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Winner of four Canadian Church Press  photography awards 

	More than 30, 000 Tamil supporters -- many of them  bussed in from Toronto and Montreal -- rallied on Parliament Hill April 21 in a massive demonstration aimed at covincing Canada to do something to help end the Sri Lankan government's offensive against the Tamil Tigers. The demonstration was the largest in over two weeks of daily protests  by Tamils in the nation's capital and came the day after the House of Commons reconvened after a two-week Easter break. More than 30 countries, including Canada and the United States, say the Tamil Tigers is a terrorist organization.
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	Toronto hunger striker Pushpa Nallaratnam, 46, has been fasting on Parliament Hill  for more than 10 days in a bid to force the Canadian government to convince the Sri Lankan government to end its offensive against Tamil Tigers. She said she will continue her hunger strike unless Canada takes a stand against the "genocide" being committed by the government of Sri Lanka.
	"I'm staying with our budget projection," says federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. "We're on track." He was reacting to the decision by the Bank of Canada to cut its key interest rate by a quarter point to 0.25 per cent.  The bank warns that the recession will be "deeper than anticipated."  But Flaherty told reporters on Parliament Hill April 21, "I'm comfortable with our projections. The Bank of Canada has changed theirs, but my projections are the projections we put in the budget."
	Senator Sharon Carstairs, chair of the Special Senate Committee on Aging, speaks at a news conference in Ottawa April 21 following the release of the committee's final report. "Some seniors are being denied their rights," she said. "There are some serious gaps to be addressed." The report says seniors need better health care, transportation and housing. With Carstairs are Sen Wilbert Keon, Deputy Chair, and committee member Sen. Maria Chaput.
	Roman Catholic Bishop Donald Thériault, who heads the Military Ordinariate of Canada, celebrated Easter  Sunday mass for the first time at the Kandahar airbase in Afghanistan, The Canadian Press reported April 12.The Celebration of Light was led mainly in English with some French for  francophone soldiers in Quebec's Royal 22nd Regiment who are posted in Afghanistan, it said.Thériault, formerly bishop of the Diocese of London, Ont., oversees 80 military chaplains.
	Archbishop Terrence Prendergast leads about 1,000  people through the streets of downtown Ottawa in a Good Friday Way of the Cross procession from St. Patrick's Basilica to Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica.
	Archbishop Terrence Prendergast leads about 1,000 people from Parliament Hill to nearby Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica in a Way of the Cross procession Good Friday that began at St. Patrick's Basilica.
	The main entrance to the Centre Block of Parliament Hill was the sixth stop on the annual Good Friday Way of the Cross procession through downtown Ottawa, led by Roman Catholic Archbishop Terrence Prendergast.
	A prayerful Way of the Cross procession led by Archbishop Terrence Prendergast on Good Friday shares Parliament Hill with flag-waving protesters demanding that Canada call on the Sri Lankan government to halt its offensive against Tamil rebels. Many of them waved flags of the Tamil Tigers, a group banned as a terrorist organization in Canada, the United States and 30 other countries.
	Thousands of Tamil protesters from Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal and other cities lined both sides of a street alongside Parliament Hill on Good Friday demanding that Canada call on the Sri Lankan government to halt its offensive against Tamil rebels. It was the fourth consecutive day of protests by the Tamil supporters, many of whom waved flags of the Tamil Tigers, a group banned  as a terrorist organization in Canada, the United States and 30 other countries.
	Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ, chosen as Alumna of the Year of Saint Paul University in Ottawa in 1999, returns to the city as one of the speakers at the Canadian Tulip Festival which runs from May 1 to May 18. Prejean, author of 1993 best-selling book, "Dead Man Walking," is to speak on the death penalty.  Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Prejean in 1973 earned a Master's degree in Religious Education at Saint Paul University, operated by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
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	Bob Cox, editor of the Winnipeg Free Press, will be one of the keynote speakers at the Canadian Church Press  conference May 14 to 16 at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg.

                                                                                          Photos from previous weeks