Canadian Bishops' Criticism Rejected

Jason Kenney, Canada’s minister of citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism, fired back at Canada’s bishops after they criticized his recently introduced bill against human smuggling. The views expressed by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops’ justice and peace commission in a letter on Nov. 25 reflect a “long tradition of ideological bureaucrats who work for the bishops’ conference producing political letters signed by pastors who may not have specialized knowledge in certain areas of policy,” Kenney said. He added that the bishops’ intervention underscores the reason why “the church makes the detailed application of moral principles in public policy the prudential responsibility” of lay professionals. The bishops warned that the act might contravene international and Cana-dian law concerning the rights of refugees and reminded Kenney that national security interests should not trump human dignity.