UN General Assembly
2011

and Copts being assaulted and killed in Egypt. In Burma, the regime discriminates against several forms of Buddhism and restricts the activities of Muslims. In other places, the Ahmadiyya community faces real violence. Gays and lesbians are threatened with the 31 11-51390 criminalization of their sexuality in Uganda, and other minorities are subjected to persecution, oppression or violence. Our nationalities are many but we share one humanity. I am pleased to report that Canada will be creating an office of religious freedom within our Government at the heart of my own Department. The office will promote freedom of religion and of conscience as key objectives of Canadian foreign policy. The long history of humankind has proved that religious freedom and democratic freedom are inseparable. As Franklin Roosevelt observed on the eve of global war, “[w]here freedom of religion has been attacked, the attack has come from sources opposed to democracy. Where democracy has been overthrown, the spirit of free worship has disappeared. And where religion and democracy have vanished, good faith and reason in