Hear Ye, Hear Ye! Revenge of the Unrequited.

"Discrimination against religious minorities in Canada is grounded in Canada's history of colonialism."

"An obvious example is statutory holidays in Canada. [Where the Christian holidays of Christmas and Easter are officially recognized with 'days off' while non-Christians have to] request special accommodations to observe their holy days."

"In order to move forward toward sustainable change, all Canadians must first acknowledge Canada's history of religious intolerance."

"[A statutory holiday on December 25] may adversely affect non-Christians, some of whom may therefore need to seek out special accommodations to observe their own faith holy days."

Canadian Human Rights Commission: Discussion Paper on Religious Intolerance 

"Keep Christ in Christmas."

"For Christians around the world, this is a time to celebrate the life and teachings of Jesus Christ -- and his message of compassion, courage and empathy."

(Sikh) NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh

Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images

 

The uber-progressive Canadian Human Rights Commission has spoken, and ruled Canada to be a 'racist' country, more or less reflecting the position taken by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who has unleashed on Canadians 'woke' issues and ideologies such as obligatory DEI training, racial and gender diversity,  intersectionality, trans-inclusionary feminism, identitarian moralism, and more. All of which is just too precious, and being forced on the public, most of which is disinterested and quite happy with Canada as it is.

 

The paper published by the human rights group avers Canada's racism in its reflection of the country as a majority Christian country, yet Canadian law supports the free exercise of all religions and has done so since before Confederation, where in the 19th century most religious majority countries had no such minority-protective religious law. In very fact, non-Christian religions with freedom to worship have been established in Canada for the past century.

 

The Al-Rashid Mosque in Alberta was built in 1938 and financial support disproportionately was donated by the non-Muslims living in the area. In 1908 Vancouver, Canada's first Sikh temple was opened as an "inter-religious space where non-Sikhs also held executive positions", according to the Vancouver Heritage Foundation. As for the Jewish community; the oldest Jewish congregation in Canada dates to 1768 in Montreal.

On 11 April 1807, Ezekiel Hart, a Jew, was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada (Quebec) over three other candidates, obtaining 59 out of the 116 votes cast. Jewish settlement in Canada dates back over 300 years, and while up until the first third of the 20th Century antisemitism was rife, Jews found their place in the country, a country where they were able to enjoy a level of security totally absent throughout Europe. 

 

A tree is adorned with Christmas lights on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Photo by Tony Caldwell / Files /Postmedia Network

The Colonial Province of Canada in 1851 enacted the Freedom of Worship Act, protecting "free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference". The exception to Canada's record on religious tolerance was a movement meant to eradicate traditional Indigenous spiritualism in favour of Christianity, and to the present day, most Canadian First Nations, while staunchly Christian, also practise traditional spiritualism.

For the Canadian Human Rights Commission, Canada's is an "identity as a settler colonial state", in full expression of their progressive wokeism. Created in 1977 to enforce the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Commission exercises its mandate through the quasi-judicial Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, funded by the federal government to the tune of $32 million annually. It has adapted itself recently into the "anti-racism" doctrine that legal equality is ineffective since outcomes disproportionately affecting one group over another must reflect a product of "systemic racism".

All roads lead to the discussion paper which cites Christmas holidays, as a statutory form of "religious intolerance", constituting a "form of discrimination". This is a position supported as well by the Ontario Human Rights Commission which refers to Canada's statutory celebration of Christmas as an example of "systemic faithism". Both commissions have the power to enforce sanctions and exact penalties against employers it deems to have engaged in "discrimination".

Interestingly enough, a Leger poll from a year ago asked people with grew up as non-Christians in Canada, whether they felt it to be offensive when hearing the seasonal "Merry Christmas" greeting -- 92 percent of those questioned responded 'No'. In the same poll Canadians of all religions were asked whether Christmas and other 'religious' holidays should be struck from official statutory holidays and a mere six percent responded, 'yes'.