Canada: Tories fighting for faiths

"Just a month ago, I was at the funeral of my late friend, Shahbaz Bhatti, the minister for minority affairs in Pakistan, who was murdered simply because he was calling for an end to blasphemy laws."

Canadian Museum of Human Rights, Winnipeg, Canada

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Toronto Sun
By Kris Sims | April 8, 2011

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives want to create an Office of Religious Freedom.

The $5 million platform proposal would be part of the department of foreign affairs, promoting and defending the fragile human right.

"It's in part inspired by the recent wave of attacks on religious minorities," Minister of Immigration and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney said Friday. "Just a month ago, I was at the funeral of my late friend, Shahbaz Bhatti, the minister for minority affairs in Pakistan, who was murdered simply because he was calling for an end to blasphemy laws." Kenney said the murder of the lone Christian in the Pakistani government confirmed Canada's need for the new office.

"It shook many of us when he was assassinated, this platform commitment is, in part, a tribute to his brave fight for religious freedom," Kenney said.


The Liberal Party, however, wants a broader approach.

"I would like to see any strategy on religious freedom being broadened to include all freedoms," Liberal Foreign Affairs critic Bob Rae said.

The Tories are also pledging to build three new monuments in Ottawa: A National Holocaust Memorial, a monument to those killed by Communism, and a statue marking the War of 1812.

kris.sims@sunmedia.ca

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