Justice and Freedom

20 May 2021 ARPA Submits Recommendations to the Ontario Justice Committee to Combat Human Trafficking

  Last week, the Ontario Standing Committee on Justice Policy discussed Bill 251, Combating Human Trafficking Act, 2021. ARPA Canada submitted recommendations on Bill 251 through both a written submission and an oral presentation to the committee. We encourage you to read the submission here. Human trafficking is a major concern in the Province of Ontario and preys on vulnerable people, primarily women and girls. Between 2009 and 2018, the number of police-reported human trafficking incidents in Ontario (0.9 per 100,000 population) was nearly double the Canadian average (0.5 per 100,000 population). Although...

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04 May 2021 COVID-19 Fact Sheet

Updated March 4, 2021 Information about COVID-19 abounds. Whether you are perusing the local newspaper, scrolling through social media, or talking to friends, COVID-19 dominates discussions. However, all this information is rarely presented in a single place or presented in an easy-to-understand way. Sometimes, different friends or news stories may report very different facts. We have created this fact sheet in response to the many questions around COVID-19. We hope it will be a helpful resource for individual supporters, parents, church councils, and business owners to inform their response to the virus....

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13 Jan 2021 Jan 17, 2021 – ‘Statement Sunday’

Bill C-6 regarding ‘Conversion Therapy’ has been moving very quickly through the various stages toward becoming law. We expect it will be sent to the Senate for review in the last week of January, then back to Parliament for final reading before likely becoming law.  There is a very real possibility that Bill C-6 will soon become law. This means that aspects of pastoral care for people with same-sex attraction or gender questions will become illegal. The government intends to use the Criminal Code to influence conversations on human identity, sexuality...

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11 Sep 2019 B.C.’s highest court says 14-year-old can continue hormone treatment, despite gaps in risk disclosure  

 The B.C. Gender Clinic’s “Informed Consent Form” for “hormone therapy” is both inadequate and misleading, in my view. Yet the province’s highest court ruled last week, in AB v CD, that a 14-year-old girl who had signed the form could continue to receive testosterone therapy despite her father’s objections. In this article, I explain that decision and what it may mean for B.C. children and families. What is the AB v CD case about? ARPA was in court last week as an intervenor in AB v CD (anonymized short forms for a girl...

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06 Mar 2018 LN feature: ARPA is having an impact around the world

Rev. William den Hollander LN: Since your retirement some years ago, you've been filling some vacant pulpits of Reformed churches, and not just in Canada. Recently, you've been to New Zealand, you've been to Australia, now you're in South Africa. And you're encountering - from what I gather from an update that you sent (ARPA Executive Director) Mark Penninga - you're encountering a real appetite in some of those locales for the kind of work that ARPA is doing in Canada. Talk to me about the political situations that exist in...

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17 Jan 2018 Radio Ads: Canada Summer Jobs Attestation

Did you hear our radio ads? Then please join us in calling for a change to this requirement by contacting your MP. Send an EasyMail to your MP or give them a call. Let them know the problems you have with this policy and what you think about an ideological screening. Let them know if you have used this program (either as an employer or a student) and the impact the loss of funding will have on your community. Click below for more: What is a “Core Mandate” Call Your MP...

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16 Jan 2018 LN feature: Liberals block pro-life organizations from Canada Summer Jobs Program

Tabitha Ewert, Articling Student On the feature this week, an analysis of the legal principles underlying the federal government’s decision to change the eligibility criteria for the Canada Summer Jobs Program. The analysis comes from Tabitha Ewert, who’s completing a year of articling as a law student with ARPA and WeNeedaLAW. --- LN: So the Canada Summer Jobs Program - right around Christmas time - they came out with a new criterion for the application. There's some history here. Last year, there were three pro-life groups that were denied funding; they went to court....

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17 Oct 2017 LN Feature: How free are we in Canada today?

Lawyer John Carpay for the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms is a Calgary-based organization that's primarily involved in legal cases involving - as the name implies - the protection of Constitutional Freedoms in Canada. The group has fought alongside ARPA on some major court battles; everything from the Loyola case involving religious freedoms in education to the Carter case on euthanasia and, most recently, the Trinity Western case. But the group also fights a number of other battles. It has represented pro-life campus clubs when their free speech...

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30 May 2017 LN Feature: Under Siege

Don Hutchinson, author of Under Siege LN: So you’ve written a new book about freedom of religion in Canada; the history of it, and where we are today. Talk to me first of all a little bit about the content of the book. What’s it all about? DH: “Under Siege - Religious Freedom and the Church in Canada at 150”, is a look at the history and the politics around the current status of religious freedom in Canada. And then there's a section that picks up from the politics and looks at what...

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25 Apr 2017 The Easter bunny goes to court

Lawyer John Carpay for the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms The Children's Aid Society of Hamilton is being taken to court over a decision to remove two young children from a foster home. The decision to remove those children was allegedly made because the foster parents refused to pro-actively affirm the notion that the Easter Bunny is real. John Carpay from the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms is taking on the case. “What’s important here is that if you’ve got foster parents who are providing a loving, caring home, and the kids...

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