Justice committee  Thank you. First of all, I think it's important to recognize that section 2(a) of the charter protects religious freedom, and I would wonder how Parliament would be protecting the freedom to worship without this section there. Second, it may be that the general public isn't aware of this section, but churches are aware of this section, and I am aware of churches that have been able to stop people from causing a disturbance or to limit what they can do by saying, you know, it is against the criminal law of Canada for you to come in and disturb this worship.

Justice committee  Certainly, and it really is just changing the term “clergyman” or “minister” to “religious official”, which is the terminology the Supreme Court of Canada has used in these situations. I think “religious” is a little more inclusive than “divine service”. We could also change “him” to “him or her” because we know there are female religious leaders, so it is better to have inclusive language there as well.

Justice committee  First of all, thank you very much to the committee for inviting me. I think this is a very important topic, and I'm very pleased to participate. I'm a university professor with a research specialization in religious freedom. I have to admit that when I first saw clause 14 of Bill C-51, I thought it made sense and that section 176 isn't really needed that much in Canadian society.