Mr. Speaker, I rise on behalf of the good people of Abbotsford—South Langley, who have put forward this petition about the troubling proposal of the Liberal and Bloc amendments to Bill C-9 that would put the religious freedoms of Canadians at risk.
Petitioners are deeply troubled that the amendment would remove the good faith religious defence from the Criminal Code of Canada, which would lead to the criminalization of passages from the Bible, from the Quran, from the Guru Granth Sahib, from the Torah and from other sacred texts and expose individuals to prosecution when expressing sincerely held religious beliefs that the government may deem offensive.
According to this, the Government of Canada is being called on to withdraw Bill C-9, to protect religious freedoms and to defend the right to read and share sacred texts free from the government's interference.