{"id":39081,"date":"2026-06-22T10:04:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T14:04:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/?p=39081"},"modified":"2026-06-22T10:04:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T14:04:32","slug":"bill-to-mark-christian-heritage-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/legal\/2026\/06\/bill-to-mark-christian-heritage-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill to Mark Christian Heritage Month"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On June 9, 2026, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.parl.ca\/DocumentViewer\/en\/45-1\/bill\/S-249\/first-reading\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bill S-249, \u201cAn Act respecting Christian Heritage Month\u201d<\/a> (\u201cBill S-249\u201d) was read in the Senate of Canada for the <a href=\"https:\/\/sencanada.ca\/en\/content\/sen\/chamber\/451\/debates\/080db_2026-06-09-e?language=e#71:~:text=two%20days%20hence.)-,Christian%20Heritage%20Month%20Bill,-First%20Reading\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">first time.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The purpose of Bill S-249 is to annually designate the month of December as \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.parl.ca\/DocumentViewer\/en\/45-1\/bill\/S-249\/first-reading#:~:text=Christian%20Heritage%20Month-,Christian%20Heritage%20Month,month%20of%20December%20is%20to%20be%20known%20as%20%E2%80%9CChristian%20Heritage%20Month%E2%80%9D.,-Published%20under%20authority\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Christian Heritage Month<\/a>.\u201d Bill S-249 does not amend any existing legislation. If enacted, it would operate like other existing legislation which reflects the heritage and faith of communities across Canada like the <a href=\"https:\/\/canlii.ca\/t\/534rj\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Canadian Jewish Heritage Month Act<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/canlii.ca\/t\/53l8z\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sikh Heritage Month Act<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bill S-249 follows other Canadian jurisdictions that have recognized the contributions made by Christian communities, like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.toronto.ca\/city-government\/awards-tributes\/tributes\/proclamations-congratulatory-scrolls-and-letters-of-greeting\/proclamations\/proclamations-2025\/#:~:text=Christian%20Heritage%20Month,City%20of%20Toronto\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Toronto<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.calgary.ca\/content\/dam\/www\/ca\/city-clerks\/documents\/citizen-recognition-protocol\/2025-proclamations-and-letters-of-recognition.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Calgary<\/a>. These jurisdictions also recognize Christian heritage during the month of December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What would Bill S-249 Establish?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bill S-249 explains that December would be recognized as \u201cChristian Heritage Month\u201d for the following reasons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>December is a significant month in the Christian calendar, beginning with Advent, leading to the birth of Jesus Christ;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Christianity has been influential in establishing compassion, justice, and service in Canada;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Canada\u2019s Christian community has contributed to Canada\u2019s growth and prosperity; and<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is important to recognize and celebrate the diversity in faith communities across Canada.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those in support of Bill S-249 emphasize the importance of federally recognizing Christian heritage to celebrate the \u201ccharity, compassion, and dignity\u201d that Christians bring to Canada. CCCC is grateful for the formal recognition of the faithful contributions of Christian Communities in Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is Next?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bill S-249 will be read for a second time when the Senate <a href=\"https:\/\/sencanada.ca\/en\/content\/sen\/chamber\/451\/debates\/080db_2026-06-09-e?language=e#71:~:text=two%20days%20hence.)-,Christian%20Heritage%20Month%20Bill,-First%20Reading\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">resumes sittings<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">We\u2019re Here to Help<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We will provide updates on Bill S-249 as it proceeds in the Senate here on our blog. If you have questions or would like support, please contact our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/mst\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Member Support Team<\/a> by phone or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/email_us\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">email<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a id=\"_msocom_1\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On June 9, 2026, Bill S-249, \u201cAn Act respecting Christian Heritage Month\u201d (\u201cBill S-249\u201d) was read in the Senate of Canada for the first time. The purpose of Bill S-249 is to annually designate the month of December as \u201cChristian Heritage Month.\u201d Bill S-249 does not amend any existing legislation&#8230;. <a href=\"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/legal\/2026\/06\/bill-to-mark-christian-heritage-month\/\" class=\"linkbutton\">More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":39084,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ts_fic_featured_image_caption":"A cropped image of \u201cThe Star of Bethlehem, 1887-1891\u201d. Sir Edward Burne-Jones. A Nativity scene including Joseph, Mary, the infant Christ, an angel and one of the three kings. Commissioned by the Corporation of Birmingham, 1887, and purchased through the Art Gallery Purchase Fund, 1891. Photo by <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/@birminghammuseumstrust?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText\">Birmingham Museums Trust<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/birth-of-jesus-christ-with-three-kings-and-angel-painting-Y_XS34BFX00?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText\">Unsplash<\/a>       ","footnotes":""},"categories":[137],"tags":[736,497,284],"series":[],"class_list":["post-39081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-christian","tag-federal","tag-legislation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39081"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39082,"href":"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39081\/revisions\/39082"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39081"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=39081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}