February

	The faculty association's non-confidence motion against Fr. David Perrin, OMI, the president of St. Jerome's University in Waterloo, Ont., is in reaction to changes he had been hired to make, Perrin said in an interview with the Kitchener-Waterloo Record Feb.12. "Sometimes change can be difficult for some people," he told the newspaper. "We're simply trying to get our university more in line with standard management practices at Canadian universities." The faculty association said in a news release earlier that "The sense of community we used to have at St. Jerome's has been lost, and faculty no longer have trust in the president." The association at the public Roman Catholic university is now looking at forming a union. The non-confidence motion was introduced after the school's three-person chaplaincy team resigned last December citing an increasingly stressful work environment. Perrin is a former Dean of the Faculty of Theology, Saint Paul University in Ottawa.
	A church fit for royalty Blessed St. Xenia of St. Petersburg Russian Orthodox Church in Ottawa was where, on Feb. 24, Prince Alex Galitzine, 35, married Lisa Boyachuk, 35, of Winnipeg. Galitzine, who is 613th in line for the British throne, is a descendant of Catherine the Great, the Ottawa Citizen reported. The couple were married n a traditioal Russian Orthodox ceremony presided by Bishop Andronik Kotliaroff, bishop of North America, who flew into Ottawa from New York.
	Cinderella's horse-drawn pumpkin chariot by master ice carver Junichi Nakamura of Japan, "Before Midnight," was a hit at Winterlude, the two-week annual winter festival in Ottawa in February. The winter event attracted an estimated 650,000 people.
	Toronto-based Porter Airlines operates several Canadian-manufactured Bombardier Q-400 turboprop airplanes like the Continental Connection aircraft that crashed in a Buffalo, N.Y. suburb recently, killing 49 passengers. Porter CEO Robert Deluce told the Toronto Star that if the plane's manufacturer or any of the safety organizations had any concerns, the plane "would have been grounded by now."
	Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama waved to the cheering crowd from behind a bullet-proof shield moments after Obama's arrival on Parliament Hill Feb. 19.
	Ottawa Catholic musician David McDonald quietly holds a sign on Parliament Hill during the visit of the U.S. president Feb. 19. He laments his lost fatherhood several years ago through an abortion that he and his girlfriend both agreed to. When McDonald realized that abortion was murder, he repented and has long been active in the pro-life movement.
	Obama mania Fans of U.S. President Barack Obama cheer after he waved to the crowd on Parliament Hill before his visit with Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Feb. 19
	Police "liason" officers mingled with the crowd on Parliament Hill during the visit of U.S. President Barack Obama. In this photo officers help an Inuit group hold up their banner for a photo.
	Police on the roof of the West Block of Parliament Hill use binoculars to keep watch on activities on the Hill during the visit of American President Barack Obama.
	CBC national broadcaster Peter Mansbridge waves from a temporary broadcast studio on Parliament Hill while covering the visit of U.S. President Barak Obama. Mansbridge landed the only one-on-one TV interview with Obama shortly before his arrival in Ottawa.
	Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama wave to the cheering crowd from behind a bullet-proof shield moments after Obama's arrival on Parliament Hill Feb. 19.
	Many of the several hundred people who came to Parliament Hill to celebrate the visit to Canada of the first black president in American history were of African ancestry.
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	Young supporters of U.S. President Barack Obama gather around the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill while he meets with Prime Minister Stephen Harper inside the Centre Block.
	Capturing an historical moment
	Police and other security personnel kept a close eye on possible threats to the safety of the U.S. president during his six-hour visit to Ottawa.
	A police sniper in a helicopter watches the crowd on Parliament Hill during the visit of of U.S. President Barack Obama.
Elizabeth McWeeny	The Canadian Council of Churches (CCC), Amnesty International and the Canadian Council for Refugees (CRC) says it regrets that the Supreme Court of Canada has decided not to grant leave in the case challenging the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement. “This decision means that refugees will not have their day in court,” said Elizabeth McWeeny, CCR President. “The US is not in fact safe for all refugees, so we deeply regret that the Supreme Court has not taken this opportunity to ensure that Canada provides refugees the protection they need from forced return to persecution.” The federal government retained the right to turn away refugee claimants at the border of the two countries when the Supreme Court of Canada on Feb. 5 refused to consider an appeal from the three groups claiming the U.S. is not a safe country.
Elizabeth McWeeny	(As above)

Paul Gross- File photo	Canadian actor Paul Gross, whose film, Passchendaele, recreated conditions in the trenches of the First World War, earned a nomination as best actor for the Genie Awards ceremony to be held in Ottawa April 4. The film was also nominated for best picture. Another Canadian actor, Gordon Pinsent (below), announced the nominations Feb. 10 at the Canada Aviation Museum, where the 29th Genie Awards ceremony will be held. It will the first time the ceremony was held outside of Toronto or Montreal.
Gordon Pinsent - File photo	(Gordon Pinsent)
	Lifetime friends Left, Fr. Bill Ryan, a former General Secretary of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), with Bernard Daly, a former editor-publisher of the Catholic Register and a former assistant general secretary of the CCCB. Daly passed away in Toronto Jan. 2 at the age of 83. "Bernard and I seemed destined to be life-long friends," said Ryan in eulogizing Daly in his funeral homily. "For me, Bernard was a gentle man. Above all, a man of strong faith, of long-suffering patience and hope and of boundless love - selfless in his caring, sharing and forgiving."
	English naturalist Charles Darwin - whose bicentennial of his birth is Feb. 12, the same as American president Abraham Lincoln, theorized that humans and apes evolved from an ape-like ancestor millions of years ago. It may be tough for humans to believe they descended from apes but as American journalist and satirist H.L. Menken once observed, "It is hard for the ape to believe he descended from man."
Joe Comartin	Three Roman Catholic New Democrat MPs are calling on Pope Benedict XVI to reverse his decision to lift the excommunication of Holocaust-denier Bishop Richard Williamson. Joe Comartin (Windsor-Tecumseh), Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay), and Tony Martin (Sault Ste. Marie) have sent a letter to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops asking that Williamson not be permitted to perform any ministry in any Canadian diocese until the controversy is resolved. The Ontario MPs have also written a letter to the Vatican condemning the decision to reverse Williamson's excommunication. "Bishop Williamson's continued denial of the full extent of the Holocaust and his refusal to apologize for his remarks are completely unacceptable," said Angus, in a news release from the MPs Feb. 5 "Canada needs to speak loudly and clearly on this issue." Bishop Williamson has said he does not believe that gas chambers were used to kill Jews during the Holocaust, and that no more than 300,000 were killed during that genocide. The MPs also want Canadian Catholic leaders to join them in sending the message to the Vatican that this kind of thinking is "outdated and intolerable."
Charlie Angus	(As above)
	Newly installed President Barack Obama has been invited to attended a wreath-laying ceremony and reading of the Gettysburg Address at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. as part of national ceremonies commemorate Lincoln's 200th birthday Feb. 12. a 19-foot marble statue of Lincoln sits in the centre of the memorial on the National Mall. Obama visited the memorial of the popular president a few days before taking office.
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Collins Bay penitentiary, Kingston, Ont.	Overtime pay for Canada's prison guards is ballooning fast, while spending on rehabilitating criminals before they return to the streets has shrunk, Sun Media reported February 5. It noted that in her latest report, Auditor General Sheila Fraser criticized the Correctional Service of Canada for failing to address soaring staff overtime costs, which have "substantially exceeded" budgeted figures for six years running. The CSC had earmarked $23.7 million for overtime last year but ended up paying out $47 million, more than double that amount.
	World-renowned Gospel soloist George Beverly Shea celebrated his 100th birthday with friends and family in Asheville, N.C., Feb.1. Born in Winchester, ON, Shea -- seen in this 1998 photo during a Billy Graham Christian Crusade in Ottawa -- began his singing career at religious gatherings in the Ottawa Valley. Shea, often called "America's Beloved Gospel Singer," has been with the Billy Graham crusades for over 60 years. Graham and other members of his Christian organizatoin also attended the birthday party.
	Holy Name Cathedral -- the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago -- was severely damaged by fire February 4. Arson is not suspected and there were no injuries. The three-alarm fire "shot through the church's blackened roof for about an hour before they were replaced by plumes of white smoke," the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The cause of the fire had not yet been established.
	The Anglican Church of Canada has welcomed a breakthrough in the re-establishment of the long-awaited Truth and Reconciliation Commission on residential schools. But it has also apologized to survivors for long delays in allowing them to tell their stories. "We give thanks for this positive forward movement on the road to healing and reconciliation but we also want to offer our sincere apologies to those who have been affected by this unexpected and unforeseen delay in the TRC process," said Archdeacon Michael Pollesel, General Secretary of the Anglican General Synod, in a news release Feb. 2. Mr. Justice Frank Iacobucci, appointed by the federal government to get the TRC back on track following the resignation of its chair late last year, has announced that a process had been agreed to that would reconstitute the TRC with new members, the release stated.
	Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon has called on the government of Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tigers to declare a ceasefire after at least 52 civilians were killed in fighting between the two sides in the past day, CTV News reported Feb. 4. "Canada calls for the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to declare and honour an immediate ceasefire to allow full, safe and unhindered access; the evacuation of the sick and wounded; and the delivery of much-needed humanitarian assistance to civilians," Cannon said in a statement. About 70,000 people have died in the fighting many of them only recently.
	Canadian Senator Marcel Prud’homme has received one of the highest decorations of the Kingdom of Morocco for his work in strengthening ties of friendship between Canada and Morocco. Prud’homme received the Commander level medal of the Ordre du Tr�ne Alaouite [Order of the Throne of Alaouite] on behalf of HM King Mohammed VI, by the Moroccan Ambassador in Ottawa, his Excellency Mohamed Tangi, the senator's office said in a news release Feb. 4. The ceremony was held at the Moroccan Embassy.