21 Feb 2013 Established: A Canadian Office of Religious Freedom

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the establishment of a Canadian Office of Religious Freedom, appointing as our first Ambassador for Religious Freedom, Dr. Andrew Bennett. 

This announcement took a long time in coming; the Office is both humanitarian and political and the appointment of an ambassador took nearly two years to finalize. ARPA participated in the initial consultations by providing a short statement on what the office should look like. You can see a PDF copy of that linked below.

We wish Dr. Bennett God’s blessing in his new role. The task is difficult and complex. Yet there is a great need for religious freedom around the globe, especially for Christians, but also for all other faith groups. Canada has a moral duty to loudly object to such persecution, and impose sanctions if necessary. For more commentary, see the discussion of our friends at Cardus here and here.