Originally published in The Christian Post
A bill that critics warn would eliminate key religious protections from criminal bans on acts of “hatred” has passed the Canadian House of Commons, prompting concerns from religious freedom advocates.
Canada’s House of Commons passed the measure, called the “Combatting Hate Act,” last Wednesday. The House of Commons approved the legislation in a 186-137 vote that fell along party lines. All opposition to the bill came from the Conservative, New Democratic and Green parties, while all support for the legislation came from the Liberal and Bloc Québécois parties.
The “Combatting Hate Act,” also known as Bill C-09, declares that “Everyone who commits an offence — referred to in this section as the ‘included offence’ — under this Act or any other Act of Parliament, if the commission of the included offence is motivated by hatred based on race, national or ethnic origin, language, colour, religion, sex, age, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation or gender identity or expression” is either “guilty of an indictable offence” or “guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction”.
The legislation defines hatred as “an emotion of an intense and extreme nature that is clearly associated with vilification and detestation”. Additional acts prohibited under the legislation include engaging in “conduct with the intent to provoke a state of fear in a person in order to impede their access to” buildings or structures that are primarily used for religious worship or educational institutions, residences for seniors, and cemeteries used by members of protected classes.
The measure includes a clarification stating that it does not prohibit “a person from communicating a statement on a matter of public interest, including an educational, religious, political or scientific statement made in the course of a discussion, publication or debate, if they do not willfully promote hatred against an identifiable group by communicating the statement” or “willfully promote antisemitism by condoning, denying or downplaying the Holocaust”.
Bill C-09 would repeal part of the Canadian Criminal Code, stressing that “no person shall be convicted of an offence” if “in good faith, the person expressed or attempted to establish by argument an opinion on a religious subject or an opinion based on a belief in a religious text”.
This aspect of the bill has raised concerns among religious groups, including the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. CCCB President Rev Pierre Goudreault wrote a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney late last year urging opposition to the provision.
“The proposed elimination of the ‘good faith’ religious-text defence raises significant concerns,” wrote Goudreault. “This narrowly framed exemption has served for many years as an essential safeguard to ensure that Canadians are not criminally prosecuted for their sincere, truth-seeking expression of beliefs made without animus and grounded in long-standing religious traditions. Courts have made clear that only the most extreme forms of speech fall within the scope of hate-propaganda offences.”
According to Goudreault, “The removal of this provision risks creating uncertainty for faith communities, clergy, educators, and others who may fear that the expression of traditional moral or doctrinal teachings could be misinterpreted as hate speech and could subject the speaker to proceedings that threaten imprisonment of up to two years. As legal experts have noted, the public’s understanding of hate speech and its legal implications are often far broader than what the Criminal Code actually captures.”
“Eliminating a clear statutory safeguard will likely therefore have a chilling effect on religious expression, even if prosecutions remain unlikely in practice,” he warned.
Before Bill C-09 can head to Carney’s desk for his signature, it must pass the Canadian Senate. While most senators are nominally nonpartisan, the overwhelming majority were appointed on the advice of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a member of the Liberal Party. The Canadian Senate is not due back in session until April 14.
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