SENATE Public Bill S-210 has completed its final stage in the House of Commons. Bill S-210, An Act to amend An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the Civil Marriage Act and the Criminal Code and to make consequential amendments to other acts, was introduced by Senator Mobina Jaffer in the Senate, and sponsored by John Aldag, MP for Cloverdale-Langley City in the House of Commons. The legislation passed unanimously at third reading in the House of Commons.

Bill S-210 removes the unnecessary and divisive short title “Barbaric Cultural Practices” from Bill S-7, which was introduced by the previous Conservative government. The passage of Bill S-210 reflects the importance of Canadian diversity and multiculturalism, said Jaffer and Aldag on Monday. The legislation will come in to force upon receiving royal assent.

Aldag said: “I am privileged to have had the opportunity to sponsor Bill S-210 in the House of Commons. All-party support for and passage of Bill S-210 reflects the importance of the language we use and is a clear rejection of the politics of fear and division.”

Jaffer said: “We can call terrorists barbaric, we can call violence barbaric, but we cannot call cultures barbaric. We have evolved philosophically and intellectually as a society and frankly should know better at this point in our evolution than to stir up old tactics of dividing cultures; that is very divisive in society. Bill S-210 will remove the short title.”