Quebec government wants to implement advance requests for euthanasia for people with Alzheimer
Blog post by Augustin Hamilton (Quebec Life Coalition) - Photo: aijiro/Adobe Stock
The Quebec government will allow advance requests for euthanasia for people with serious illnesses, such as Alzheimer's, starting this autumn, even though Ottawa has not changed the Criminal Code in this regard.
On 7 June 2023, Quebec passed a law authorising advance requests. Since then, it has asked Ottawa on several occasions to change the Criminal Code, but Ottawa still hasn't done so and doesn't appear to be doing so. Despite this, the Quebec government is still preparing to authorise doctors to apply advance requests. Léa Fortin, the media relations officer for the Seniors Minister, Sonia Bélanger, said: "We're going to be ready, we're going to move forward. What we want is for [the federal government] to change its Criminal Code, but if it doesn't, we'll work on our options in parallel," reports La Presse.
According to Léa Fortin, there is a broad consensus in Quebec on advance requests for euthanasia: "There is a consensus in Quebec. It's a transparent process, with patients, parliamentarians and professionals all agreeing to go ahead with MAiD". Not me, certainly. The Quebec government will be making announcements this autumn.
According to Patrick Taillon, constitutionalist and law professor at Université de Laval, Quebec can move forward on the issue of advance requests, reports La Presse :
"Who files the charges? It's the State of Quebec. And if the Quebec State says, by way of a directive, [...] when it respects our laws, we never file charges, then there won't be a problem," he explains.
The constitutionalist asserts that "Ottawa could not prosecute doctors" in Quebec who administer MAiD as part of an advance request.
Québec solidaire MPs Ruba Ghazal and Christine Labrie even wrote a letter arguing that Quebec could ignore Ottawa, as it did in 2015 with its first euthanasia law.
Like in 2015? At that time, the Carter decision decriminalising euthanasia had just been handed down and Ottawa had not yet passed legislation. The Supreme Court of Canada had given Ottawa one year to do so, suspending the application of its ruling. So Quebec was in breach of the Criminal Code when it passed its euthanasia law. And Ottawa did nothing, letting Quebec kill its citizens before it had even given the go - a deplorable precedent of inaction on the part of the federal government. Because I don't think Ottawa has no means of dealing with a province that doesn't comply with its Criminal Code. What the Quebec government is really counting on is undoubtedly, once again, Ottawa's inaction on an issue on which Ottawa itself is more than willing to move forward.
We can be sure that some other provinces will follow Quebec's example if Ottawa does not intervene.
Reflections on the First Quebec City March for Life
Participants in the Quebec City March for Life carrying a banner of the Virgin Mary. - Photo: Augustin Hamilton
By Father Francis Michael de Rosa
On the First of June 2024, Quebec City witnessed an historic moment when it hosted its first ever “Marche pour la Vie” (March for Life).
The organization behind the event was Campagne Québec-Vie, which in my purview is exceptional for its distinctively Catholic perspective on the “life issues” of such grave concern for modern society.
Not only does the Campagne seek an end to abortion, but it explicitly opposes the other evils on the spectrum threats to human life and human love: from contraception to euthanasia and all the malice in between. These evils are sibling symptoms of a false anthropology disoriented by neo-dualism, and they must be recognized as such by the pro-life movement in order definitively to reset the moral order according to human nature and right reason adequately understood. Can we honestly envision an abortion-free yet contracepting society?
Can there really be a freedom loving nation that attacks its own people? The hydra of sins against life and love must be cut off at the neck effectively to re-boot the moral order.
Notably, Campagne Québec-Vie is consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary in union with the Most Chaste Heart of Joseph. The union of the “Three Hearts” comprising the Holy Family are the mystical community of love that formed the Holy Family at Nazareth, which in turn is the mystical archetype of the Holy Catholic Church. As such “Nazareth” is the home which is open to receiving all of mankind.
Furthermore, Campagne Québec-Vie calls for the reestablishment of the Social Reign of Christ the King, a seldom heard expression in our current idolatrous saeculum. In other words, it comprehends that a properly ordered society without God (most explicitly, without Christ Who is God Incarnate) is not truly attainable. This is because man without God is nothing but an orphan-victim who easily falls prey to satanic forces that prowl about the world looking for someone to devour.
Read moreThere is no "right" to abortion
By Georges Buscemi, president of Quebec Life Coalition
Translated by Quebec Life Coalition staff.
On April 26, a column by Elsie Lefebvre (former Parti Québécois MP and Montreal city councillor) appeared on the Journal de Montréal website, discussing an announcement by Martine Biron, Minister responsible for the Status of Women, that she would soon be launching a "consultation" to ensure that the "right to abortion" becomes enshrined in Quebec law. The title of the article: Abortion rights threatened, even here in Quebec.
Lefebvre reviews the more or less well-founded reasons for believing that the "right" to abortion is threatened in Quebec and Canada: "Trumpist" Pierre Poilièvre and pro-life MPs "emanating from the conservative religious right", as well as "pro-life volunteers who are slowly but surely weaving their web" and other boogeyman who “give her goosebumps”, are, according to Lefebvre, working together to weaken access to abortion.
We won't dwell on the hysterical aspect of the analysis (Trump! Pro-lifers weave their web! etc.). What is most annoying is the underhanded manipulation of the reader's mind by claiming, through a headline such as "Abortion Rights Threatened," that the assertion that abortion is a "right" is so obvious that it does not even need to be defended. But the opposite is true: it is obvious that abortion is not a right, that such a "right" cannot exist, and that if there exists today in Western societies permission to abort, or tolerance of the crime of abortion, it is because we have no respect for the right to life of the unborn class of humans. Moreover, if the current state of affairs is now threatened, that is very good news, because not only is abortion not a right, it is a blatant example of a human rights violation. But to understand this, we must first know what a "right" is.
Definition of "human rights"
Human rights are, according to Wikipedia (I'm quoting a source that is certainly not to the advantage of pro-lifers), "a philosophical, legal, and political concept, according to which every human being possesses universal, inalienable rights, regardless of positive law (existing law) or other local factors such as ethnicity, nationality, or religion." Basically, certain things are due to the innocent human person, such as life, speech, the right to associate, and this, regardless of one’s origin, size, beliefs. These rights can only be taken away or limited for serious reasons, such as in the case of a murderer who must be incarcerated for the protection of other citizens. This concept of human rights is incompatible, again according to Wikipedia, "with the idea that building a better society justifies the elimination or oppression of those who are supposed to stand in the way of the realization of that better society."
And this is the simple reason why abortion is a violation of human rights: in order to build a better world for one class of people — women — pro-abortionists claim that it is legitimate to sacrifice the lives of members of another class of people, the unborn. This goes against the very concept of an innate human right, a right that is possessed by virtue of man's humanity and has not been conferred upon him by a state or other human power. We do not have the right to kill the unborn, period, even if that killing might —in the view of the perpetrator, of course, and not the victim — seem to make our society "progress".
Now, here a pro-abortionist might try to take refuge in the nonsensical argument that the embryo is not "human" or "a person". I say "nonsensical" because there are only a few months and a little water and food between the embryo and the newborn baby it will become. Do we dare to claim that adding a little water to an embryo would have changed its nature, transformed it from the simple animal that it was, into a human being? Or worse: would an unborn child become human only after it has completely left the womb, as our delusional Canadian Criminal Code claims, as if the birth canal were endowed with magical powers that could transform a "cluster of cells" into a baby with human rights? The unborn child is therefore obviously a human being, from the moment of conception, regardless of the pro-abortionists who look for a pretext to eliminate it when it is advantageous to them.
Finally, and this is the sad reality, I believe that many pro-abortionists, if they claim to promote "human rights", do not really believe in them. Many of them have a purely material view of existence: all humans, not just babies, are just "clumps of cells" or piles of matter. Rights have no hold on heaps of matter, but only on human beings, endowed with immortal souls created directly by God. Basically, without a conception of the divine and the spiritual, everything becomes matter to be owned or thrown away, and human rights evaporate. All that remains is the will of the strongest at the expense of the weakest, which we see today manifested in many ways. It is up to us, believers in a God who created us and conferred rights and duties on us, to preserve this idea of human rights, even if many of our fellow citizens betray this ideal while praising it.
Quebec's National Assembly votes unanimously to support drag queens
Martine Biron, Minister of International Relations and Francophonie and Minister responsible for the Status of Women.
Blog by Augustin Hamilton (Quebec Life Coalition) - Photo: La Presse
To what do we owe this unanimous motion recently voted in the Salon Bleu in defense of the so-called "drag queens"? This message full of emotion (but little reason...), launched at the initiative of Québec solidaire, proclaims: "the National Assembly stresses that drag queens should not, under any circumstances, face violent insults, intolerance and hatred for their participation in the reading of children's stories".
What appalling threats were the poor drag queens subjected to? According to La Presse, which reported the facts (or at least part of them...), a demonstration took place in front of the building where a reading by a "drag queen" known as Barbada was to be held for children, leading the City of Saint-Catherine in Montérégie to move the event. A sign held up by one of the protesters read: "drag queens do not belong in our schools" and "they belong in 18+ places".
It takes a little (or even a lot...) of imagination, with a good pinch of emotion (in the right direction, if you can), to see hatred for "Barbada" — if that's the worst "intolerance", "violent insult" or "hatred" the man has faced.
On the other hand, it is certainly intolerable that a man disguised as a caricature of a woman comes to read dubious stories to children with the aim of deconstructing the "social norm" in them. It is already strange, to say the least, that an individual wants to perform in an immoderate assortment, it is certainly not healthy that he transmits this fad to the younger generations.
Nevertheless, concurrently with the parliamentary unanimity, Éric Duhaime, leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec (but not deputy), has launched a petition that goes somewhat against the performances of "drag queens" among children.
In passing, the article in La Presse points out that "Quebec differs from Tennessee's policies in its relationship with drag queens" because that state now bans their display in places where minors may be present. Ugly, isn't it?
When the media become the sleuths of power to unearth "conversion therapies"
Blog by Augustin Hamilton (Campaign Life Coalition) — WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobe Stock
An article in the Métro newspaper tells us that reporters from the rag have been introducing themselves to Protestant churches as people uncomfortable with their "sexual orientation" and seeking a solution to it, in order to find out if they offer "conversion therapies" — illegal in Canada, and more so in Quebec.
According to Métro:
Some churches are offering conversion therapies for LGBTQ+ people in Montreal, a year after Canada passed a law banning them. Journalists from Métro investigated these churches claiming to want to change their sexual orientation and obtained one of these therapies, which is similar to an exorcism.
Note that said journalists did not hesitate to lie to flush out the purveyors of "conversion therapies," but that the Métro article does not hesitate to point out that these churches denied providing "therapies" when openly questioned by the newspaper. Oh, while we're at it, can you tell me when reporters stop lying so I know if they're telling the truth in their article?
But what is "conversion therapy"? "Conversion therapy" is the term used in Canada's Bill C-4 and Quebec's Bill 70 to refer to any attempt to change or repress a person's "sexual orientation", "gender identity" or "gender expression". However, both laws agree to prohibit only "conversion therapies" aimed at "changing a person's sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression or repressing non-heterosexual sexual behaviour," to quote the Quebec law. So why not prohibit "therapies" that are intended to make a person homosexual? The "therapies" that the Métro spies went through consisted of prayers from the pastor of the church they were seeking, and some advice.
One of the reporters (still under the mask of a lie...) contacted a pastor, claiming he wanted to help his younger brother get over his "sexual orientation," leading Pastor Karl DeSouza to reveal that he would know of support groups for such a person, according to Métro :
Read moreThe pastor offered to put the young man in touch with support groups located in various places in Canada, including some in Montreal. These groups would be made up of "Christian brothers and sisters" who are "struggling with homosexuality" and who could testify about how they are "overcoming it."
"You are not alone," he assured him. "Once I make contact with these people, they will put me in the network where they will give me other contacts."
Le Journal de Montréal confirms that “Baby Daniel’s” abortion took place
Augustin Hamilton’s Blog (Quebec Life Coalition)
Yesterday, February 16, 2023, Le Journal de Montréal published an article written by Héloïse Archambault, with the collaboration of Frédérique Giguère, reporting that a hospital felt "compelled to call the police because of aggressive anti-choice activists", essentially confirming that the baby, whom we have nicknamed "Daniel", had indeed been aborted.
This confirms, if it were necessary, that when we announced "Baby Daniel’s" forthcoming late abortion we were not spreading false news, whatever some people may think...
To take the case back to its beginning, before addressing Archambault's article, let's first look at the chronology of events as we have learned it.
On the morning of February 1, 2023, a whistleblower contacted a pro-life organization other than ours, via social networks, to communicate her dismay. She was aware of an exceptional medical staff meeting at Montreal’s Sacré-Coeur Hospital on how to perform an abortion at 38 weeks of pregnancy the next morning.
Faced with the revelation that this barbaric, disgusting act would take place at 38 weeks, we sent an email to our subscribers the same day, asking them to pray that the abortion would not take place, that a baby would be saved.
Later that day, a pro-life Montrealer, Marie-Josée Rivest, contacted us: she had called Sacré-Coeur Hospital and an employee of the institution had confirmed to her that this late-term abortion was really going to take place the next day. Note also that about 100 people responded to our email, but other than Mrs. Rivest, no one informed us as to whether they had contacted the hospital in any way.
The following day, February 2, 2023, our first source informed us that the abortion had taken place as planned.
At noon on Friday, February 10, 2023, Quebec Life Coalition held a press conference at the corner of Fréchette Street and Gouin Boulevard West, not far from Sacré-Coeur Hospital. Note that the rally took place more than 50 meters from the hospital, in order to comply with the exclusion zone imposed by law 92 around places performing abortions.
Click here to view the press conference.
Read moreMontreal Parish hosts a conference for “LGBTQ Catholics” to “build a bridge”
By Joanne of Arc (Quebec Life Coalition) — Photo: Promotional poster on Facebook (we have removed the communication details)
*The following article is not a promotion, rather a news article.
Conferences for “LGBTQ Catholics” were held for 6 weeks at a Catholic parish in the West-Island of Montreal.
A Montreal area parish located in the Pierrefonds borough held a conference for “LGBTQ Catholics” for 6 consecutive Monday evenings from October 24th to November 28th. The conferences were announced through their newsletter and organized by Cathie Macaulay, a parishioner and responsible for PHC: Pastoral Home Care at the diocese of Montreal.
According to an exchange with madam Macaulay, the program is built upon the book “Building A Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity” by Fr. James Martin, a Jesuit priest.
In her YouTube video promoting the conferences, found on St-Luke's YouTube channel, Cathie Macaulay called the conferences an “adult faith formation program” and affirmed that “the focus of this program is how to build a bridge between the LGBTQ community and the Catholic church”.
She added: “The discussion group will explore how we can live relationships with LGBTQ Catholics with people in our family, workplace, community and people in our Parish with respect, compassion and sensitivity as we are asked to do in the Catechism of the Catholic Church”
She concluded by saying that: “Questions about sexual identity and gender identity abound in our culture” and “We can all learn more about one another and by listening more to our LGBTQ brothers and sisters”.
Cathie Macaulay can be seen promoting the conferences at St Luke’s parish on the parish YouTube channel under "unlisted":
Read moreControversy surrounds choice of "drag queen" as "star fairy" at Montreal Santa parade
By Joanne of Arc for Quebec Life Coalition — Photo : Unsplash: Parade/Wikipedia: Barbada
A transvestite will be present as the ''Star Fairy'' at this year's Montreal Santa Claus Parade.
After two years of cancellation due to the pandemic, Barbada, a transvestite, will be present at the Santa Claus Parade on St-Catherine Street in the Quartier des spectacles, on November 19th, starting at 11 am. The event is organized by Montréal Centre-Ville, a non-profit organization with nearly 5,000 member businesses.
This year marks the 70th edition of the Santa Claus Parade, but it is the first time that a transvestite will participate in it. According to the Montreal Downtown website, this is an annual tradition for more than 400,000 spectators, and the event will also be aired on the TVA network on Sunday, November 20th at 4 p.m. According to organizers, this is the largest holiday event in Quebec.
"The Santa Claus Parade is a great family tradition that has been going on for 70 years in downtown Montreal. It inaugurates the winter season, which we hope will be just as exceptional as the summer we just had. Whether it's to welcome Santa Claus, spend a holiday with family, gather with colleagues or start holiday shopping, downtown is still the place to be for all Quebecers," said Glenn Castanheira, Executive Director of Montréal Centre-Ville.
Since the announcement of drag queen Barbada's participation in the Montreal Santa Claus parade on November 19th downtown, the outrage was evident on social networks and is spreading, according to Frédérique de Simone of the Journal de Montréal.
Read more"Late-term abortions are performed here every week" - Nurse at the Jewish General Hospital
By Joanne of Arc for Quebec Life Coalition — Photo : Unsplash
A nurse at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal informed Quebec Life Coalition that late-term abortions, i.e. at 21 weeks gestation or more, are performed on a "weekly" basis at this famous Montreal hospital.
According to the hospital's website, the hospital was founded in 1934 and is considered a teaching hospital that is one of the largest and busiest acute care hospitals in the province.
A nurse at the hospital, who wishes to remain anonymous, contacted us after realizing that an abortion had taken place in her workplace at 24 weeks of pregnancy for the eugenic reason of having Down syndrome.
"I work at the Jewish General Hospital as a nurse. Last week, I discovered that there was a woman 24 weeks pregnant with a child with Down syndrome who was in the case room for a "therapeutic abortion". I was devastated to see such a late-term abortion take place at my workplace. Because I was so upset, I asked Brian [Vice President of Quebec Life Coalition - ed.] to pray for this child and his mother. Unfortunately, the abortion took place and I still pray that the woman will realize the atrocity that happened and seek healing through God's mercy" shares the nurse.
"I saw another "therapeutic abortion" on the schedule this week at 33 weeks, it happened again, I never realized before how often they take place" - Photo: Unsplash
She adds, "I had heard before that abortions take place at the hospital where I work, obviously, but for the most part I was under the impression that they take place at a less advanced stage, at less weeks, not to say it's better, but the procedure is much less complicated at less weeks. I thought the hospital did them up to 8 weeks, but I learned through a colleague that late-stage abortions also take place in the case room and that we have to respect that..."
She also sadly added, "I saw another therapeutic abortion on the schedule this week at 33 weeks, it happened again, I never realized previously how often they happen."
After our interview, the nurse reported to me that according to her co-worker, these "procedures" occur on a weekly basis.
She concluded, "What I find frightening is that this child was aborted at 24 weeks at the hospital where I work while we have an excellent intensive care unit and we have so many babies at 24 or 27 weeks who are living because of this intensive care that we provide! So it's stupefying. If the patient wants to keep the baby, we do everything we can to keep the baby alive. We put it in an incubator, we give it oxygen and even a tube to feed it. We do so many interventions because the mother wants to keep the child. But, if the mother suddenly decides she wants an abortion (at 21 weeks or more), that's what we end up doing. "
Read moreShe cancels her son's late-term abortion at the Jewish General Hospital of Montreal
Samuel David at 9 months old with the 3 other children and his family
By Joanne of Arc (Quebec Life Coalition) - Photo: Catherina David
Catherina David is a stay at home mom of four kids who contacted us to share the beautiful testimony of her youngest child, Samuel David. She reached out to us at first for prayer and support on her pregnancy journey. Today, she wants to share with us, in detail, how her story unveiled. She discovered she was pregnant at almost 9 weeks into her pregnancy while she was moving from Quebec to Ontario.
She was very excited and happy about her new pregnancy initially. Her doctor asked her to do an additional test when she was 5 months pregnant, through which she learned that her baby had trisomy 21 (Down syndrome).
After having delivered three perfectly healthy children, it was certainly a big shock to her. She admits that she was devastated and didn't know how to react. She cried the whole day when she found out the news, and then the whole week after it.
When she met with her doctor after learning the news, he said to her “I leave it up to you whether you want to keep the baby, if you want to continue the pregnancy or if you want to terminate it we will make it as easy as possible for you, but you will have to go to the hospital and have a regular childbirth delivery”.
She went to the Jewish General hospital for the abortion, before she decided to change her mind and keep the baby. Catherina, was guided by her faith and a dream she believes was from God that helped her resist the temptation to end the life of her child.
Read more