Free Republic

OTTAWA — A longtime refugee advocate says stories such as that of Liberal MP Maryam Monsef are not uncommon as families fleeing war and violence reconstruct their past in a new land. Monsef, widely touted as Canada's first Afghan-born cabinet minister, caused a stir in the capital Thursday when she issued a statement saying she only recently learned from her mother that she was in fact born in Iran. The 31-year-old minister of democratic institutions says she and her two sisters never held Iranian citizenship and were always considered Afghan citizens, but she was not born in Herat, Afghanistan, "as...

TORONTO -- An unabashedly atheist minister who does not believe in the Bible should be defrocked for her beliefs, a United Church committee has recommended in a split decision that seems likely to stir further dissent in the church. In its unprecedented report, the reviewing panel said Gretta Vosper would not be ordained were she applying today given her extreme beliefs. "She is not suitable to continue in ordained ministry because she does not believe in God, Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit," the report by the Toronto Conference interview committee states. "Ms. Vosper does not recognize the primacy...

OTTAWA—Two-thirds of Canadians want prospective immigrants to be screened for “anti-Canadian” values, a new poll reveals, lending support to an idea that is stirring controversy in political circles. Conservative MP Kellie Leitch, a candidate in her party’s leadership contest, has floated the idea of screening newcomers for their attitudes on intolerance toward other religions, cultures and sexual orientations and reluctance to embrace Canadian freedoms. A new Forum Research Inc. poll for the Star shows that Leitch may be tapping into an idea that Canadians favour with 67 per cent saying immigrants should indeed be screened for “anti-Canadian values.” More importantly...

When music class begins this week at Toronto’s Donwood Park elementary school, Mohammad Nouman Dasu will send a family member to collect his three young children. They will go home for an hour rather than sing and play instruments – a mandatory part of the Ontario curriculum he believes violates his Muslim faith. The Scarborough school and the Toronto District School Board originally had offered an accommodation – suggesting students could just clap their hands in place of playing instruments or listen to acapella versions of O Canada – but not a full exemption from the class. After a bitter...

The Ottawa teacher’s aide who sexually exploited a vulnerable high school student for two years was jailed on Tuesday for 14 months in what the judge called a significant breach of trust. Ontario Court Justice Celynne Dorval didn’t buy Katherine Kitts’s defence that it was just an awful lapse in judgment and noted the planning and duration of the sexual exploitation was anything but spontaneous. Kitts, 46, would sometimes furnish her minivan with an air mattress for planned sexual encounters in parking lots and parks near the boy’s home. “Had there been one or two sexual encounters before she ended...

Egypt’s state-run television has suspended eight of its female presenters for being overweight — telling them they can return to the air only after they go on a diet. The move sparked outrage among women’s groups and members of parliament but state television authorities show no sign of backing down. The presenters were given a month to lose weight and told they will not be allowed back on screen until they have an “appropriate appearance,” according to the Youm7 newspaper. The decision was made by Safaa Hegazi, the female chief of Egypt’s ERTU public broadcaster. .... Khadija Khatab, one of...

Police in Quebec have another maple syrup heist on their hands. First, there was the Great Maple Syrup Heist of 2011-2012, in which $18 million worth of the sweet sap went missing. Then, earlier this week, thieves made off with 20,000 litres of Quebec's sweetest export, worth an estimated $150,000, from a storage facility near Montreal's Trudeau airport in Dorval. abuzz Alfredo Monaco, a vice-president at Mexuscan Cargo, said the thieves broke into the warehouse and stole a shipping container loaded with 20 pallets of Kirkland brand one-litre bottles of syrup. The syrup was destined for the Japanese market. The...

Justin Trudeau has become the first sitting prime minister to participate in Vancouver’s annual Pride parade. He and his family waved to cheering crowds as they led the procession along the rainbow-decorated streets of the city’s downtown on Sunday. Trudeau says Pride is about celebrating community, family and the diversity that he says makes Canada strong. The prime minister is no stranger to Vancouver Pride — this is the third year in a row he’s taken part in the event.

A Viscountess has blamed badgers for the slaughter of 200 lambs on her family’s estate, as she called for a widespread cull of the animals. Helene, Viscountess Scarsdale, a formidable aristocrat, said the lambs had been killed in three years, while also accusing the National Trust, which now owns historic Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire, of allowing the badgers to “wreak havoc”. She said 500 acres of “beautiful” parkland at Kedleston, which has been in the family for almost 1,000 years, had been allowed to turn into “thistles and nettles” by the trust, which in turn had let badgers thrive. The...

Every stallion has a “tell,” says Bridgette Jablonsky, and, in this moment, in a dimly lit barn at Hanover Shoe Farms in Hanover, Pa., Somebeachsomewhere, the legendary Canadian harness racing champion and international Hall of Fame horse, is telling Jablonsky he is ready to perform. Somebeachsomewhere’s readiness is never a certainty. He is a finicky and, at times, apathetic lover. To hasten his readiness Chiptease, a mare in heat, is in the barn, standing idly by as her would-be mate nips at her hindquarters, throws back his head, inhales deeply and, after 10 minutes, starts dancing about on his hooves....

A senior in Truro, N.S., is thanking police after an officer recovered a bag of beets from an intoxicated cyclist which may have been stolen from her community garden plot. Olga McCabe-Cain said she arrived at the King Street community garden on the site of the former St. Mary's Elementary School in Truro at around 7 p.m. on Wednesday, only to discover that a number of her beet plants were missing. "It was so disappointing," McCabe-Cain said. "They cleaned the row right out nicely — even padded it over — and left one bunch of beets at the end." She...

PARIS — Police in Nice have questioned a 73-year-old man described as the Bastille Day killer’s “main lover” as investigators described him as a “sex maniac” and “ultra-violent sadist,” according to French reports. The revelation came amid revelations that Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel had displayed a “clear, recent interest in the radical jihadist movement,” growing a beard only in the last eight days after a previous life drinking alcohol and eating pork. Francois Molins, the French prosecutor, said the Tunisian, who killed 84 people when he plowed into crowds on Nice’s Promenade des Anglais last Thursday, had searched on the Internet...

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis met several people following his weekly General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, including 26 year-old Lena Bröder – Miss Germany 2016 – who also happens to be a teacher of religion and home economics in Germany’s school system. Bröder is also the author of a volume, Das Schöne in mir - Mit Glaube zum Erfolg – “The Beautiful in me: with faith to success” – due on bookshelves in Germany later this month. German wire service reports quote Bröder as calling the meeting with Pope Francis, “moving,” and as saying that she told the Holy...

OTTAWA — The Canadian Forces has distributed 120,000 wallet-size cards to military personnel to remind them that sexual assault is an “inappropriate” behaviour. The cards are to be carried by military staff on the job, including when they are sent overseas. But a critic of how the Canadian Forces has been handling its response to what has been labelled a sexual misconduct crisis says such reminder cards are absurd. “It is disgusting to label sexual assault as simply something that is inappropriate — it is a criminal act and if you don’t understand that then you have real problems,”...

Brockville Police say a heated discussion about the shape of the Earth led to the fire department being called in. Police say they were called to St. Lawrence Park around 10:30 Monday, after a family had been involved in a full fledged argument. Apparently a woman was insisting the earth was flat and her boyfriend's father was arguing it is round. Police say the 56-year-old man became so angry he started to throw things into their camp fire, including a propane cylinder. Brockville Fire was called in to put out the blaze and at some point the man left the...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has launched a smoking prevention campaign aimed at young adult lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) persons who are occasional users of tobacco. Young adult LGBT persons are nearly twice as likely to use tobacco as other young adults, said Mitch Zeller, JD, director, Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), FDA, during a press briefing to announce the campaign, called This Free Life. Of the more than 2 million LGBT persons aged 18 to 24 years in the United States, more than 800,000 are occasional or so-called social smokers, according to Dr Zeller. "Unfortunately,...

Brent Hawkes, a prominent Toronto pastor, has been charged with committing sex crimes in Nova Scotia, lawyer Clayton Ruby confirmed to CBC News. Ruby said his client was charged by the RCMP in December with indecent assault and gross indecency in Kings County, N.S. The offences are alleged to have happened in the 1970s. The 65-year-old, who delivered the eulogy at former New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton's 2011 funeral, has been the senior pastor at the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto for nearly 40 years. He is well known in the LGBT community, and has been recognized for his...

Michigan’s Jake Butt is one of the tightest tight ends in the nation, and was chosen as the Big Ten’s Kwalick-Clark Tight End of the Year. Butt, a junior, has 48 receptions for 620 yards and three touchdowns so far this season. He’s always shown immense potential, but really flourished this season under Jim Harbaugh, a man who knows his way around tight ends. If Butt decides to declare for the NFL Draft, at the moment he’s looking like a mid-round pick.

Toronto police have found several guns and a religious book in the trunk of a car that was abandoned after a crash. The single-vehicle collision happened at Allen and Transit roads, north of Wilson Avenue, around 4:30 a.m. on Friday. The routine investigation turned into something much more when police arrived to find no one in the car. However, they did find a machine gun with a silencer, two handguns, one silencer for a handgun, and a small amount of ammunition. Police said the religious materials do not appear to have any connection to the investigation, and it is likely...

WINNIPEG — The Edmonton Eskimos have won their first CFL championship title since 2005 by beating the Ottawa RedBlacks 26-20 in the 103rd Grey Cup presented by Shaw. Edmonton took a six-point lead with less than four minutes left in the game as Jordan Lynch broke into the endzone with a one-yard quarterback sneak. The Eskimos added a two-point convert following the touchdown. The RedBlacks sat in front 19-18 following three quarters of play thanks to a 33-yard Chris Milo field goal.