- On Jan 29th, 2021, Parliament passed Bill C-4, an act which has been devised to prevent conversion therapy, and which received royal assent on December 8th, 2021 and was enacted on January 7th, 2022. The news has alarmed followers of divine religions that forbid homosexuality, especially Muslims. Many Muslim-community activists have raised their concerns with government officials in to learn what the law is really about and its criminalisation process, especially that parents and clergy care about sharing opinions.
President of the Canadian Muslim Forum Samer Majzoub has written Justice Minister and Attorney General of Canada David Lametti, whose ministry has legislated Bill C-4. Responding to Majzoub’s concerns, Lametti confirmed that “Bill C-4 does not prevent parents from discussing issues relating to sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression with their children,” but that “this legislation criminalises causing another person to undergo conversion therapy, removing a minor from Canada to undergo such therapy abroad, profiting from conversion therapy and advertising or promoting conversion therapy.”
In a commentary, Lawyer William Kharbotly confirms that “the law doesn’t prevent clergy from showing religious perspectives or their own opinions in this regard. Parents, too, are given the constitutional right to raise their children according to their norms, traditions and faith, on condition that no harm is done to children.”
Minister Lametti: “A mere conversation between parents and children would not be considered a practice, treatment or service unless…”
Justice Minister Lametti’s letter to Majzoub reads:
“Dear Mr Majzoub,
Thank you for your correspondence concerning Bill C-4, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (conversion therapy).
I hope you will understand that, as Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, I cannot comment on the application of the law to specific circumstances. Nonetheless, I can provide you with general information.
I wish to assure you that Bill C-4, which received Royal Assent on December 8, 2021, and came into force on January 7, 2022, does not prevent parents from discussing issues relating to sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression with their children.
This legislation criminalises causing another person to undergo conversion therapy, removing a minor from Canada to undergo such therapy abroad, profiting from conversion therapy and advertising or promoting conversion therapy. It also defines conversion therapy as any practice, treatment or service that is designed to make a person conform to heteronormative or cisnormative standards, provided that the intervention is based on the false assumption that a particular sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression is preferable to another.”
Lametti’s letter also states, “As I explained when I appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights during its study of former Bill C-6, which proposed a conversion therapy definition that is substantively the same as that enacted by Bill C-4, the terms practice, treatment, or service imply an established or formalised intervention. A mere conversation, including those between parents and children, would not be considered a practice, treatment or service unless it formed part of a formalised intervention.”
Lametti eventually stated that “these reforms carefully target interventions that cause harm to LGBTQ2+ individuals and communities by telling them that they should change a fundamental part of who they are.”
Samer Majzoub: reassured to a good extent
Having received the justice minister’s letter, Samer Majzoub is “reassured to a good extent” that the law will not target parents who calmly discuss such issues and what goes against their creed with their children. Likewise, Majzoub says the law doesn’t target clergy who discuss religious views; federal law gives them the right to preaching and promoting religious teachings.
Lawyer William Kharbotly: Bill C-4 doesn’t prevent clergy from showing religious jurisprudence or their opinions
After Lametti’s letter, Sada al-Mashrek has asked Lawyer William Kharbotly whether the law prevents Muslim clergy from explaining religious jurisprudence concerning homosexuality or sexual indecency. Kharbotly confirms again that “This law doesn’t prevent clergy delivering sermons, like Friday’s, from showing their opinions or explaining religious jurisprudence. That’s because such sermons are not considered part of the programmes meant to provide ‘therapy’ for people who want to change their sexual orientations or who believe they are homosexuals. After all, clergy discuss general teachings, and their right is constitutionally maintained.”
Kharbotly adds that “When it comes to parents, too, their right to raise their children according to their norms, traditions and faith is protected by the Constitution as long as that doesn’t affect the children’s best interest. But the question is: What’s in children’s best interest? There is no working definition for this, and every case might be interpreted differently. I confirm, however, that parents are not targeted by this law, as the justice minister has clearly mentioned.”
Kharbotly finally says “In brief, we shouldn’t offer transgender or homosexual people any therapy-like programmes.”