Opinion

Conversion Therapy Bill Flawed, but Fixable

3/14/2021|Updated: 3/14/2021

Commentary

Parliament needs to find the courage to stand up for Canadians’ fundamental freedoms instead of allowing Bill C-6 to trample them. While the intent of the bill to criminalize harmful practices under the banner of “conversion therapy” is right and good, the effect of the legislation would go much further, devastating fundamental freedoms such as the freedom of religion and conscience, freedom of assembly, and freedom of expression.

Andrew Bennett

Author

The Rev. Dr. Andrew P.W. Bennett is Director of the Cardus Religious Freedom Institute and Cardus's Director of Faith Community Engagement. He is an ordained deacon in the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in the Eparchy (Diocese) of Toronto and Eastern Canada. He holds a Ph.D. in Politics (2002) from the University of Edinburgh as well as degrees in history from McGill and Dalhousie universities. Fr. Deacon Andrew served as Canada's first Ambassador for Religious Freedom and led the Office of Religious Freedom from 2013 to 2016 in defending and championing religious freedom internationally as a core element of Canada's foreign policy. He simultaneously served as Canada's Head of Delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance -a 31-country body which leads international efforts in Holocaust education, research, and remembrance.