Liberal MPs on the House justice committee backed a Bloc Québécois proposal to remove a religious exemption from Canada’s hate speech laws — after the suggestion initially appeared to halt the government’s anti-hate legislation.
The Criminal Code currently includes an exemption for hate speech, “if, in good faith, the person expressed or attempted to establish by an argument an opinion on a religious subject or an opinion based on a belief in a religious text.”
On Tuesday evening, the justice committee added a Bloc amendment to the Liberals’ Bill C-9 — dubbed the Combatting Hate Act — that would remove the religious exemption.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet told reporters last week that his party struck a deal with the Liberals to add the amendment in exchange for support for C-9. The deal was first reported by the National Post.
But progress appeared to stall after an initial committee meeting to go over the bill was abruptly cancelled last week.
Three sources speaking to CBC News said the bill was held up because Justice Minister Sean Fraser’s office brokered the deal with the Bloc without getting buy-in from the Prime Minister’s Office.
Tuesday’s meeting was scheduled last-minute after last week’s cancellation.
The Bloc has long sought to remove the religious exemption, saying religion could be used as a cover for promoting hate, such as homophobia and antisemitism.
Blanchet said his party would not support the bill without the amendment.
The Conservatives oppose both the proposed amendment and the bill as written. Leader Pierre Poilievre posted on his X account last week that the Bloc amendment would “criminalize sections of the Bible, Qur’an, Torah and other sacred texts.”
News of the deal also prompted religious groups, including Catholics and Muslims, to speak out, saying it could chill or even criminalize religious speech.
“I think all Canadians can recognize that this is an issue that affects all of them, including religious and non-religious Canadians,” said Haseeb Hassaan, spokesperson for the National Council of Canadian Muslims.
Conservative MPs on the justice committee decried that MPs didn’t have the opportunity to hear from witnesses on the proposed amendment.
“[The Liberals] are prepared to mount, with the support of the Bloc Québécois, a full-scale assault on religious freedom,” Ontario MP Andrew Lawton said during Tuesday’s meeting.
Justice minister says Bloc’s hate speech amendment ‘will not criminalize faith’
But Fraser pushed back, noting that freedom of religion is a protected Charter right.
“The amendment that the Bloc is proposing will … in no way, shape or form prevent a religious leader from reading their religious texts. It will not criminalize faith,” Fraser said during a news conference earlier Tuesday.
“We are dealing with charges that touch on the wilful promotion of hate. That is not a value that the major religions stand for.”
In a statement later posted on social media, Fraser argued that the exemption is redundant and that the government is unaware of any case where it’s been used to acquit someone accused of hate speech.
Bill C-9 proposes new Criminal Code offences, including one that would make it a crime to intentionally promote hatred against identifiable groups in public using certain hate- or terrorism-related symbols.
Those symbols include ones used during the Holocaust — such as the swastika and SS lightning bolts — or symbols associated with the government’s list of terrorist entities, which includes the Proud Boys, Hamas and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The legislation would also make hate-motivated crimes a specific offence and crack down on willfully intimidating and obstructing people outside places of worship and other sensitive institutions.
The bill will need to pass third reading of the House and then make its way through the Senate before it becomes law.
