July 27 2007 (Friday)

Last night was a really exciting walk as we made our way into Toronto. We started in the Mississauga area and walked towards downtown Toronto. The guys on dayshift actually already made it all the way to the centre of downtown Toronto, so what we were doing last night was a bit of "extra" walking. We intended to make it all the way into downtown (therefore doubling our witnessing in the city of Toronto by walking into it twice) but didn't get quite that far. Still, I was really excited, first of all because Toronto is an impressively large and active city, and also because it was the first time I've been to Toronto in a year. I went to the University of Toronto for my first year of university, in the downtown campus, so I definitely know Toronto quite well. When we finished walking in the morning, we drove around a bit (Greg wanted to see the Royal Ontario Museum building, which looks like a giant crystal, recently constructed), and I got to get a glimpse at Queen's Park (which is at the centre of UofT). Lots of memories there. This weekend I am also looking forward to perhaps meeting up with some people I know, especially my second cousin Mairin who is coming out to join us Saturday evening at some of our activities.
After we finished walking, we hightailed it to our host family, who received us very well. We went to sleep, and when we got up at 4 we got to meet with a bunch of youth from the local youth group they have here (called Gethsemane ministries). They were an amazing bunch, and took us out to dinner before we went to their youth rally that night. There were hundreds of people there! Greg, Jeremy and I gave each our own (inspirational) talk to the youth, and then we sang songs and listened to Scripture and such. It was a fun night.

July 25 2007 (Wednesday)

Last night and this morning, we got to go to Mass at the Shrine of Canadian Martyrs in Midway. This is where is located the shrine for the Canadian martyrs, including St. Jean de Brebeuf and St. Gabriel Lalemant. The website for the shrine is found here: http://www.martyrs-shrine.com/story/. We got to see some relics, most amazing of all was the left side of the skull of St Jean de Brebeuf.

July 22 2007 (Sunday)

Hi all, Today Greg and I spoke at St. Matthieu's parish. It was a bilingual parish, so yesterday the Mass was in french and this morning it was in english. Greg gave a great speach in french yesterday evening... I didn't know he was so fluent! Although there weren't too many people there, we received a lot of generous donations. Today was also very special, as after Mass Greg and I proceeded to the local community building (formerly a school, known as Watergate). There we were served a lunch, and met up with an amazing youth group from St. Matthieu's parish. It was a new youth group, just formed last month, but they were really energised about their faith and it was really inspiring to see. We played some sports, and then went together with the youth group to one hour of Eucharistic adoration (which the youth group organises). Anyway, tonight we are leaving to go walking, Greg Jeremy and I. We are going to walk through Sudbury tonight, and be one step closer to getting to Toronto. We have a bit of extra time, so I think we'll be taking a detour through London, Ontario. It'll be an interesting week, especially as we will be visiting the Canadian martyrs shrine. I'll tell you more about that later. Bye for now, Etienne

July 21 2007 (Saturday)

Usually Saturday is our day off from walking... but today was a bit different. We had a mini pro-life walk organised for us up a hill to the hospital, which went well, and not too long (30 minutes). The hospital is the site for abortions, and so we walked up there and did a couple hours of prayer service with a group of pro-lifers and with our host families (two generous women named Carita and Patricia who opened up their homes for us). We did that in the morning. We then spent all of the afternoon at another pro-life family, who basically cooked lunch and supper for us while we were busy going to and from Masses. Beautiful day... very sunny, and we just got to meet a lot of great people. Etienne

July 18 2007 (Wednesday)

Hi all, This week has been an interesting walk. We have been meeting numerous people who, like us, are traveling across the country for various causes. Oddly enough, up to now we haven't meet anyone doing anything like this. But we met one woman biking to end the euthanasia of animals, a couple cycling to draw attention to kids who drop out of high school, and an African man walking for "women and children". The couple who was cycling across the country actually started May 19 in Vancouver, just like us! However, we have been traveling day and night, so this explains why we just now met them. There are a few more cases that we saw this week, but I'm not sure what they were cycling for. A couple on bikes also yelled "pro-choice!" as we were walking by.... and shook their fists. Oh well. For the most part, we have been receiving lots of support - 95% of people are in support of us. Perhaps abortion is not as dead an issue as some of us are led to believe by the media... Etienne

July 16 2007 (Monday)

Hi everyone, We have started off the week to a great start. I am back on day-shift, and happily so, because it is so nice out right now. The weather is treating us well - nice and sunny. What's more is that we are walking along Lake Superior, so that on our off-shift today Jeremy and I went to the beach and just layed about for an hour. Very relaxing! Jeremy even went for a swim in the lake. We have not yet reached Sault St. Marie by walking, but are staying at a campground just outside of the town. The KOA campground that we're staying at is quite luxurious, equipped as it is with a game of mini putt, and wireless internet. We haven't had time to enjoy it all, however, although Greg and Tom did play a round today of mini-putt. The weekend went really well - the parish we went to, Precious Blood Cathedral, was very generous. This is likely due to the very supportive Monseigneur, who really welcomed us. The priest often makes all the difference when it comes to us getting a good reception from the parishioners. I'll keep you all informed on this week. Bye for now, Etienne

July 15 2007 (Sunday)

Hi all,

Some of you may have heard about CBC's "The Great Canadian Wish List" which finished a couple weeks ago. It was a youth-centered attempt by CBC to see what is the greatest wish for Canadians. It involved youth signing up for what their greatest wish is on a thing called "Facebook" which is really popular among youth. There's an article about it in Maclean's: http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=20070607_153018_13524.
The wish to abolish abortion in Canada included the message below. This wish was at the top of the Canadian wishlist by July 1st, which is when it ended. Just thought this was so encouraging - it shows that abortion is not a dead issue in Canada, but that indeed it is important for youth. The results for the wishlist were as follows:

Top Wishes By Membership
9920
Abolish Abortion in Canada
8535
I wish that Canada would remain pro-choice
4684
For a spiritual revival in our nation.
4672
Restore the Traditional Definition of Marriage
3616
I wish tuition fees would be either lowered or eliminated.
3521
It's time for drastic measures to save our environment
2544
Canada should keep ABORTIONS and GAY MARRIAGE Legal!
2067
A Canada where no one must choose between paying rent and their medication
1896
Proportional representation
1377
Greener Canada

Summary
Wish CreatorDave GilbertI wish that there was an end to abortion in Canada.The intentional killing of an innocent human being is wrong.Abortion is the intentional killing of an innocent human being.Therefore abortion is wrong. From the moment of conception a unique, individual human being is created with separate DNA from his/her mother. They also could have a different blood type and/or gender if the preborn child is a male. By the law of biogenesis, to find out what a living thing is, we look to see what the parent's are. Clearly, a woman's offspring must be human. The term "foetus" is from Latin and means "offspring" or "young one". It is a stage in development for the newly created human, just like toddler. Stages of development change, but we are always human. The law governs many other things people deem wrong, ie. Child abuse and rape. People can choose to do these, but laws are in place against them because they harm other human beings. With no protection for the preborn child, until they take their first breath, today in Canada over 100,000 lives are ended each year. There is also no informed consent law for women making this important decision. Many women become depressed, and/or infertile, among other things. Infection is the most common physical harm which can lead to hemorrhaging and can lead to death. Abortion is not safe for women. This wish aims to redeem the humanity of the preborn child. It also recognizes that there needs to be necessary social changes in place to support women in crisis pregnancies.