c. 2004 Religion News Service

Harper Seeks Changes to Hate Laws

QUEBEC CITY, Quebec (RNS) Conservative leader Stephen Harper says laws protecting gays and lesbians from hate crimes need to be amended to allay the concerns of church groups and others who fear their freedom of expression and freedom of religion might be harmed.

“There have been questions raised that in protecting people against hate crimes, we may have gone too far in endangering freedom of religion or freedom of expression, and those concerns can be addressed fairly easily in my judgment, and they should be addressed,” Harper said in a campaign stop here June 7, the Globe and Mail reported. “But I am not going to repeal the law.”

Vic Toews, another Conservative political leader, has said he is concerned religious schools might lose public funds or their charitable status if they were to question the morality of homosexuality in their teachings. The law exempts religious texts from prosecution, but Toews said the protections need to be bolstered.

The object of the Conservatives’ concern is Bill C-250, which became law this spring. The legislation added “sexual orientation” to definitions of hate crimes, leading many Christian churches to fear it would stifle religious teachings on homosexuality and even ban the Bible as hate literature. Most Conservatives, including Harper, voted against it.

Harper’s comments came in response to a major attack from the Liberals on what they call his party’s social conservatism.

Muslims Urged to Vote on June 28

TORONTO (RNS) A leading Canadian Muslim organization has urged community members to cast their ballots in the June 28 federal election.

For the first time, the Canadian Islamic Congress issued an urgent plea this month to mosques to encourage the country’s 650,000 Muslims to cast ballots in the vote.

The CIC said it regretted that in the 2000 election, just 40 percent of eligible Muslims cast votes. It seeks an 80 percent turnout in this election.

“Many Canadian Muslims were born in countries where democracy is nonexistent, and I worry that some Muslims, especially young Muslims, will not vote,” CIC President Mohamed Elmasry wrote in the June 8 Globe and Mail.

Elmasry is criss-crossing the country to encourage Muslims to vote. “I explain that it is a religious, as well as civic, duty to vote. I quote from the Quran and the teachings of the Prophet. And I give examples from early Muslim history.”

He points out that 10 Muslims in three political parties are running for Parliament in this election. “Gone are the days when political parties thought it too risky to let Muslims run, believing that Canadians would not vote for them.”

High on the list of Muslim priorities are Canada’s anti-terrorist law, how to stop the deterioration of civil liberties in the country and how to safeguard Canadians, especially Canadian Muslims, against racial profiling.

Opposition to Sharia Tribunals Grows

TORONTO (RNS) Opposition to legal tribunals that would use Islamic law, or sharia, to settle civil and marriage disputes is growing, according to news reports.

“We’ve had a flood of e-mails from people, asking, `How can we help?”’ Alia Hogben, president of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, told the Toronto Star.

The establishment of sharia tribunals in Ontario has generated a steady stream of international media attention. Until last fall, when the courts were announced, no Western jurisdiction had allowed the 1,400-year-old body of Muslim religious law to take root inside its secular legal system.

Islamic women have expressed fear the panels will favor men, as sharia does in many instances involving divorce and custody of children. They have also expressed concern that Muslim women, especially immigrants, could be coerced into taking part in the tribunals or face family and community ostracism or worse.

On Thursday (June 10), a group called An Nisa, comprised of 10 local Muslim women who want a greater role in decision making, will meet in suburban Toronto to plan a course of action.

On June 26, the International Campaign Against Sharia Courts in Canada will hold a public meeting at a Toronto community center. And on Sept. 8, a series of international demonstrations will be held in cities across Canada as well as in Britain, Sweden, Germany, France and Finland, with other countries to be confirmed.

Jews Most Targeted for Hate Crimes

MONTREAL (RNS) Jews are the most frequent targets of hate crimes in Canada, followed by blacks and Muslims, according to Statistics Canada.

Of the 928 hate crimes reported to police in 2001 and 2002, one-quarter targeted Jews or, more frequently, their institutions. Blacks were victims in 17 percent of reported cases and Muslims in 11 percent, concludes the first national snapshot of hate crime in Canada.

The StatsCan figures were supplied by 12 major police forces in Canada.

Overall, the most common types of hate-crime violations were mischief or vandalism (29 percent), assault (25), uttering threats (20) or hate propaganda (13).

While religion was linked to 48 percent of incidents, it ranked second behind race and ethnicity as the primary motivator of these crimes. Visible minorities, which make up 13 percent of Canada’s population, are the victims of 57 percent of hate crimes, according to the study. Gays and lesbians were prey to 9 percent of all reported hate crimes, and incidents involving them were more likely to be violent and result in injury.

Only 2 percent of all hate crime incidents were tied to extremist groups, which tended to be white supremacists.

Experts say part of the rise in hate crimes in Canada is a reflection of world events, including tensions in the Middle East.

Ottawa to Move Ahead on Morning After Pill

OTTAWA (RNS) The federal government is going ahead with plans to make the “morning after pill” available without prescription across Canada, despite an appeal by the Catholic Organization for Life and Family.

Health Minister Pierre Pettigrew announced last month that Health Canada is moving to allow the pill to be sold nationwide without a doctor’s prescription. The pill is currently available without prescription only in British Columbia, Quebec and Saskatchewan. In early May, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rejected over-the-counter sales of the pill.

If taken within 72 hours of intercourse, the pill blocks pregnancy. But it won’t work if the user is already pregnant.

“Women facing an emergency need timely access to this type of therapy,” said Pettigrew. “Making the drug available in pharmacies without a prescription will help women to prevent unwanted pregnancies.”

Last November, COLF, a joint project of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Knights of Columbus, asked that a proposal to make the pill available without a prescription be reconsidered.

“Women have a right to know that what is described as `emergency contraception’ may in reality be a form of early abortion,” said the organization. “Pregnancy begins with conception, not implantation. It is thus inaccurate to refer to this pill as emergency contraception, given its potential to act as an abortifacient.”

Film About Gay Catholic Teen Rouses Ire

TORONTO (RNS) The offices of Tapestry Pictures, which released the television movie “Prom Queen,” about the efforts of a Catholic school to bar a gay student from bringing a same-sex date to his prom, were trashed last month.

Toronto police called in the hate-crimes unit to investigate after the offices of the production company were vandalized in late May. However, a spokesman for CTV (the Canadian television network) said it was possible the action was taken by environmental extremists because Tapestry also produced another recent CTV movie, “Burn: The Robert Wraight Story,” about the violent 1990s feud between an Alberta farmer and the province’s oil industry.

“Prom Queen,” which aired June 1, was “inspired” by the true story of Oshawa, Ontario, teen Marc Hall, who won an injunction in 2002 that allowed him to take his boyfriend to the prom at his Roman Catholic high school. Hall, who became a media celebrity at the time, is still involved in a legal battle designed to set a precedent that would prevent Catholic Church policy from overriding other gay students’ rights.

The case goes to trial in October, and both sides are already promising appeals should they lose.

Canadian Council of Churches Marks 60th Anniversary

TORONTO (RNS) The Canadian Council of Churches recently celebrated its 60th anniversary with an ecumenical prayer service at Yorkminster Park Baptist Church in Toronto, where the organization’s members first worshipped in 1944.

As part of its celebrations, the council’s Commission on Faith and Witness will organize a Forum on Ecumenical Dialogue in Ottawa for Oct. 4 to be attended by the Rev. Samuel Kobia, general secretary of the World Council of Churches.

The Canadian Council began in 1944 with 10 Christian denominations that aimed to cooperate on missions, service, religious education and evangelism. At the time, their adherents represented about 45 percent of the Canadian population.

Today the council represents a greater proportion of the Canadian population because of its wider membership. Roman Catholics alone account for 43 percent of the Canadian population.

The organization today represents 19 churches of Anglican, Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Protestant and Roman Catholic traditions.

It has lobbied governments on various issues, including the war in Iraq, anti-Semitism and the U.S. ballistic missile defense plan.

DEA/PH END CSILLAG