Canadian Human Rights Commission Report Says Christmas a ‘Discriminatory’ Holiday

People make their way along a Christmas-decorated Sparks Street in Ottawa on Dec. 6, 2022. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

A new report from Canada’s human rights watchdog says Christmas is a discriminatory holiday rooted in “colonialism.”

The Oct. 23 report from the Canadian Human Rights Commission called Canada’s celebration of Jesus’s birth “an obvious example” of “systemic religious discrimination.”

“Statutory holidays related to Christianity including Christmas and Easter are the only Canadian statutory holidays linked to religious holy days,” says the report titled “Discussion Paper On Religious Intolerance,” as first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter.

“As a result non-Christians may need to request special accommodation to observe their holy days and other times of the year where their religion requires them to abstain from work.”

The commission points to Canada’s “identity as a settler colonial state” as a chief reason for its “religious intolerance.”

Christmas celebrations date back nearly 400 years in Canada. The religious holiday was widely celebrated in what is now known as Quebec, with French colonists commemorating Christmas with a special midnight mass as far back as 1645, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia.

The commission’s report goes on to say that if Canada wants to “end religious intolerance,” the nation must understand “how it persists, in what kinds of structures or practices it shows up and how it affects people’s lives.”

“No one is free until we are all free,” the report reads. “Many societies including our own have been constructed in a way that places value on certain traits or identities to the exclusion of others, for example white, male, Christian, English-speaking, thin or fit, not having a disability, heterosexual and gender conforming. Because of this many people are facing various forms of discrimination.”

The report isn’t the first time Christmas has been called discriminatory by a public body. The Federal Court in 2021 issued a directive that removed all references to Christmas holidays from its calendar.

“Given that litigants before the Courts do not all celebrate Christmas an amendment is required to change references to the Court’s ‘Christmas recess’ to the more inclusive ‘seasonal recess,’” the ruling reads.

The change was not prompted by a complaint but, rather, to be “aligned with the definition of ‘holiday’ in the Canada Labour Code,” according to the ruling.

Surveys suggest Christmas may not be as offensive to non-Christians as the Commission’s report and Federal Court ruling make it out to be.

A 2022 Leger poll found that 92 percent of those who grew up in a culturally or religiously non-Christian household said they are not offended when people wish them a “Merry Christmas.”

Former Conservative MP Nina Grewal referenced the loss of Christian observances in a previous Christmas address to parliament, saying that cultural tolerance was not about diluting the Christian faith.

“What makes Canada great is that people are free to believe, celebrate and practise the faith they choose without worrying about offending others, Christianity and Christmas included,” Ms. Grewall said in a 2014 speech.

“I am a Sikh and I am not offended when people celebrate Christmas in a traditional way. Instead of silly political correctness, all of us should feel proud in our traditions and beliefs, and rejoice in this season of joy, peace and goodwill.”

She said it was “a shame that many feel the need to abandon their traditions to appease the sensibilities of non-Christians“ and that ”being respectful of the beliefs of others should not require anyone to water down their own beliefs.”