By Brian Dryden, Canadian Catholic News
[Ottawa – CCN] – Calls by some Conservative MPs for the federal government to reopen an office dedicated to advocating for religious freedom around the globe come as this year marks the 10th anniversary of the murder of a Pakistani politician whose death continues to be mourned by Catholics, Christians and religious freedom advocates around the world.
Pakistani Minister for Minority Affairs Clement Shahbaz Bhatti _. who was the only Christian in the Pakistani cabinet at the time _ was murdered on March 2, 2011, after numerous threats to his life had been made. He was killed by an organization that claimed that he had committed blasphemy. After his death Bhatti was put forward for beatification within the Catholic Church in Pakistan and he became a Servant of God within the Roman Catholic Church.
Conservative MPs Garnett Genuis and Candice Bergen have both called on the federal government to reopen an Office of Religious Freedom, a short-lived office that was created by the previous Stephen Harper government but which was shuttered and replaced by a more general human rights office by the Liberals soon after they formed government in 2015.
In a special video remembrance by Genuis, the Alberta MP said during a March 3 video prepared for the Religious Freedom Institute that Bhatti’s legacy is a shining example of someone who lived by his principles and sacrificed his life for the good of others by insisting that religious freedom and religious minority rights are fundamental core values that must be protected.
“As a politician, I often reflect on the legacy of Shahbaz and others for the example they set of being willing to sacrifice for fundamental principles in defense of human dignity, pluralism and human rights,” Genuis said, adding it was a visit by Bhatti to Canada that was one of the inspirations that originally led the previous Harper federal government to create the short-lived Office of Religious Freedom.
Genuis, who named one of his sons after Bhatti, said the Pakistani lawmaker stayed true to his principles even though he knew he was putting himself in danger.
“That is an example that all of us in public life should reflect on,” Genuis said.
Bergen, who is the Conservative party’s deputy leader, told the National Post newspaper in a statement that “reports coming out of Pakistan of Christian and Hindu girls being abducted, raped, forced into marriages and coerced to convert from their faith are deeply concerning and need to be addressed,” adding that she calls on “the Prime Minister to re-establish the Office of Religious Freedoms and resolve to work with our allies to end these religious persecutions.”
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