CTVNews.ca Staff Published Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013 6:51AM EST Last Updated Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013 2:36PM EST

Andrew Bennett has been named ambassador for Canada's Office of Religious Freedom, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced today.

Bennett, a Catholic, is dean of Augustine College, a Christian liberal arts college in Ottawa. He has a PhD in politics from the University of Edinburgh and a master of arts in history from Montreals McGill University.

During an announcement at the Ahmadiyya Muslim community centre and mosque in Vaughan, Ont., on Tuesday afternoon, Harper described Bennett as a scholar, a man of principle and deep conviction.

His role at the newly-established office will be to monitor religious freedom around the world.

He will promote it as a key objective to Canadian foreign policy. And Dr. Bennett will help ensure the protection of religious freedom informs the policy and programs of the Government of Canada.

The office will focus on advocacy, policy development and programming that aims to protect and advocating on behalf of religious minorities that are under threat.

Harper said the office will also promote Canadian values of pluralism and tolerance in countries where there is evidence of extreme violations of the right to freedom of religion.

Human rights groups and opposition critics have said the office is a misguided attempt to inject religion into foreign policy.

They also questioned what exactly it can accomplish with a modest $5-million budget.

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Scholar Andrew Bennett to lead Canada's Office of Religious Freedom