Ohio passes bill seeking to add Canada to religious liberties watch list

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Should Canada be on a watch list for countries that violate religious liberty? The Ohio state legislature thinks so, passing a bill that seeks to place Canada on a list of nations that abuse religious freedoms.

As Rebel News previously reported in March, legislators in the Buckeye State wanted to request that U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) place Canada on its watch list following the repeated jailing of Pastor Artur Pawlowski.

The now-free Pawlowski spent more than 50 days behind bars this year after speaking to protesters blocking the Coutts, Alberta-Sweetgrass, Montana border crossing. The government alleged this was a breach of terms placed against Pawlowski, and subsequently detained the pastor.

The full saga of Pawlowski's fight for freedom against the Albertan government can be seen at SaveArtur.com.

Citing “abuses of religious liberty that have gone on throughout the Provinces of Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the bill from the Ohio legislature names Pawlowski along with his brother and fellow pastor, Dawid, and pastors James Coates and Tobias Tissen.

Pastors Tim Stephens, Henry Hildebrandt, Phil Hutchings and have also faced the wrath of the government for defying COVID restrictions placed on houses of worship. Another set of pastors, Tracy and Rodney Fortin, are facing steep fines after barring Alberta Health Services inspectors from entering their premises.

Legislators in Ohio aren't the only Americans concerned with the actions various governments in Canada have taken against churches, with Sen. Josh Hawley telling Rebel News' Yaakov Pollak in March that he thinks Canada should be added to the religious liberties watch list.

Sen. Josh Hawley reacts to Pastor Artur Pawlowski being jailed:

"The United States keeps a designation of folks who are religious liberty violators... I've called for Canada to be put on that list."https://t.co/lupCtX6qvo to help fund his legal defence.pic.twitter.com/o4ZLaZBMPE

— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) February 28, 2022

Should USCIRF take up the Ohio legislature on its proposal, Canada would be added to a list of nations that includes human rights abusers as: Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Laos, Russia, Somalia, Tajikistan, Turkey and Venezuela.