December could be designated Christian Heritage Month in Canada if Sarnia-Lambton MP Marilyn Gladu’s record of passing private member’s bills holds up.
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Gladu, who has two successful private member’s bills, introduced the new bill earlier this month in Parliament.
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“We need to return to that country that values everyone’s religion,” Gladu said.
“I just think that’s the kind of country everyone wants to be a part of — more love, less hate.”
She said a number of religions have formal calendar designations recognized by Parliament — including Sikh, Jewish, Islamic and Hindu heritage months — and she believes that’s also appropriate for Christianity “since over half of the country are Christians, per the census.”
“It’s the right month and it’s the right time,” Gladu said.
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About 19.3 million Canadians, 53 per cent of the population, identified as Christian in the 2021 Census, according to Statistics Canada. That’s down from 67.3 per cent in 2011 and 77.1 per cent in 2001.
Gladu, a Conservative MP, said she will ask Parliament on Tuesday to unanimously support the bill and if that isn’t successful, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said that if the party wins the next election a Christian Heritage Month will be designated.
While private member’s bills — legislation proposed by MPs who aren’t in cabinet — often don’t become law, a bill sponsored by Gladu to protect defined benefits pensions became law earlier this year.
Gladu also won passage in 2017 of a private member’s bill establishing a national framework for palliative care.
“I think it’s even more important to celebrate all the major faiths,” Gladu said. “We need to return to Canada that embraced everyone’s faith and learned about faith.”
Gladu said she was raised in the Baptist church and was a youth leader for 32 years.
Designated religious months are often used in schools as a “teaching opportunity,” Gladu said. “I think that promotes tolerance.”
Freedom of religion is “one of the prime freedoms that people want to project,” she said.
“This just balances it out because up to now everyone had a month but the Christians.”
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