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There have been two recent Canadian MPs who have made comments regarding the so called 'charter of rights and freedoms' and Canadian values by Canadian MPs that have me a bit concerned. First was by Chong (who is a Christian Conservative). On twitter he has said, "This was an attack on real Canadian values enshrined in the Charter." He has also made similar comments in debates indicating that the Charter essentially defines Canadian values (although he has made additional comments indicating that supporting an entirely public health care system is a Canadian value). Second was by Omar Alghabra (Muslim Liberal), who tweeted: Both have a clear message. Canadian values = Charter. The implication is pretty clear. Those that do not agree with our charter are unCanadian. There are many problems with this, but the one I wanted to highlight in this thread is the preamble to the Charter: "Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God." So if the charter defines Canadian values, and the charter contains recognition of the supremacy (and implicitly existence) of God, then recognition of the supremacy of God is a Canadian value. And given that atheists do not recognize the supremacy of god, they do not agree with this Canadian value and are therefore unCanadian. So what message does that send (from Chong and Alghabra)? That atheists don't belong here? That atheists are unwelcome? Because it clearly sends the message that atheists are unCanadian. We already have so many violations of secularism in Canada, from God in our national anthem (cross in the French version), to God in the preamble, to Catholic School Systems like in Ontario, to the crucifix in the Quebec national assembly, to funding of mosques using infrastructure spending, to funding of religious Champlains. Yet now we are adding this kind of rhetoric from theist MPs from our two largest parties? In addition we have M103, which condemns islamophobia, a term which arguably includes the victims of the Charlie Hebdo massacre (where atheists like Stephane Charbonnier where killed for drawing cartoons), or the actions of Bill Maher (also an atheist). And also given that Alexandre Bissonette liked Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens on facebook, there is a good change that he is an atheist, and thus there is the potential for the LPC to push an anti-islamophobia motion that targets atheists in a form of a backlash against the actions of Bissonette. Thoughts?