Bills and Motions

29 Jan 2021 Bill C-6 is rushed through the Justice Committee and comes out worse

On December 10th, the Justice Committee of the House of Commons completed their study of Bill C-6, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (conversion therapy). The bill was rushed through committee, raising serious procedural (and ethical) questions, and was amended in such a way as to make the bill even more concerning than it already was. History of Bill C-6 ARPA Canada has expressed deep concern over the vague drafting of this bill (see more here) since it was introduced approximately a year ago. In short, our main concern with...

18 Jan 2021 Kill the Bill

Posted at 18:24h in Action Items, Bills and Motions, Blog, Euthanasia 0 Comments

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It is our hope and prayer that you will join us in calling on the Senate to Kill the Bill. ARPA supporters will be very familiar with Bill C-7 (An Act to amend the Criminal Code – medical assistance in dying). The bill was introduced by the Minister of Justice on September 23, 2020, in response to the Superior Court of Quebec decision in Truchon v. Attorney General of Canada. ARPA Canada has engaged extensively with Bill C-7 at every step of the way. We outlined our concerns with Bill C-7 through...

01 Oct 2020 Federal Liberals retable criminal ban on “conversion therapy” with major legal implications for pastoral ministry

Posted at 16:30h in Bills and Motions, Criminal Justice, Gender and Sexuality 0 Comments

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On October 1, 2020 the federal Liberal government tabled Bill C-6 (which was before Parliament earlier this year as Bill C-8). The bill defines conversion therapy as any “practice, treatment or service designed to change a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual or gender identity to cisgender, or to repress or reduce non-heterosexual attraction or sexual behaviour.” In case that is unclear, let me apply it directly to the pastoral work of the church. This bill, if passed as written, would make it a criminal offence to help a person struggling with...

11 Mar 2020 Federal Government Introduces Bill to Ban “Conversion Therapy”

Posted at 13:19h in Bills and Motions, Criminal Justice, Gender and Sexuality, Uncategorised 1 Comment

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The federal Liberal government, as promised in their election platform, introduced a bill this week to criminally ban “conversion therapy” nation-wide. Bill C-8 defines conversion therapy as any “practice, treatment or service designed to change a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual or gender identity to cisgender, or to repress or reduce non-heterosexual attraction or sexual behaviour,” but not services or treatments related to a person’s “gender transition” or to a person’s “exploration of their identity”. Most of the legislation talks about how conversion therapy would be regulated. The legislation proposes to ban...

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

Posted at 12:32h in Bills and Motions, Euthanasia, Topics 0 Comments

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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...

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

Posted at 14:23h in Bills and Motions, Blog, Fundamental Freedoms 0 Comments

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*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...

20 Nov 2019 Dispelling myths about Alberta’s conscience rights bill

Posted at 10:54h in Bills and Motions, Blog, Fundamental Freedoms 0 Comments

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Bill 207, tabled by Alberta MLA Dan Williams, now faces fierce opposition. The bill proposes protections for health care providers’ freedom of conscience. It is scheduled for a vote at second reading on Monday, November 25. It deserves to pass and proceed to committee for further review and possible improvements. Bill 207 does not threaten access to health care The primary line of attack is that Bill 207 threatens “access to health care”. “Imagine … a patient being denied access to a therapeutic abortion even if the woman’s life is in danger,”...

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

Posted at 17:37h in Bills and Motions, Fundamental Freedoms 0 Comments

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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...

02 Oct 2019 Responding to Proposals to Ban Conversion Therapy

Posted at 14:04h in Bills and Motions, Blog, Gender and Sexuality 3 Comments

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Canada and British Columbia are not strangers to the controversy around gender and sexuality. In the last few years, ARPA has waded into the fray around SOGI 123, a three-step plan to normalize homosexuality and transgenderism in BC schools. ARPA also intervened in the A.B. v C.D. & E.F. case at the BC Court of Appeal. In both instances, we argue the biblical and scientific truth that biology matters, and that parents, children, and all citizens should be free to live and speak in accordance with their religious and moral...

11 Jan 2019 ARPA Canada gets intervenor standing in Alberta’s Bill 24 challenge!

Posted at 15:40h in Bills and Motions, Education, Legal Cases, Organizational News 0 Comments

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The new year has just begun and already we have some encouraging news to share with you from Alberta! On Tuesday, January 8th, ARPA Canada applied for and was granted intervenor status in the court challenge to Bill 24, a bill which mandates unacceptable changes to school policies. You can read more about our concerns on Bill 24 here.We praise the Lord for the court’s decision to grant us intervenor status, and the added privilege of presenting evidence in this case. We pray that God will bless these efforts. Typically, a...

Bills and Motions

29 Jan 2021 Bill C-6 is rushed through the Justice Committee and comes out worse

18 Jan 2021 Kill the Bill

01 Oct 2020 Federal Liberals retable criminal ban on “conversion therapy” with major legal implications for pastoral ministry

11 Mar 2020 Federal Government Introduces Bill to Ban “Conversion Therapy”

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

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

20 Nov 2019 Dispelling myths about Alberta’s conscience rights bill

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

02 Oct 2019 Responding to Proposals to Ban Conversion Therapy

11 Jan 2019 ARPA Canada gets intervenor standing in Alberta’s Bill 24 challenge!

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