Focus on the Family Canada - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Focus on the Family Canada (French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

: Objectif Famille) is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

affiliate of the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

evangelical

Evangelicalism

Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

organization Focus on the Family

Focus on the Family

Focus on the Family is an American evangelical Christian tax-exempt non-profit organization founded in 1977 by psychologist James Dobson, and is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Focus on the Family is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations that rose to prominence in the 1980s...

. It was founded in 1983, and is based in Langley

Langley, British Columbia (city)

The City of Langley is a municipality in Metro Vancouver. It lies directly east of the City of Surrey, adjacent to Cloverdale, and surrounded on the north, east and south by Township of Langley.-History:...

, British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

. The organization's official name as a registered Canadian charity is "Focus on the Family (Canada) Association."

Focus on the Family Canada is "committed to helping families thrive." Its mission is to "encourage and strengthen the Canadian family through education and resources based on Christian principles"; its purpose is to "love God and our neighbours by serving Canadian families and encouraging them to pursue a growing relationship with Jesus Christ"; and its guiding principles include the preeminence of evangelism, permanence of marriage, the value of children, the sanctity of human life, the relationship of church, family and government.

Ties to Focus on the Family USA

Focus on the Family Canada is operated and directed independently of Focus on the Family USA. However, some ties do exist between the two organizations. Between 2000 and 2003, the Canadian affiliate received $1.6 million in services from the larger American organization. Two members on the board of directors of Focus on the Family Canada, Tom Mason and Jim Daly

Jim Daly

Jim Daly is an Irish Fine Gael politician. He was elected as a Teachta Dála for the Cork South West constituency at the 2011 general election. He was a member of Cork County Council for the Skibbereen electoral area from 2004–11....

, are also vice-presidents of Focus on the Family in the United States. Other than receiving financial support from Focus on the Family USA between 2000 and 2003, Focus on the Family Canada relies fully on donor support for its operations.

Activities

The primary focus of the organization is to provide encouragement and resources to Canadian families. Resources include a Canada-wide radio broadcast, magazines for all age groups, free counselling and counselling referrals, marriage and parenting seminars, and books. Focus on the Family Canada's ministry covers issues ranging from parenting children with disabilities to money and time management to dealing with conflict in marriage and infidelity.

Focus on the Family Canada also provides care and support services for pastors, ministry leaders and their families in the form of retreats, pastors' events, and the Clergy Care Network website. In 2008, Focus Canada began the Kerith Creek ministry retreats for married couples and ministry leaders near Calgary, Alberta.

In the fall of 2009, Focus on the Family Canada launched a parenting website called "Kids of Integrity: Tools for Growing Godly Character." The website provides 16 lesson plans intended to help parents, grandparents, caregivers and others develop positive character traits in children - traits such as honesty, generosity, respect and self-control. The lessons are designed to engage children ages three to ten and can be downloaded from the Kids of Integrity website free of charge.

Also in 2009, the organization announced plans to erect its own building under the fundraising campaign called "Building Families, Building Hope":

We feel that God is leading us to establish a permanent home that will allow greater opportunities to share His blessing with Canadian families. Not only will this home serve as the cornerstone of the ministry for years to come, but it will also save as much as $400,000 annually in rent, which we will use to reach even more families with practical advice and Biblical truths.

Social activism in Canada

The organization has funded efforts in the courts and in its media broadcasts to help "preserve traditional values and the institution of the family." It has focused its efforts on the following areas: same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....

(and homosexuality

Homosexuality

Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...

in general), abortion

Abortion

Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...

, pornography

Pornography

Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...

, premarital sex

Premarital sex

Premarital sex is sexual activity, including vaginal intercourse, oral sex, and anal sex, practiced by persons who are unmarried. Although it has always been practiced, in the West it has increased in prevalence since the mid-1950s...

and child discipline. Focus on the Family supports the continued legality of spanking as a form of discipline for children.

Focus on the Family Canada has also established the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada/Institut du Mariage et de la Famille Canada (IMFC). The IMFC is located in Ottawa, Ontario, near Parliament Hill

Parliament Hill

Parliament Hill , colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. Its Gothic revival suite of buildingsthe parliament buildings serves as the home of the Parliament of Canada and contains a number of architectural...

, where the staff conduct and compile social policy research from Canada and around the world. The IMFC’s mission is "to positively influence public opinion and promote public policy that values human life, the pre-eminence of marriage and the institution of the family." Its involvement in social issues is not limited to activism, as it has intervened in court cases such as one case in 1999 where it supported denying same-sex couples the right to apply for alimony from one another. The organization had intervenor status in the precedent setting case of Canadian Foundation for Children, Youth and the Law v. Canada (Attorney General), in which the Supreme Court of Canada

Supreme Court of Canada

The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeals in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts, and its decisions...

upheld the legality of child spanking in Canada.

In addition, the organization publishes Today's Family News, a monthly e-newsletter that provides family-related news stories, research and analysis making headlines across Canada.

Organization

Presidents of the organization include: Bruce Gordon (?-1998), current Deputy Chief of Staff to PM Harper, Darrel Reid

Darrel Reid

Darrel R. Reid is a Canadian policy advisor, political manager and federal candidate in two Canadian federal political elections...

(1998-2004), Terence Rolston (2004-present).

A former member of the board of directors of Focus on the Family Canada is Sharon Hayes

Sharon Hayes

Sharon Ruth Hayes is a former Canadian politician.Born in Toronto, Ontario, she represented the riding of Port Moody—Coquitlam from 1993 to 1997 for the Reform Party of Canada....

, who from 1993 to 1997 was a Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

belonging to the Reform Party of Canada

Reform Party of Canada

The Reform Party of Canada was a Canadian federal political party that existed from 1987 to 2000. It was originally founded as a Western Canada-based protest party, but attempted to expand eastward in the 1990s. It viewed itself as a populist party....

External links

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