Justice Minister Says Committee to Decide on Hate Crime Bill as Bloc Decries ‘Sabotage’

Justice Minister Sean Fraser has come under fire from the Bloc Québécois after he reportedly pulled his support for their amendment to his hate crime bill seeking to remove the religious defence to hate speech.

Fraser took questions from Bloc MPs in the House of Commons on Dec. 8, in his first public comments addressing the controversy that emerged last week.

Bloc MP Christine Normandin accused the Conservatives of trying to “sabotage” her party’s amendment to remove the religious exemption to hate speech in the Criminal Code, but said that Liberals are now doing the same.

“We have learned that the Prime Minister’s Office [PMO] has also been been quietly sabotaging the work of the Bloc Québécois and the Minister of Justice,” she added.

Normandin’s comments were an apparent reference to a CBC News report based on anonymous sources saying Fraser had not cleared his deal with the Bloc with the PMO, putting the bill in jeopardy. The Bloc had agreed to support the minority Liberals’ Bill C-9, also known as the Combatting Hate Act, if its amendments were added. Otherwise the bill doesn’t have the support of opposition parties.

“Why would the Prime Minister rather sabotage his own bill than put an end to the religious exemption?” said Normandin.

Fraser replied that it’s “essential” that Bill C-9 be adopted by the House of Commons.

“When it comes to the religious exemption, we need to work with the various parties to understand their perspectives, but the decision will be made by the members of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights,” he said.

The Prime Minister’s Office was contacted for comment but didn’t respond by publication time.

Early last week the Bloc had announced it had convinced the Liberals to support their amendment to remove the religious defence to hate speech in the Criminal Code. A government source confirmed the matter to the National Post.

The Bloc argues the provision has allowed individuals to freely foment hatred against Jews in the context of rising anti-Semitic incidents following the Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel in October 2023.

The Criminal Code provision says that an individual cannot be convicted of incitement of hatred 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.”

Conservatives have said the Bloc amendments would lead to the criminalization of religious texts. They have pointed to Culture Minister Marc Miller expressing support for the amendments after having said he considers sections of the Bible mentioning homosexuality as “hateful.”

Religious groups have also expressed opposition to the Bloc amendments. Some of the groups held a press conference on Dec. 3 on Parliament Hill and visited the justice committee as it was reviewing Bill C-9 and on the verge of hearing the Bloc’s proposed amendments.

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said this is what triggered the committee to be shut down before the amendments could be tabled.

“We fear that because representatives, or would-be representatives of some [religious] groups came to the committee and sat there, that the Liberals fear backlash against them within some communities,” he said on Dec. 4.

Liberal MP James Maloney, who chairs the committee, said in the House he had put an end to the proceedings because “emotions were running high” and there was no path forward, adding committee members needed to “regroup.”

After a justice committee meeting was cancelled the next day on Dec. 4, proceedings are expected to restart on Dec. 9. The committee meeting is scheduled to last 8 hours as MPs go through a clause-by-clause review and are expected to bring forward amendments.

‘About-Face’

In question period on Dec. 8, Bloc MP Rhéal Fortin accused the Liberals of “turning their back on Quebeckers” by walking away from their agreement with his party, adding they are “giving up” on Bill C-9.

“How can the Liberals justify this about-face after so many broken promises?” he said.

Fraser responded that Bill C-9 as tabled offers protection for religious minorities targeted by hate. He said his priority is to see the bill adopted, which is “going to require that we collaborate with different parties that have different points of view.”

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, in response to the proposed Bloc amendments, wrote to the prime minister asking that the “good faith” defence be preserved. They also said there is a need to deal with hate, including the targeting of the Christian community in recent years.

Several Jewish groups expressed support for Bill C-9 this week amid the Bloc amendments controversy and the possibility the bill could lack the necessary support to move forward.

“While opinions differ on this amendment, fundamentally, freedom of religion would remain protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and by the high threshold established by the courts when considering whether conduct constitutes the willful promotion of hatred,” said a joint statement from Jewish groups such as B’nai Brith Canada and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.

The groups said the threats and attacks faced by the Jewish community since October 2023 must be addressed without undermining religious freedoms.

Bill C-9 has been introduced in part to deal with the flare-up of anti-Semitic incidents in the past two years.

Some of its clauses would create a new offence for intentionally preventing someone from attending a place of worship and for the display of hateful symbols.

“Week after week, families walking into synagogue, parents dropping their kids off at school, and seniors attending community programs have been harassed, threatened, and targeted by extremists,” the Jewish groups said, who also called for the application of current criminal laws to deal with the matter.

While Conservatives have been vocal about wanting to tackle the rise of anti-Semitism, they had expressed concerns with Bill C-9 before the Bloc amendments controversy.

The bill as currently written would remove the requirement to obtain attorney general consent to prosecute hate propaganda offence. It would also create a definition of hatred which Tories say lowers the threshold compared to the definition being used by the Supreme Court.

Tory MPs have said this will impact freedom of expression and create a situation similar to the United Kingdom, where tens thousands of people have been arrested in recent years for online posts. Minister Fraser said such a proposition is “far-fetched.”

Liberals have tried for years to create an internet censorship regime through online harms legislation. Previous attempts failed with bills C-36 and C-63 lapsing in Parliament. The Carney government still intends to introduce a similar bill, with Fraser saying during the summer the government had not decided on the approach to take.