Closing of Canada’s Religious Freedom Office Could Spell Trouble For Human Rights

 

Canada's decision to defund its Office of Religious Freedom will harm the country's ability to defend religious minorities and human rights in general, said religious freedom advocates and other supporters of the office.

"If Canada shuts down its Office of Religious Freedom, it will not just harm religious freedom, but Canada's ability to promote all other human rights," attorney Gerald Chipeur told CNA March 21. Chipeur is an allied attorney with the Alliance Defending Freedom legal group and partner with the Miller Thomson law firm in Calgary.

He responded to the government's decision to end funding for Canada's Office of Religious Freedom, which ends on March 31.

"The reality is this that in countries where religious freedom is not protected, you will find most other freedoms are also not protected," he said. "In fact, there is a direct correlation between the guarantees of religious freedom and the guarantees of other human rights and democracy."

"Religious freedom is the most important discussion one can have," he said. "You can talk about trade, defense, and other issues, but if you aren't first talking about religious freedom, then you will miss a very important opportunity to promote human rights and democracy."

On March 21 the Liberal Party, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, voted against a motion by Conservative MP Garrett Genius to extend funding for the office for another term.

The motion was voted down 226 to 90, with the NDP, Bloc Quebecois and Green Party leader Elizabeth May all siding with the Liberal Party against funding.

Despite the result, Chipeur said other countries can still positively influence Canada's decision.

"The U.S. government should step in and urge Canada not to go down this road," he said. "Australia, the U.K., France, and other countries where there is a long tradition of constitutional protections of religious freedom, should stand up and plead with Canada to not to shut it down."

Foreign Minister Stephane Dion was among the opponents of the motion to fund the office. He advocated a consolidation of human rights efforts.

"We have to consider whether it might not be more effective to combine all of Global Affairs Canada's efforts to defend and promote human rights into a single office, to advance and to leverage the resources of the department and its embassy network around the world to advance this mission," Dion said.

But Peter Stockland, a senior writer with the Canadian think tank Cardus, said that the minister's explanation undermines religious freedom and why the office was established.

"Religious freedom is not a right that is on a continuum of rights that is indistinguishable from all others," he said. "It is ineffective to lump all rights together and treat them equally," Stockland told CNA March 23.

"To stop religious oppression and hatred, you need something that actually addresses violations against religious freedom, not a general office committed to a smorgasbord of rights," Stockland explained. "The Office of Religious Freedom was established specifically to root out religious persecution."

Barry W. Bussey, director of legal affairs for the Canadian Council of Christian Charities, said focusing on religious freedom does not devalue other rights.

"Having an Office of Religious Freedom does not mean that religious freedom trumps other human rights," told CNA March 23. "It is simply that we are living in a time when religious freedom is in peril because of all that is happening on the international scene with respect to religious minorities."