She said the current religious exemption created “interpretive ambiguity that allowed the provision to be invoked in ways Parliament never intended.”

The court said WestJet was required under the Canadian Human Rights Act to accommodate religious exemption.

"Why would the Prime Minister rather sabotage his own bill than put an end to the religious exemption?" said Normandin. Fraser replied that it's "essential" that Bill C-9 be adopted by the House of Commons.

A number of the intervenors support the defendant's stance on maintaining the religious exemption.

over the years, "so parents have only the conscientious and religious exemptions available to protect their children from harm."

An analysis of 12 such religious exemption requests submitted to the Army found that it took 192 days on average for each request to get processed, more than double the 90 days mandated by the Army.

A lawsuit challenging the removal of religious exemptions is currently pending before Connecticut courts.

Exemptions are granted in all 50 states on medical grounds. Most states also allow exemptions for religious reasons.

In the fall of 2025, the EEOC said UT-Battelle was paying more than $2.8 million to settle allegations that the University of Tennessee research laboratory discriminated against employees by rejecting requests for religious exemptions from the vaccine

“We conclude that the parents who seek religious exemptions are likely to succeed on the merits of their Free Exercise Clause claim.”

He said removing the religious exemption would merely clarify the law while maintaining “full constitutional protection” for freedom of religion and expression.

The case challenges the military's 2021 requirement that members and civilian employees receive a COVID-19 vaccine, unless they were approved for an exemption on medical or religious grounds.

The group wrote a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney, who is Catholic, asking him not to remove the religious exemption in the Criminal Code.

The briefing took place several hours after the South Carolina Senate Medical Affairs Subcommittee rejected in a 6-2 vote a bill that would have removed the option for parents to obtain a religious exemption to the requirement that school students receive

"We conclude that the parents who seek religious exemptions are likely to succeed on the merits of their Free Exercise Clause claim." Parents and teachers requested that the Supreme Court block the California policy as litigation unfolded.

"CMS will also explore how religious exemptions for vaccinations can be accounted for in the data and the subsequent measures," the letter states.

The party would also remove all current religious exemptions for employers refusing LGBT staff.

She said the current religious exemption created “interpretive ambiguity that allowed the provision to be invoked in ways Parliament never intended.”

The District of Columbia and 29 states permit exemptions on religious grounds, while 14 states allow exemptions for religious, personal, or philosophical objections.

Nonmedical exemptions include exemptions for religious reasons.

"The entire concept of a religious exemption for racial hatred is a relic of outdated thinking.

Some allow exemptions for religious or philosophical reasons, while all permit medical exemptions.

exemption.

“So, in this case, the religious exemptions are far too narrow for a start,” she said. Currently, the latest version of the bill excludes content disseminated for religious purposes from its scope.

It initially offered religious exemptions to anyone who checked a box, but it later stated  that administrators would “only recognize religious exemptions based on religious beliefs whose teachings are opposed to all immunizations.”

The probe found evidence that Mercyhealth engaged in discrimination by denying employees religious exemptions to its COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

The two other plaintiffs received religious exemptions but refused to undergo weekly testing.

Another section that allowed a religious exemption was taken out in the Senate.

Government lawyers said that the latest version of the rule does not violate the Religious Freedom Act because of a new process that enables providers to seek religious exemptions to the requirements. Welte disagreed.

Days later, the state rescinded the religious accommodation and forbade employers from approving a religion-based exemption from the mandate, the petition said.