We have endorsed the concept of developing an office of religious freedom. We have made a full submission on what we would hope would be a robust office that would help inform the policies of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in establishing best practices for diplomats and for diplomatic engagement. Such an office, we hope, would help to inform the department so that in our bilateral and multilateral trade conversations, these human rights issues would be key.
We're hoping that it will also inform, as intended, Citizenship and Immigration Canada so that best practices and awareness of the religious situation in different nations will be something immigration officers, border service agents, and the Immigration Review Board are aware of and take into consideration in the screening process.
In United Nations camps, Canadians are often screening people who are seeking refugee status because of religious persecution. However, the people the government hires to do the screening in those camps are part of the majority community that is persecuting Christians. So the screening process may be unjust.
We've made a number of proposals in regard to the office of religious freedom.