by the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition concerning the death of a Nova Scotia woman who sought assisted suicide in Switzerland will not lead to any charges being laid.

{mosimage}OTTAWA - Planning has begun in the Ottawa archdiocese to host the 2010 Youth Summit/Montée Jeunesse next May 21-24.

Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, S.J.,  said he has great confidence in the direction the youth leaders will provide after a preliminary brainstorming session June 20. He noted the conference will takes place over Victoria Day weekend and coincides with Pentecost next year. It is expected to draw hundreds of youth up to age 35 to the nation’s capital.

OTTAWA - A French Catholic school board in Northern Ontario has been ordered to compensate three members of a controversial religious group after an Ontario Human Rights Tribunal found the board guilty of discrimination.

On Dec. 15, the tribunal ordered the Conseil Scolaire Catholique Franco-Nord to pay unspecified compensation to Daniel, Michel and Sylvie Chabot, siblings who belong to the Raelian Movement and who operate the Academy of Pleasurology and Emotional Intelligence (APEI).

{mosimage}OTTAWA - A Quebec Superior Court judge has ruled against Drummondville parents who want to remove their children from a mandatory ethics and religious culture course.

The parents had sued their local school board, arguing violation of parental rights and religious freedom. But the Aug. 31 decision ruled the course does not violate religious freedom.

OTTAWA (CCN)—National pro-life student associations in the United States and Canada have thrown their support behind Carleton Lifeline, a pro-life group facing discrimination on the Carleton University campus in Ottawa.

Carleton University’s pro-life club was told earlier this week that it must become pro-choice if it wants to receive student union funding and recognition on campus (read full story).

Students for Life of America (SFLA) and National Campus Life Network (NCLN) launched StandWithCarleton.com as a sign of solidarity with the Lifeline, which has been decertified by the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA).  That means the pro-life club has lost access to funds from compulsory student dues as well as the recognition that allows them to use public spaces on campus for meetings and publicity.

OTTAWA - Carleton University’s pro-life club must become pro-choice if it wants to receive student union funding and recognition on campus.

The Carleton Student Union Association (CUSA) revoked the club status of Carleton LifeLine and said it must change a clause in its constitution which violates CUSA's anti-discrimination policy supporting “a woman’s right to choose” in order to be recertified.

OTTAWA - Undaunted by the Oct. 4 arrest of five students for attempting to set up a graphic photo display comparing abortion to genocide, the Carleton University pro-life club sponsored a similar presentation Oct. 18.

Carleton Lifeline, the pro-life club, brought in Jose Ruba of the Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform to lay out the arguments for the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP), which features graphic pictures from various genocides alongside those of fetuses dismembered by abortion.