Canada promotes freedom of religion

MOHAMMED AZHAR ALI KHAN

January 09, 2014
Canada promotes freedom of religion
Canada promotes freedom of religion

Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan




Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan

 


 


Ambassador Andrew Bennett who heads Canada’s Office of Religious Freedom has a tough assignment - promoting religious freedom in a world where three-fourths of the people groan under severe restrictions.



But when Dr. Bennett explained his mission to the All-Party Interfaith Parliamentary Friendship Group he was applauded; he was speaking to people who believe deeply in freedom of conscience. Member of Parliament Mark Adler and social worker Nathalie Thirlwall  chair the All-Party Interfaith Parliamentary Friendship Group. Ottawa’s Mayor Jim Watson co-chairs Ottawa’s interfaith group. In this city people of diverse faiths respect each other, mingle freely and build strong friendships.



They are not so naïve as to believe that a Canadian bureaucrat can have much success in putting some sense into the hotheads and extremists who kill or maim fellow human beings, or even themselves. But they feel that it is essential to speak out against oppression and persecution as Prince Charles did recently when he asserted that Christians in the Middle East are facing relentless persecution. And not in the Middle East only, he might have added.



Canada has a long record of championing human rights. In 1946, Canadian diplomat John Peters Humphrey, the first director of the United Nations Division of Human Rights, wrote the first draft of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that the United Nations General Assembly adopted in December, 1948. Eleanor Roosevelt called it “the international Magna Carta of all mankind.”



The dream of a new era of justice, peace, prosperity and respect for human rights under the United Nations, however, turned into a nightmare. Though several countries gained freedom, or at least nominal freedom, wars, killings of innocent people and brutal violations of  human rights continued in many continents. Even in Canada the Aboriginal people suffer from discrimination and in the United States blacks, despite gains, remain second class citizens in terms of jobs, opportunities and treatment by the authorities.



But Canadian leaders such as John Diefenbaker, Lester Pearson, Pierre Trudeau and Brian Mulroney kept clamoring for respect for human rights and dignity all over the world. To some extent, they were instrumental in the dismantlement of apartheid in South Africa. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization also played a major role in stopping ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, though belatedly. In Africa, however, the UN and the West have been less successful in protecting people from brutalities.



Canada’s own record, however, makes it a role model for much of the world. This country was founded on racism and greed - land was taken from the Aboriginal people by European settlers or the British Crown. Treaties were not always respected. Many Aboriginal reserves even today are replicas of the Third World.



But the Aboriginal people are advancing, slowly. The courts are recognizing their rights and forcing provincial and federal governments to do the same. The country has disowned its racist past. The governments have apologized for imposing a tax on Chinese immigrants and for interning Canadians of Japanese and other origins during war.



Restrictions on non-white immigration were also scrapped and the country became truly multicultural. John Diefenbaker’s Bill of Rights and Pierre Trudeau’s Canadian Charter for Rights and Freedoms of 1982 have ensured basic rights for all Canadians. The courts ruled that even people requesting asylum in Canada be treated with justice and given a fair hearing. Canada opened its doors to such refugees without considerations of race, religion, nationality or any other such criteria.



This is not done on the government level alone. Canadian people in general are kind and helpful. Only some 10 percent are regarded as racist or bigoted.



So Canada, more than most countries, is in a position to speak with moral authority on freedom of religion. Some 77 percent of Canadians are Christian. But Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists and others enjoy full freedom of religion. There are a half a dozen mosques in Ottawa alone. When there was no mosque in the capital, the city’s small Muslim community used to pray in churches.



The Office of Religious Freedom was established in 2013 to promote freedom of religion globally.  Canada can speak on this subject with authority because it practices what it preaches. The office has a modest budget of some $5 million annually. Even with a bigger budget it is not clear that it could have done much to end religious persecution or discrimination in countries from Indonesia to Latin America. Ambassador Bennett, a devout Christian and experienced civil servant, will largely wield a moral authority. But that is important.



The initiative comes at a time when the Canadian reputation has taken a plunge in the world, as is shown by its failure to win a seat on the United Nations Security Council. But in human rights Canada remains a model for other countries. It is gratifying that it will raise its voice for religious freedom for the oppressed and the persecuted - all decent people should champion their cause.

 




— Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan is a retired Canadian journalist, civil servant and refugee judge.


January 09, 2014
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