We asked you to contact your Members of Parliament about Bill C-51, and you did! MP after MP reported a deluge of phone calls, mail and email asking them to keep the specific protection for religious leaders and worship services that was built into Bill C-51, the bill that was under review, proposed to be removed from the Criminal Code.
They heard from Canadians and they also heard from a cohort of concerned religious groups, facilitated in part by your EFC team. We came together in a united voice to express the need for continued legal protection against disruption for religious leaders and worship services in Canada. This is the kind of influence the EFC has talked about and convened for years.
In this case, the EFC worked most closely with the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Association for Reformed Political Action to draft an interfaith letter on Bill C-51, which EFC affiliates and interfaith partners were invited to sign. In the end, it was signed by 66 religious leaders, sent to the Minister of Justice, and tabled with the Justice Committee (www.TheEFC.ca/C51).
EFC President Bruce Clemenger and Public Policy Director Julia Beazley were invited to appear before the committee on October 30. They told the committee in part: To remove this specific protection for religious officials and gatherings from the Criminal Code sends a confusing and contradictory message to faith communities in Canada, many of whom feel particularly and increasingly vulnerable...The specific protection offered by section 176 recognizes that here is something different, distinct and valuable about religious practice. It recognizes that there is a good that is worthy of specific and explicit protection. To remove this protection would erode that recognition, and undermine the value and place of religious belief and practice in Canada.
The Justice Committee heard the concerns of religious Canadians, and responded positively. Both Liberal and Conservative members of the committee introduced amendments to keep the relevant section and to expand the Christian-specific wording so that it clearly includes all religious groups. As EFC staff told the committee, “We believe it should be made clear that this protection is extended to all faith communities.”
In the end the Committee voted to retain this specific, explicit protection for religious officials and gatherings, and we are deeply grateful to have seen the impact of our work, and the impact of you and your churches reaching out to MPs with such a strong voice. The amendment still needs to be adopted by the House at the bill’s third reading, so supporters need to continue to ask their MP to vote to keep section 176 in the Criminal Code.
As we move forward together, there are simple things you can do in your own community to continue to protect religious freedom. Our Ottawa team encourages Canadians to contact their MPs just to say thank you and build relationship.
You can tell them you are praying for them in their high-stress environment. That blesses them (part of our mission!) and helps create a cordial and warm relationship for when we do ask them to work on our behalf.
Getting involved in our communities as helpful citizens – as so many Evangelicals already do – also helps to demystify religion for our neighbours and build bridges. It’s a good thing to do for religious freedom in Canada.
The response of the Justice Committee is an example of parliamentarians listening to the concerns and perspective of religious communities. This kind of response demonstrates a respect and concern for Canadians with deeply held religious beliefs.
It is the prayerful and financial support of the friends and partners of the EFC that makes all our work possible. Ultimately, it wasn’t the EFC and the other religious groups who saved this legal protection for worship services and religious leaders in Canada, it was you. The ways you are living out your agreement with the mission of the EFC – to bless Canada in the name of Jesus – is so important. Thank you.
What you can do
- Pray for the Justice Committee’s favourable recommendation to be adopted by the House of Commons in its final vote on Bill C-51 and a favourable response in the Senate. (Keep up to date at www.TheEFC.ca/C51.)
- Pray that Canadian Christians will continue to stand together, in what is often an increasingly anti-religious climate in Canada.
- Please continue to give financially to the work of the EFC. When you give, you empower our presence on some of the most critical issues in Canada today.
Also in this issue: The EFC invites Governor General to greater understanding; What is the EFC’s core message about religious freedom?; Updating you on Canada’s most immediate issues; Message from the president; Love Is Moving at Canadian Youth Workers Conferences; And more.