The Catholic Civil Rights League is concerned that Bill C-11, the federal government’s proposed Online Streaming Act, could limit the free speech of Catholics on issues that might run up against federal policies.

In far off places, I’ve seen children under armed guard, fenced in, sitting in the dust, holding themselves up on the edges of human existence — exiled to places where any notion of the rights of children seems fanciful, even sadly comical.

A faithful voice in Canadian politics lives on. At 95, former Senator Lois Wilson is still campaigning, not for herself or for a political party but for human rights, for a guaranteed livable income, for a full and generous welcome to refugees, for preservation of the natural world which has been central to her life of prayer.

One year ago, the Archdiocese of Vancouver and the White Rock Pride Society were at loggerheads, waiting for a hearing before the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal as adversaries in a dispute over a church hall rental that pitted religious rights against the human rights code’s anti-discrimination clause.

On the one hand, human rights might seem obvious. There is surely a minimum of freedoms, responsibilities, care and solidarity owed to all humans just because they are human. On the other hand, is there anything Catholics and Canadians argue about more fervently?

It’s nice that Canada is going to look into how Canadian-made targeting systems are being used by the Turkish and Azerbaijani military, both engaged in active wars, before allowing any more sales or exports of the systems. But Ottawa will have to do more if it intends to live up to its signature on the international Arms Trade Treaty and international human rights law in general, according to a researcher at Project Ploughshares.

MANCHESTER, England -- An English bishop urged the U.K. government to take action against violations of democratic freedoms in Hong Kong.

AMMAN, Jordan -- Religious freedom advocates and medical practitioners have expressed concerns about the COVID-19 response in northeast Syria.

VATICAN CITY -- Access to clean water is an essential human right that must be defended and protected, the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development said in a new document.

Even though a substantial number of people the Lok Manch organization serves are illiterate or never properly schooled, the easiest way to start a Lok Manch meeting is to have everyone stand up and recite the pre-amble to India’s constitution, said Jesuit lawyer Fr. Stanislaus Jebamalai.

GENEVA -- With increasing concerns worldwide about human rights violations in Nicaragua, a Vatican representative has called for an immediate return to negotiations and a rollout of reforms necessary to hold "free and transparent elections" there.

OTTAWA —Marches of Life in Ottawa and in a number of provincial capitals, including Toronto, marked the 50^th anniversary of legalized abortion in Canada May 9.

The decade-old battle for a truly independent watchdog over Canadian mining and other businesses with operations abroad isn’t over, according to Development and Peace advocacy and research officer Elana Wright.

VATICAN – Access to clean, fresh water is a fundamental human right that must be defended, especially in poor areas where men, women and children are suffering the deadly effects of climate change, Pope Francis said.

OTTAWA – Some applicants for 2019 Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) grants are receiving troubling notices from the government, said a lawyer from a Canadian charities organization.