Republican lawmakers voted on a resolution urging the US Commission on International Religious Freedom to put Canada on its religious freedom watch list for violating Canadians’ rights.
Having routinely violated the religious freedoms of Canadians, Republican Stoltzfus said it’s long overdue to condemn Canada and put it on a religious freedom watch list, adding that the Trudeau government’s behaviour is “very similar to what we see in Communist-controlled China.”
“While Ohio has stood up for religious freedom and protected the right to attend religious services, it is clear Canada has not done the same,” Stoltzfus said.
He added that, under the Trudeau government, religious leaders were persecuted and jailed, and he hopes that this resolution sends a strong message to the Trudeau government.
Republican Representative Tim Ginter, who also supported the resolution, further stated that the persecution of religious leaders is indicative of a pattern of behaviour.
“This resolution is not the result of a singular incident or even a handful of incidents. It’s a persistent pattern of religious rights violations that has driven us to this point,” Ginter said.
Indeed, not only were religious leaders persecuted under the guise of public health, but an Albertan pastor, Artur Pawlowski, was actually banned from collecting physical mail by the Canada Post after he was arrested for violating COVID restrictions.
And besides jailing and limiting pastors’ rights, the Trudeau government did nothing regarding rampant church burnings and stoked the passions of misguided, if not outright malicious Indigenous rights activists. In fact, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service failed to mention church burnings even once in their 2021 annual public report, even though the at least 58 attacks on churches clearly meet the criteria to be considered ideologically motivated violent extremism.
Much like their Canadian counterparts, despite the numerous human rights violations, American Democrats are, of course, against the resolution, saying Ohio shouldn’t focus on issues outside its jurisdiction.
