Protests highlight a widening divide
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.
Editorial: How about charity and wisdom
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is urging left-leaning activists to sharpen their listening skills if they want public support. Pray the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association gets the message.
Verbatim: Pastoral letter from Archbishop Lepine for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
A pastoral letter from Montreal Archbishop Christian Lépine for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross
Government grabs power from parents’ hands
When Lanark, a county on the outskirts of Ottawa, terminated its contract with one child care licensing agency at the end of August, it was a surprise to the agency and families. Parent fees doubled and 12 child care spaces were lost as two daycares closed.
Precise data
In reading The Catholic Register article “No bodies discovered in Manitoba excavation,” the thought came to me that a wonderful contribution that the Canadian bishops could make in assisting with Indigenous reconciliation would be to finance a national digital database of all residential schools, churches, cemeteries, surrounding buildings within the defined boundaries captured from aerial photography that would date from the 1920s and legal survey plans done by the Department of Natural Resources (NRCAN), previously Energy Mines and Resources (EMR) Ottawa. This would even show structures that were later destroyed by fire.