Articles

Traduit de l'anglais par François Godbout Récemment, toute une série de conséquences sociales et mentales négatives ont été imputées aux réseaux sociaux. Partout dans le monde, des écoles interdisent les téléphones afin d'empêcher l'accès aux réseaux sociaux. Comment les réseaux sociaux influencent-ils la formation religieuse de nos jeunes, et comment ceux qui s'occupent de nos jeunes les utilisent-ils dans leur ministère ? Pour répondre à ces deux dernières questions, nous n

Traduit de l'anglais par François Godbout Alors que les élèves ont repris le chemin de l'école il y a quelques mois, de nombreux conseils scolaires à travers le pays ont interdit l'utilisation des médias sociaux et des téléphones intelligents en classe. L'engouement de la société pour les médias sociaux est en train de se refroidir. Entre-temps, l'AEC a entamé une étude approfondie avec 10 affiliés partenaires et Alpha Canada sur la manière dont les médias sociaux affectent l

Imagine being the parents of a 13-year-old girl who is pressured to send the boy she likes an intimate video of herself. Imagine she discovers the video has been uploaded to pornography sites and viewed hundreds of thousands of times. Imagine she drops out of school and her social circle, becoming fearful, anxious, thinking about ending her life. This isn’t just imagination. The girl’s name is Serena Fleites, and she is just one of many. There are real people in vulnerable mo

The EFC is launching a free Saturday morning workshop series called Faith Matters: Current Issues Facing the Canadian Church. The first one will be held June 8 at Kanata Baptist Church. Register today to hear either one of these presentations followed by a light lunch: MAiD in Canada: A matter of life and death Presenter: Dr. David Guretzki, EFC President and Resident Theologian How did we get here and what changes are happening with Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD)? Why sh

A committee of MPs has just released a report on their study of the Canada Summer Jobs program. The EFC made a written submission to the committee last October. In its brief, the EFC noted that the grant program helps many churches and faith-based groups hire youth to serve their community. This is a vital program that has a positive impact for many churches and faith-based organizations. Some, however, feel they are being flagged for review due to their religious beliefs.

The Hon. Arif Virani Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Dear Minister, We are writing to highlight the recent Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision in CASWLR v. Attorney General of Canada, which found all the provisions of Canada’s prostitution laws to be constitutional. The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) acted as an intervener in this case in support of the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA). We argued that buying sex is

Dear Minister, We’d like to thank you for your service to all Canadians. Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada are important and demanding portfolios. We appreciate the time and commitment they require.  We are grateful that the government is seeking to hold online platforms accountable for hosting and distributing child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) and for the non-consensual distribution of intimate images (NCDII) as part of its planned online harms legislati

The EFC and the World Evangelical Alliance have again jointly submitted a brief in the United Nations Universal Periodic Review of human rights in Canada. (See the previous EFC/WEA submission from 2017.) Our 2023 UPR stakeholders report provides information to the international community on how Canada is meeting its human rights obligations and makes recommendations on how Canada can promote and protect human rights in Canada in the areas of: protection of persons with disabi

A private member’s bill would change references to “child pornography” in the Criminal Code to the more accurate term “child sexual abuse material.” MP Mel Arnold introduced Bill C-291 in the House of Commons on June 17, 2022. The term “child pornography” is inaccurate and harmful. Sexually explicit images and videos depicting children are child sexual exploitation, assault and abuse. Terms like “child pornography” risk normalizing, trivializing and legitimizing the sexual

Dear Mr. Mel Arnold, MP, Thank you for taking the initiative to introduce Bill C-291. The words we use matter. The term “child pornography” is not just inaccurate, it’s harmful. Using the term “pornography” in the context of children infers that the child is a willing participant when in fact they are the victim of a horrific crime. Sexually explicit images and videos depicting children cannot be considered “pornography” – they are child sexual exploitation, assault and ab

Mr. Arnold Viersen, MP House of Commons Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6 Dear Mr. Viersen, Thank you for taking the initiative to introduce Bill C-270, Stopping Internet Sexual Exploitation Act. Children and youth face devastating, lifelong consequences when images of their abuse and exploitation are streamed and distributed. Commercial pornography sites must be held responsible to ensure exploitative and non-consensual images are not uploaded and that they are swiftly removed once discov

Bill C-270 would require those making or distributing pornographic material for a commercial purpose to verify the age and consent of each person depicted. It would also make it illegal to distribute pornographic material if the person depicted has withdrawn their consent. Bill C-270, known as the Stopping Internet Sexual Exploitation Act (SISE), is a private member’s bill introduced by MP Arnold Viersen on April 28, 2022. The SISE Act would implement the second recommendat

UPDATE: The new bill to ban conversion therapy, Bill C-4, received royal assent Dec. 8 and passed into law January 7, 2022. It was rushed through both the House of Commons and Senate in just over a week, a process that usually takes months. The EFC is preparing an analysis of the bill’s impact. This bill is similar to the previous ban, proposed in former Bill C-6, which died at the election call. Bill C-4 extends beyond the previous ban by, among other changes, proposing a ba

Commercial pornography sites that knowingly profit from sexual abuse and exploitation, like Pornhub, must be held accountable. An EFC submission to the Parliamentary Ethics Committee. Download the pdf of the EFC’s nine-page submission. Related resources Bill S-203: Restricting online pornography Bill C-219: Sexual exploitation penalty

Bill S-211 is a private member’s bill in the Senate that would require large corporations to report on what they are doing to make sure their supply chains are free of slavery, forced labour or child labour. The EFC supports this effort to reduce forced and child labour and to raise awareness about human trafficking. This bill, originally introduced in the previous parliament, has been re-introduced in the current parliament. EFC letter of support to Senator sponsoring Bill S

Bill C-219 is a private member’s bill that would increase the penalty for sexual exploitation of a young person in a relationship of dependency or a person with a disability. It would also amend the Criminal Code to consider it an aggravating circumstance at sentencing if a victim of sexual exploitation had a mental or physical disability. Bill C-219 was introduced by MP John Nater on February 25, 2020. It was reintroduced in 2021 and made it to second reading in April. It wa