Over 60 faith leaders and organizations in Canada have signed a letter addressed to The Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, concerning the removal of section 176 from the Criminal Code of Canada, as proposed under Clause 14 of Bill C-51, “An Act to Amend the Criminal Code and the Department of Justice Act and to Make Consequential Amendments to Another Act”. The interfaith letter was co-authored by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, and the Association for Reformed Political Action. Representatives from a variety of faith traditions have endorsed the letter, including from the Sikh, Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and Buddhist traditions.

The Conference also intervened on 30 October 2017 concerning Clause 14 of Bill C-51, which included a written submission to the House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, followed by oral presentations before the Standing Committee by the Most Reverend Lionel Gendron, P.S.S., Bishop of Saint-Jean-Longueuil and President of the CCCB and His Eminence Thomas Cardinal Collins, Archbishop of Toronto, with the assistance of Mr. Bruce F. Simpson, a partner specialized in criminal law with Barnes Sammon LLP.
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Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has announced the cancellation of the contracts of all part-time non-Christian chaplains ministering in federal prisons across Canada. The cuts take effect as of the end of March 2013. After that date, penitentiary inmates of minority faiths, from Buddhists to Wiccans, will have to rely on full-time Christian chaplains for interfaith services, religious counsel and spiritual guidance.
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A letter from Rt. Rev. Rodney Andrews (Anglican bishop of Saskatoon), Rev. Cynthia Halmarson (ELCIC bishop of the Saskatchewan Synod) and Most. Rev. Albert LeGatt (Roman Catholic bishop of Saskatoon) has been sent to the editor of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix. The letter addresses the living conditions at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre, a prison and detention centre operated by the Province of Saskatchewan. The issues raised in the letter have been brought to the attention of the churches and the community by the chaplains serving at the correctional centre.
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