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This week I spent some time reading through the new Protect Christians Canada website, a project launched by Conservative MP Jamil Jivani with support from several other CPC MPs. At first glance it looks like a defense of religious freedom, but look beyond the surface and you find something else entirely.
The language is familiar. Christians are framed as under siege. Their “values” are under attack from what the site calls “radical ideologies” and “extreme agendas.” Their children are supposedly endangered by schools that teach respect for 2SLGBTQIA+ identities or offer gender-affirming support. Their faith, we are told, is being marginalized by laws that protect reproductive rights and equality.
What is being advanced here is not religious freedom, which is already guaranteed by Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. What is being advanced is what I’m calling religious supremacism, the belief that one narrow, political interpretation of Christianity should define our laws, our schools, our families, and our futures. Others may call this Christian Nationalism, but to me that is a misnomer. It is not about Christianity in its truest form.
This isn’t Christianity in the spirit of Jesus’ teachings. It isn’t about loving your neighbour, feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, or protecting the vulnerable. It is faith weaponized into a political cudgel. It cherry-picks scripture, strips it of context, and uses it to justify the exclusion of queer people, the denial of reproductive autonomy, and the silencing of dissent.
While reading through the site, I couldn’t help but be reminded of something much closer to home. Â鶹AV’s very own MLA, Kristina Loewen, loudly lamented the removal of a “Keep Christ in Christmas” sign from a nativity scene on public property last December. As though the removal of a slogan from taxpayer-funded land was a blow to her freedom of belief. That kind of grievance, insisting that not being privileged above others is somehow persecution, is exactly the kind of narrative this movement thrives on.
It is also profoundly dangerous to democracy.
We have seen in the United States where this leads. When Christian Nationalism, or more precisely authoritarian moralism, gains a foothold it undermines the foundations of pluralism. It turns the promise of equality into a zero sum game where rights for others are framed as losses for the majority. It inflames fear. It polarizes communities. It erodes the institutions that are supposed to protect everyone, not just those in power.
We already see the consequences here. Rising hate crimes against 2SLGBTQIA+ Canadians. Escalating attacks on trans youth and their families. Protests outside abortion clinics. The targeting of inclusive educators. When MPs in our own Parliament cloak this agenda in the language of “protection,” they are not protecting democracy. They are protecting privilege.
Christians in Canada are not oppressed. They are the religious majority. Their churches operate freely, their schools are funded in many provinces, their holidays and traditions are woven into the fabric of our public life. What is under threat are the hard-won rights of those who don’t fit into their rigid vision of what a Canadian should be.
We should call this what it is, a movement to impose a theocratic politics on a secular, pluralistic country.
There is nothing wrong with faith. In fact, when practiced with humility and care it can enrich public life. But faith ceases to be faith when it becomes a weapon used to dominate others. The irony is that the very freedoms they claim to defend are the ones they would deny to everyone else if given the chance.
Canada is not immune to the forces that have already hollowed out democratic norms south of the border. What we are seeing in Protect Christians Canada is not a defensive posture but an offensive campaign to roll back equality, to delegitimize diversity, and to take power.
And if you want a curated and growing list of Canadian churches that want to be free to practice discrimination, look no further than their own website.
If we care about democracy, we cannot look away.
What they call a shield is actually a sword. And what they claim is persecution is really just accountability in a society that refuses to be governed by one group’s beliefs.
We don’t need more slogans about protecting Christians. We need more courage to protect everyone, including Christians, from the tyranny of the few who mistake their privilege for righteousness.
We can’t let them write our laws or our future in their own narrow image.
The work of democracy is to ensure that no one group, no matter how loud or pious, gets to decide who belongs.
- Wilbur Turner, LL.D. (Hon.)
~ Wilbur Turner is a political strategist and community advocate based in Â鶹AV, British Columbia, with deep roots in Alberta. With experience on the ground in federal and municipal campaigns, and a passion for civic engagement, Turner offers sharp, accessible insight into the political and social issues shaping our region and country. He was selected by the University of British Columbia for an Honorary Doctor of Laws for his significant contribution to the community. He also writes articles as QueerGranddad on Substack.
