TORONTO - As the Toronto Catholic District School Board hammers out its equity policy over the next several weeks, with public consultations scheduled for the end of March, some parents and trustees say “stronger language” is needed to ensure that the province’s policy to promote diversity in “gender identity” doesn’t bypass Catholic school’s denominational rights.

But others fear stronger language could have adverse consequences if Catholic school board’s denominational rights are ever the focus of a court challenge.

Last year, school boards began implementing equity and inclusive education policies, with guidelines from the education ministry.

The province introduced its equity and education strategy in 2008 to prohibit discrimination based upon race, religion and sexual orientation. It became law in 2009.

TORONTO - A private plane jetted Baby Joseph Maraachli to a hospital in St. Louis March 13, ending the family's battle with the London, Ont., hospital that sought to withdraw the breathing tube keeping the seriously ill 13-month-old alive.

The family's legal team of Windsor, Ont., lawyer Claudio Martini and the Washington, D.C.-based American Centre for Law and Justice (ACLJ) helped secure the transfer of Baby Joseph to SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Centre in St. Louis. The private plane, hired by the New York-based Priests for Life, landed at midnight in St. Louis. Priests for Life will also cover the family's medical costs.

The Baby Joseph saga has been played out for the past month as the Maraachli family battled London Health Sciences Centre, hoping for a tracheotomy for their dying child and the right to bring him home to live out his final days surrounded by family and loved ones. The child has a neurodegenerative disease and needs a breathing and feeding tube to survive. A Feb. 18 Ontario Superior Court ruling ordered the family to consent to the removal of the breathing tube on Feb. 21, confirming the recommendations of the hospital's doctors and the Consent and Capacity Board of Ontario. But Joseph's family defied the legal order.

TORONTO - As the Baby Joseph medical and legal drama plays out in Canadian and American media, what must not be forgotten is the toddler's best interests, say Catholic bioethicists.

The Baby Joseph saga has tugged at the hearts of many as the Maraachli family battles London Health Sciences Centre, hoping for a tracheotomy for their dying 13-month-old child and the right to bring him home to live out his final days surrounded by family and loved ones.

Baby Joseph has a neurodegenerative disease and doctors say he won't recover. He requires a breathing and feeding tube to survive. A Feb. 18 Ontario Superior Court ruling ordered the family to consent to the removal of Joseph's breathing tube on Feb. 21. The ruling confirmed the recommendations of the hospital's doctors and the Consent and Capacity Board of Ontario.