The Commons Justice committee in a report to Parliament suggested creating a federal task force to protect religious freedoms in Canada.According to Blacklock’s Reporter, one MP said that Canadians should have the freedom to attend Hebrew schools or participate in menorah lighting ceremonies without facing harassment or discrimination.“There is a timeliness to all of this,” Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman (Thornhill, ON) told the justice committee. “All of those who are going to attend afternoon prayers or church during the holidays, I want them to know Ottawa is talking about how to keep those institutions safe.”“Without freedom of religion, without freedom of movement, without the freedom of speech, there actually is no freedom in this country,” said Lantsman.The Justice committee report Measures to Protect Canadians recommended cabinet “create an Anti-Hate Crime Task Force to coordinate the protection of faith communities.” Cabinet should also blacklist the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code, “expel the estimated 700 Iranian agents operating in Canada” and establish a public registry of foreign agents, it said.“A lot of these things are things we all agree on,” said Liberal MP Anthony Housefather (Mount Royal, QC), former chair of the Justice committee. Local police “often do not know how to deal properly” with incidents like anti-Semitic street protests, he said.“As somebody who was just in a building that had a Molotov cocktail thrown at it one-and-a-half hours after we left the building, I understand how communities throughout this country are terrorized, are afraid,” said Housefather. “I have people in my riding who are afraid to send their kids to school.”Since the October 7 killing and kidnapping of Jews in Israel, MPs have documented a series of anti-Semitic incidents across the country.The Justice committee report comes in response to a series of incidents, including gunfire outside a Jewish home in Winnipeg, street protests that targeted Jewish shopkeepers in Toronto, and attempted firebomb attacks on Jewish kindergartens and synagogues in Montreal.“These shameful acts have one goal, to terrorize Canadians,” said Conservative MP Rob Moore (Fundy Royal, NB), sponsor of the motion that prompted the Measures to Protect Canadians report. “This cannot be tolerated. All Canadians must be able to freely live their lives and follow their dreams without fear and without intimidation.”“Verbal abuse, vandalism, hate, intimidation and violence acts, these acts must never stand in our country,” said Moore. “In recent years we have seen communities face intimidation and threats by nefarious foreign actors. We have seen Jewish schools shot at and synagogues firebombed.”“We have seen churches burn down,” said Moore. “We have seen Sikhs face harassment and discrimination. We have seen innocent Muslims murdered in their places of worship.”
