Source: The Halifax Herald Limited

http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2004/09/17/fCanada137.raw.html

On September 17, 2004 The Halifax Herald Limited reported, "Immigrants are no longer receiving Bibles at citizenship ceremonies after many complained that Christianity was being forced upon them. Citizenship and Immigration Canada decided in May to stop the Canadian Bible Society from distributing the New Testament, although people participating in the ceremonies are still permitted to bring the books of their faiths. 'We have to treat everybody equally,' Jean-Pierre Morin, a spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration Canada, said Thursday... For over a century the society has handed Bibles to new Canadians in Nova Scotia, first at Pier 21 as passengers disembarked from ships and later from a table near the entrance of citizenship ceremonies. Mr. Morin said it wasn't practical to allow stands for every faith so his department scrapped the practice so it would not be viewed as endorsing one religion over another... But the Bible society wasn't subscribing to that view... [Rev. Wayne McCarther, the society's district director for Nova Scotia] said he doesn't believe that complaints from new Canadians prompted the move... Mr. McCarther said the last ceremony the group was permitted to attend in the province was in Porters Lake last May, when 43 of 50 people new Canadians accepted a Bible... 'Many people from the Muslim faith, for example, would say, "Can I have one?"' Mr. McCarther said."