Mr. Speaker, the third petition I table today is from people in Nova Scotia. The petitioners call upon the government to return to its previous policy of allowing holy books to be made available to new citizens at citizenship ceremonies around the country.
The petitioners note that a citizenship judge terminated this policy, alleging that the policy discriminated against non-religious immigrants. Up until last year, holy books were simply displayed on tables at the back of the hall or gymnasium, free for new citizens to take. The new citizens were not handed the books. They were not forced to take them. The citizenship judge produced no evidence to justify his inappropriate decision to ban the availability of holy books.
They ask that the Citizenship Commission return to the previous policy, which has served our multicultural nation so very well over a number of years.