Thank you, Mr. Chair.
In the last few hours and few days, I've been trying to get words to paper on this issue, and it has been challenging because it's so frustrating. The lead in my pencil keeps breaking.
It's so frustrating, because you have to ask yourself why. As my friend Grant Jackson mentioned, our ancestors fought for freedom of religion. They went overseas and they fought. They were in the trenches, fighting shoulder to shoulder. It was alluded to by some members of the Liberal caucus that we may be here during Christmas and over the holidays. I think they said it sarcastically—maybe not—but if that's what it takes to make sure we're fighting for freedom of religion, I know that I'll be here.
I'm willing to bet that there are going to be three or four, half a dozen or maybe even dozens of Conservatives here shoulder to shoulder with me, because it's the least we can do out of respect for our ancestors and out of respect for all Canadians and all people in the world who fought for the freedom of religion. We will continue to do that, and I know that I will be here, come hell or high water.
It's very strange. I'm not here to argue, although my passion may make it seem that I am. I'm here to try to bring some reason. When Bill C-9 was introduced, I asked myself, “What's the purpose of this bill?” Everything the bill tries to do current laws could already do, so it was very interesting. It almost makes me wonder if the intent of this whole amendment backroom deal with the Bloc was to confuse Canadians so they wouldn't understand what the amendment was, because the amendment wasn't released until later. A lot of times, things like this happen among confusion, and it's very difficult.
I'm hoping we can make some clarifications on things, and I think we've made some clarifications tonight. You may say, “Jonathan, no, things are very clear.” We have a situation where the PMO, the Prime Minister's Office, said that the committee went rogue and made a backroom deal with the Bloc, yet they gave Marc Miller a promotion after saying the outrageous thing that a verse in the Bible should be considered a hate speech. I mean, he alluded to this and believes there are certain verses that could never be used in good faith. After that comment was made, he was promoted to cabinet minister.
How is that? How is that not in law...? You would not promote someone who went rogue. I find it very hard to believe that this was against the PMO's wishes. Also, what we saw here tonight was that a Bloc amendment was voted on. If it was a rogue agreement against the PMO, why was it voted on yesterday?
To me, that shows the need for Mr. Lawton's amendment, to make sure that freedom of religion is protected. It's very important that it is. I made a video and put it on my social media a while ago talking about and sounding the alarm on Bill C-9 and the Bloc amendment. What was interesting was that there was much confusion. People were saying, “Well, Jonathan, you're spreading conspiracies and you're spreading misinformation.” I'm thinking, “Gee, I wonder, am I?”
I looked in the mirror and I had a hard conversation with myself. Maybe I'm in the Conservative echo chamber. Maybe I'm on Parliament Hill every day and hearing the circle of the echo chamber, but then I see that we have 23 news articles and pretty well every one of them is against Bill C-9 in one way or the other or is raising alerts about Bill C-9, so I don't think I'm in the echo chamber.
I did manage to get this on paper, and I want to read it out. There are so many groups in Canada, the same groups that Bill C-9 and the amendment.... They say it's a Trojan Horse. We hear this bill is going to protect these groups and going to protect religious groups. The same religious groups that it says it's going to protect are the ones coming out against it.
We have a broad, nationwide coalition of religious, civil liberty, labour and community organizations that have mobilized against Bill C-9 and the proposed removal of the religious text exemption among faith groups. Dozens of Catholic dioceses and parishes, led by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, have issued coordinated calls to action, joined by multiple Jewish and Sikh advocacy groups and by 40-plus Muslim and Palestinian community organizations in joint statements, warning of threats to religious freedom and civil liberties. Multi-faith networks have also weighed in, with a cross-country coalition of more than 20 Christian, Muslim, Jewish and secular justice organizations signing a unified appeal to halt the bill.
Civil society opposition is equally extensive. A 37-member organization of civil liberties societies and a legal coalition led by the BC Civil Liberties Association have condemned Bill C-9 as a threat to protecting rights, academic freedom and due process, while national labour bodies, including major public sector unions, have warned that the bill will criminalize legitimate worker and community demonstrations. It's just mind-blowing. This is not just the Conservatives blowing the horn; this is the whole country speaking out.
I don't know how you can get here in this committee and say there's no need for Andrew Lawton's amendment to this bill. Then we see they're talking out of two sides of their mouths, saying that we don't need this and that it's okay because it's protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Well, if that's the case, if religious freedom is protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, why not have Andrew Lawton's amendment introduced? Why take out the religious exemption to begin with?
I will leave it there for today. Maybe I'll come back another day and express some more concerns.
Thank you very much, Chair, for having me.