Ottawa, Canada: April 5, 2012. (PCP) On April 2nd, 2012, MP David Anderson (Cypress Hill-Grasslands) hosted the Second Parliamentary Forum on Religious Freedom and Governance. The forum was attended by a plethora of community leaders from various cultural and religious backgrounds, as well as members of parliament and others. Speakers included Robert Joustra, Cardus Editor and Researcher; Michael Van Pelt, President of Cardus; and Brian Lilley, Host of Byline on Sun News Network. The panelists for the evenings discussions were MP Scott Reid (Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington), Mario Silva (2013 Chair of the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research), MP Bob Dechert (Mississauga-Erindale, and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs), and Imam Mohamad Jebara (Founder of the Cordova Academy). The panelists informed the attendees on the need for religious freedom to be implemented through governance, specifically given the success of Canadian internal policies which have led to unity among people from all different cultural and religious backgrounds in Canada; as well as their own experiences and research on religious discrimination and persecution, and how restrictions on religious freedom in countries leads to the breakdown of other human rights and freedoms. The forum’s opening remarks were made by Peter Bhatti, Chairman International Christian Voice; who detailed martyr Shahbaz Bhatti’s lifelong efforts in promoting religious freedom, a cause for which he gave his own life. Bhatti also gave examples of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan where there are extensive and fatal legal restrictions on the ability of minority religious groups to practice freely. Bhatti followed this by discussing what Canada can do to help promote religious freedom around the world; through joint ventures with like-minded countries such as the United States and Great Britain, and by holding countries with poor human rights records accountable with tougher sanctions. Bhatti also said that governments must enforce impartiality in their protection of human rights by not choosing one community religious or cultural over another. Bhatti said that religious freedom has both common and individual consequences and therefore states must protect the rights of individuals to live according to their faith while also defending the rights of their communities. There was a strong show of support from the Pakistani Christian community at this forum; with many persons both attending and participating in the Q&A period with the panel, including members of the International Christian Voice Executive: Reuben & Eliza Charles, Vincent & Phoebe Samuel. Members of the Pakistani Christian community who attended the event are Serena Samuel, Tabassum Iqbal, Shahbaz Sindhu, Amber Obeid, Nadeem Akhtar and Raymond Dhurrani.