TORONTO — A campaign to ban circumcision for infants and children has taken hold in Iceland and Denmark but is far too radical a notion for Canada to consider, say observers here. Despite declining rates of circumcision, many Canadians remain ardent advocates of the right to snip — and not just for religious reasons, notes York University human rights Prof. Minoo Derayeh. A Canadian Jewish human rights group condemned the Nordic movement this week, insisting “there can be no Jewish community without circumcision.”“Although it’s proposed using human rights language, this is rather the denial of rights — it’s the denial of religious rights,” Michael Mostyn, chief executive officer of B’nai Brith Canada, adds in an interview. But it also said the risk-to-benefit ratio is closely balanced and that routine circumcision of every newborn is not recommended. She says Christians, too, incorporated the practice, but abandoned circumcision as missionaries increasingly encountered non-Jewish populations opposed to it.

Source: National Post March 01, 2018 21:00 UTC