Paul Tuns:
On Feb. 12, Campaign Life Coalition, CitizenGo, Campagne Québec-Vie, and 4 My Canada held a joint press conference at the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery to raise concerns about Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Act, which opponents say would criminalize quoting certain passages of Scripture.
Civil liberties, religious, and socially conservative groups have criticized the bill, introduced last September, for its restrictions on freedom of speech, expression, and religion.
Pete Baklinski, communications director for CLC, said, “In the name of combating hate, Bill C-9 opens the door to the criminalization of religious expression and belief.” Baklinski explained, “While paying lip service to religion, Bill C-9 pulls the rug out from under people of faith,” especially after the Liberal government agreed to a Bloc Quebecois proposal to amend the bill to remove the religious exemption for hate crime speech. Last fall, before being promoted to Minister of Culture, Liberal MP Marc Miller (Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Sœurs) said that certain, unspecified Bible passages were “clearly hateful.”
Under current law, sincerely held religious views expressing disapproval of certain lifestyles and behaviours are not liable to hate crime prosecution.
David Cooke, CLC campaigns manager, said Bill C-9 posed a “threat” to fundamental freedoms, stating, “The Liberal government, together with the Bloc Quebecois, aims to tighten the noose on our free speech rights. With their support for Bill C-9 and its amendments, our God-given, constitutional right to express our beliefs freely in good faith, a right that we all have enjoyed up till now, is in jeopardy.” Cooke said “The Bible is not hate speech” and “Biblical teaching must never be criminalized.” He said with C-9 and the Bloc’s amendment to scrap the goodwill exemption for religious expression, the Liberals and BQ “aim to tighten the noose on our free speech rights.”
The four groups at the press conference reported that collectively their petitions garnered 60,000 signatures of individuals opposed to Bill C-9 because of its impact on Charter-protected rights such as freedom of speech and religion. The bill also statutorily redefines hate to be broader and more subjective, making it possible to charge citizens not only for actions deemed motivated by hate, but for hateful thoughts. C-9 would also make it easier for police to charge individuals with hate crimes by removing the requirement that they obtain the attorney general’s consent before laying hate crime charges.
Brandon Tran, CLC director of public affairs and outreach, read a statement on behalf of 4 My Canada, which said “Canadians are paying attention and they are deeply concerned about this bill.” 4 My Canada said that actual hate-motivated violence against protected groups already exists in law and that C-9 unnecessarily expands hate crime law “lowers the legal threshold of what constitutes hatred.” The new definition “increases the risk that lawful expression could be swept into criminal proceedings.”
Gregory Tomchyshyn, campaigns director for CitizenGo Canada, said that freedoms of religion and expression “are fundamental freedoms” and C-9 is “a direct assault on our freedom of speech and the ability to publicly share our beliefs.”
Georges Buscemi, president of Campagne Quebec Vie, offered remarks in French.
Asked by a reporter from Quebec why CLC is concerned about C-9 considering that its focus is ending abortion, Baklinski said the organization is worried “that these restrictions could affect our ability to speak in the public square.” Baklinski cited restrictions on pro-lifers to show the reality of abortion through abortion victim photography and said CLC was already prevented from using certain signage on Parliament Hill because security there said images of abortion victims could cause “hatred” toward specified groups.
The five speakers each called on Prime Minister Mark Carney and Justice Minister Sean Fraser to withdraw C-9.
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