CLA’s early morning prayer team and the fasting & prayer team have been praying daily the past few months about the federal government’s proposed changes to Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Act. Pastor Derrick has also been in personal contact with Langley MP Tako Van Popta about the bill. The following is an article from a recent newsletter of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) a partner of CLA’s that we financially support.
A federal bill addressing anti-religious threats and violence has been amended to remove an important protection for minority religious groups. The EFC believes this protection should not be removed and asks concerned Canadians to contact their MPs.
Bill C-9 was introduced in September. It proposes changes to the Criminal Code requested by the Jewish community as a response to the alarming rise in antisemitism in Canada.
“We understand the danger when groups are targeted on the basis of religious belief” says EFC President David Guretzki. “At a time of growing concern about intolerance toward religious groups, Parliament’s duty to ensure the protection of faith communities is especially critical.”
Bill C-9 creates new offences such as obstructing access to religious and community sites, committing an offense motivated by hate and promoting hatred using terrorist symbols.
The EFC supports the intent of the bill to protect religious sites but has expressed concerns – notably with the bill’s definition of hatred, which is looser than the definition developed by the courts and currently in use.
A major concern arose when the bill was being studied. The Block Quebecois MP on the committee successfully advocated for the bill to also remove an existing protection for religious expression – the good faith religious belief defence from the hate speech provisions in the Criminal Code.
The defence is an important protection for minority religious groups whose beliefs may not be shared by the general public. It helps to ensure the hate provisions aren’t used to silence or suppress religious beliefs that others may find objectionable or offensive.
If a person is found to have willfully promoted hatred there are four defences that can be involved. The first defence is truth. The second is if “in good faith’ a person expressed an option based on religious subject or based on a belief in a religious text.
Back in its 1990 Keegstra decision, the Supreme Court found the defences, including the good faith religious belief defence to be integral to the constitutionality of the wilful promotion of hatred offence.
The religious belief defence has rarely been invoked, and never successfully. The courts have interpreted it narrowly and carefully. They have clearly stated this defence doesn’t allow someone to intentionally embed hateful communication within religious language like a Trojan House.
“The protection for expressing beliefs based on religious texts isn’t being overused or abused,’ says Julia Beazley, EFC Director of Public Policy. “There is no identified problem with the defence.”
The proposal to remove the defence comes at a time when minority religious beliefs on marriage, sexuality and gender are increasingly marginalized and described at hateful.
“In this context, what does it communicate to minority religious communities to remove this important safeguard from the Criminal Code’s hate speech provisions?” asks Beazley.
The committee will continue to study Bill C-9 and vote on changes to it, including its definition of hatred, when the House of Commons resumes at the end of January.
The EFC was also concerned the bill would have removed the requirement that the attorney general consent when hate crimes charges are laid. Fortunately, the committee has voted to amend the bill to keep that requirement.
The House of Commons is able to remove or reject changes made in committee.
Though rarely used, the EFC believes the religious belief defence is an important protection for minority religious groups in a written submission to the committee and communications with MPs, we’ve asked for it to be maintained.
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