Author: ARPA Staff

02 Mar 2020 Ontario court lets off two pimps, declares prostitution law unconstitutional

In 2014, Parliament passed the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (Bill C-36) to implement the “Nordic Model” of prostitution law in Canada. This model, and our current law,  prohibits the purchase of sex, while granting immunity to those who are prostituted. It also prohibits third parties, particularly pimps, from promoting and profiting from prostitution. The Nordic Model recognizes the prevalence of coercion in prostitution and is designed to ensure that abuse and violence can be reported by prostituted women (and men) without fear of legal repercussions. A provincial court...

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25 Feb 2020 Government tables Bill C-7 to expand assisted suicide

Yesterday, the federal government proposed legislative amendments to broaden eligibility for “Medical Assistance in Dying” (MAiD). Bill C-7 proposes to further liberalize Canada’s current law and endangers the lives of vulnerable Canadians. The bill is constructed around two vague categories – those whose natural death is reasonably foreseeable, or not. The legislation gives discretion to medical practitioners to categorize a patient as one or the other. Currently, doctors are permitted to interpret this foreseeable death requirement loosely. Patients who might have had years to live, but had a condition that would...

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13 Feb 2020 So, a bunch of nervous, eager, and energetic teenagers attended God and Government 2020. Now what?

Thirty-six high school students arrived in Ottawa on Tuesday, February 4. They came by planes, trains, and automobiles. They slept in an old jail. They went to court. They went to the theatre. Well, sort of. They attended question period in the House of Commons. They ate Beaver Tails, checked out the Rideau Canal, made new friends, and experienced the travel delights of delays and cancellations due to a whopping snowfall. But most importantly, they came for politics. That’s where the fun really began. The students listened to presentations from a...

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15 Jan 2020 Participate in the Government’s Euthanasia Consultations

Canada’s law on Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) or euthanasia will be changing soon, and likely not for the better. A recent case from Quebec (Truchon v. Attorney General of Canada) struck down the requirement that natural death is reasonably foreseeable in Canada’s current euthanasia legislation. This means that the federal government is now required to revisit the legality of euthanasia and come up with a new law by March 11, 2020. As a part of this legal review, the Government of Canada is consulting with Canadians. Please take 10 minutes to fill...

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14 Jan 2020 ARPA Press release: A.B. v. C.D. Father did not commit family violence

OTTAWA, ON – The British Columbia Court of Appeal released its judgment today in A.B. v. C.D., in which it overturned numerous orders made by the court below, concluding that the father (“C.D.”) had not committed “family violence” under the Family Law Act by opposing his biological daughter’s (“A.B.”) proposed gender transition by the administration of testosterone. The Court of Appeal struck the lower court’s protection order, which threatened the father with immediate arrest if he tried to persuade AB to abandon testosterone treatment, if he addressed AB by her birth name, or if...

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05 Dec 2019 Press Release: Will the throne speech address assisted suicide?

For immediate release from the Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA) Canada December 5, 2019 Will the throne speech address assisted suicide? OTTAWA, ON – Advocates for persons with disabilities will be tuned in to the throne speech to see if or how the returning Liberal government will address the issue of assisted suicide. “Will the government promote suicide prevention or suicide assistance?” asks André Schutten, Director of Law and Policy with the Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA) Canada. “Will this government signal to people with severe disabilities or diseases that it wants...

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29 Nov 2019 What’s going on with Bill 207, Alberta’s conscience rights bill?

    *UPDATE (added Dec. 5): On Monday, December 2, while MLA Dan Williams was speaking on Bill 207, a tragic incident occurred outside the Assembly, which then adjourned. Consequently, Bill 207 was delayed. It will likely be revisited in February 2020, once the legislature resumes. Last week, an Alberta legislative committee voted against Bill 207.  So, is Bill 207 dead? Not quite. Ordinarily, a bill gets debated in the Assembly at second reading. Then, if it passes the “second reading vote”, it goes to an appropriate committee for closer study, where amendments are often...

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07 Nov 2019 New Alberta bill offers robust protections for freedom of conscience

      We have encouraging news. Dan Williams, MLA for Peace River, Alberta, tabled a bill today that would protect both individual health care providers and health care facilities from being required to provide services that conflict with their religious beliefs, conscientious beliefs, ethical judgment, or cultural traditions. One of the bill’s stated purposes is to provide certainty to health care providers and religious health care organizations with respect to exercising their Charter-protected freedoms of conscience and religion. This is greatly needed in a time when both individual providers and religious health care...

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23 Aug 2019 Ontario government releases updated 2019 sex-ed curriculum

Some improvements made to the curriculum, but concerns remain By André Schutten & Ed Hoogerdyk The Ontario government has released its new health and physical education curriculum. The 320-page document highlights what and when students will be taught under the following four strands: Social-Emotional Learning Skills, Active Living, Movement Competence, and Healthy Living. A good chunk of the curriculum has nothing to do with sex; instead it focuses on important topics like diet, exercise, mental health, physical safety, biological development, and online safety. These basic elements of the curriculum are uncontroversial and...

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