I have written before of my respect for folk singers who look at the world and give voice to truths that are often hidden from our view. Many years ago, I heard such a phrase that has haunted me, and in some ways has shaped the ministry of the Church on the Street: “Truth is a story scribbled in chalk, an hour before the flood.”

Ironically, to understand why many Canadians stomach a system hostile to right-to-life organizations, anti-abortion legislation proposals and any meaningful discussions about pre-born rights or if life begins at conception, you have to look back to the birth of this nation.

There are several themes that emerge from watching the 1 Million Person March 4 Children in Ottawa on Sept. 20. Organized by Kamel El-Cheikh, an Ottawa-based Muslim father, this community was galvanized into action when a teacher in Edmonton criticized a Muslim student who had been absent for Pride activities in June. The audio recording went viral, largely because the teacher’s conclusion was that without agreement on issues of gender and sexuality, the student doesn’t belong in Canada. If that doesn’t galvanize protest, I don’t know what will. And it did.

Have you ever visited Toronto’s unique and beautiful outdoor Marian Shrine of Gratitude? If you haven’t, you’ve missed a real treasure — and if you have, you know what a jewel it truly is. Either way, the Shrine needs you to help save it!

At least give Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and her government credit for chutzpah. During a summer when Canadian forests were burning at an unprecedented rate and tens of thousands of people were evacuated from their homes, the government imposed a seven-month moratorium on the approval of new projects using renewable energy to produce electricity.

It has been just over seven years since Canadian law has permitted euthanasia and assisted suicide on demand. In those seven years restriction after restriction on euthanasia provision has fallen and now we stand on the threshold of euthanizing the mentally ill and permitting the as-yet-undefined “mature minor” to end his or her life. Euthanasia is now presented to patients as a health care option.

For individuals of a certain age, the cataclysmic impact of AI has been an existential threat for more than half a century. Many of us grew up with the haunting voice of the predatory artificial intelligence, HAL, from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, resonating ominously, and dispassionately, in our ears.