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As 2018 winds down, the EFC is gearing up – with your help – to again speak biblical principles of truth and compassion into several areas of concern for Canadian Evangelicals. When you donate and pray for the EFC, you become an active agent of change in these crucial areas. We are so thankful for your participation.
There are five strategic areas of concentration that the EFC has long focused on: Religious Freedom, Church and Mission, Family and Community, Care for the Vulnerable and the Sanctity of Life. These areas help direct the activities that you empower with your prayers and financial sacrifices. Here’s a quick recap on what your support has enabled us to do recently, and what we will be working on in the coming weeks.
The EFC made a written submission and an oral presentation to the House of Commons justice committee on Bill C-75 in September. Among other things, Bill C-75 would allow some serious offences related to human trafficking, sexual exploitation, infanticide and assault of clergy to be considered as relatively minor summary conviction offences.
We argued that the laws in place for protecting clergy should remain rigorous. We also argued that human trafficking-related offences be maintained as serious offences.
The EFC’s brief also includes commentary on removing the Criminal Code provisions on abortion which were struck down by the Supreme Court in 1988. The EFC reminded the committee that Canada has no criminal laws regulating or prohibiting abortion, and that we are the only Western nation and one of the few in the world without any legal restrictions on abortion. “The courts have said that protection of the foetus is a legitimate legislative objective and should be pursued. There is a role for the legislature in protecting the foetus and in clearly defining its legal standing.”
The EFC will also be continuing our interactions on medical assistance in dying (MAID) as Canada studies expanding access to mature minors and individuals for whom mental illness is the sole underlying medical condition. These questions, and whether to allow advance requests for MAID, will be discussed in a Council of Canadian Academies report to Parliament in December.
The practices of euthanasia and assisted suicide are fraught with risk, particularly for the vulnerable, as we have always argued. Our review of studies of the effectiveness of safeguards used to protect people particularly vulnerable to MAID indicates that no safeguards are completely effective. We will continue to speak into the developments surrounding MAID as they arise, repeating our message of the sanctity of all life.
As we wrote in our brief to the Council of Canadian Academies: “It is essential that very strict safeguards be put and kept in place to minimize the harm to our societal commitment to the respect for life and to protect the vulnerable; both those made vulnerable because of a grievous medical condition and those whose vulnerability pre-existed any grievous medical condition.”
Meanwhile, our work on the Canada Summer Jobs file has continued full throttle throughout the fall and early winter. This story is not over yet. The community of church- and faith-based ministry organizations in Canada – led in part by the EFC and our efforts – has had an impact on the government’s thinking on this file. We are waiting, along with you, to see what will happen next and tweak our strategy as we seek to reinstate fair access to government benefits for all citizens.
In the work we do, there are wins and there are losses. And always, there is being faithful. That is what we are called to do, and what we are able to do because of your partnership.
How you can be even more involved:
- Read more about Bill C-75 at TheEFC.ca/C75 and contact your MP to discuss it. Encourage them – say that you are cheering them on – even as you exhort them.
- Sign up for our weekly EFC Update emails if you don’t already receive them, so you can receive new information on this and other issues as they happen. You can sign up right at the bottom of the home page TheEFC.ca.
- Please continue to pray for these and all the issues you help the EFC be involved with.
Also in this issue: The difference research makes - Update from Rick Hiemstra on Renegotiating Faith
; EFC leaders gather on Presidents Day; A movie your church can use to spark conversations; Updating you on Canada’s most immediate issues; Message from the president; EFC ambassadors working for you; At the parliamentary forum on religious freedom; And more.