Hate crime bill could criminalize protests, civil liberties’ group says

OTTAWA — Civil liberties’ groups are warning that the Liberal government’s new hate crimes bill could undermine the right to protest.

Vibert Jack, litigation director at the BC Civil Liberties Association, said in an interview that the bill amounts to an “attack on free expression.”

He said it would “create a chilling effect that could limit people’s ability to engage in protest and dissent, which are necessary for a functioning democracy.”

The bill, introduced Friday, would create new crimes of obstruction and intimidation aimed at protecting places of worship and institutions — including schools, daycares and seniors’ residences — used by an identifiable group.

“The new intimidation offence is far broader than existing prohibitions and could criminalize peaceful protests simply because they are seen as disruptive,” Anaïs Bussières McNicoll, director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association’s fundamental freedoms program, said in a news release.

The maximum penalty under the new legislation would be 10 years in prison. Bussières McNicoll said that penalty “is very severe and could push activists into silence.”

The civil liberties group said the bill could affect tens of thousands of community spaces across the country. It added police can protect public safety using existing laws on mischief, intimidation, threats and harassment.

In an interview, Bussières McNicoll said “the new intimidation provision goes much, much further than existing criminal offences by criminalizing any conduct that is intended to provoke a state of fear in another person in order to impede their access to certain locations.”

She said that notion of an intent to create a “state of fear” isn’t defined in the bill, “so the provision could easily be read by the police as capturing protests that are peaceful, yet seen by some as offensive or disruptive, and therefore inciting fear.”

Jack said there are “all kinds of very legitimate reasons” to stage a protest outside a religious building or community centre.

“But it’s not clear at all that people will be able to engage in peaceful protest in those locations with this provision coming into place,” he said. “It creates a chilling effect where it’s going to impact expressive activities that are protected by the Charter, but people might refrain from doing them out of fear of being criminalized.”

The bill would not create “bubble zones” to prohibit protests around designated buildings. Such zones have to be ordered by provinces or municipalities.

Justice Minister Sean Fraser told reporters Friday the bill “goes to great lengths to specifically protect the ability of Canadians to take part in peaceful protests.”

The bill would also make it a criminal offence to wilfully promote hate through the use of hate symbols. It would create a new category of hate crime which would be layered on top of existing offences and would increase the maximum amount of jail time for those found guilty of the underlying offence.

Jack said the “maximum penalties for most offences are already high enough to deal with hate as an aggravating factor.”

Errol Mendes, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, was more supportive of the bill than the civil liberties’ groups.

“I’m more concerned about whether this is going to be properly implemented. I support it in general, but I think there needs to be a lot more public discussion,” he said.

The bill would codify in legislation the definition of hate put forward by the Supreme Court of Canada. Mendes said it can be difficult to determine what meets the standards outlined in that definition.

“I was surprised that they just lifted the same definition into the statute,” he said, noting that’s where he has “some concerns about implementation.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 22, 2025.