Ottawa rushing hate crimes bill without addressing concerns: civil liberties’ group

OTTAWA — The Canadian Civil Liberties Association says the government is rushing its hate crimes bill through without dealing with concerns from faith groups and civil society organizations.

“Criminal law changes that affect freedom of expression deserve careful scrutiny, not procedural power plays,” the group said in a press release Thursday.

“By forcing the Committee to wrap up without addressing the concerns raised by dozens of faith-based and civil society organizations, the government is sending a message: getting this legislation passed matters more than getting this legislation right.”

In December, a coalition that includes civil liberties, community and labour groups said the bill would give police too much power and could criminalize protest.

Bill C-9 creates new offences for intimidating or obstructing someone outside a religious or cultural institution, among other measures. It makes it a criminal offence to wilfully promote hate through the use of hate symbols, including symbols of designated terrorist entities, and would define “hatred” in criminal law for the first time, codifying a definition put forward by the Supreme Court of Canada.

The House of Commons justice committee finished its work on Bill C-9 Wednesday, after the government passed a motion setting deadlines to move the bill through Parliament faster.

The motion says the committee chair now has two sitting days to report the bill to the House of Commons, which will then have one sitting day for each of the next two stages of the legislative process.

The civil liberties’ group says the committee process made the bill worse by removing a Criminal Code religious exemption for hate speech. The Liberals backed that amendment in order to secure Bloc Québécois support for the bill.

The amendment drew opposition from some faith groups and the Conservatives, who painted the bill as an attack on freedom of religion.

In a fundraising email, Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman argued the bill would allow people to be charged with hate crimes if they quote sections of the Bible or Torah, describe themselves as a Zionist, or express deeply-held religious beliefs.

Justice Minister Sean Fraser said the amendment would not have an impact on freedom of religion.

Liberal MP Patricia Lattanzio, parliamentary secretary to the justice minister, told the House of Commons on Monday the government addressed those concerns by introducing a clause that makes it “absolutely clear that preaching, teaching one’s faith, reading scripture, delivering sermons, praying and discussing religious texts in good faith would never be criminalized by this legislation.”

Conservative justice critic Larry Brock accused the government of censoring debate on the bill.

“The Liberals had no business at all making a side, backroom deal in the middle of clause-by-clause consideration to support the Bloc amendment when the clause-by-clause consideration was progressing very well,” he said.

Conservative MP Andrew Lawton said the committee had no chance to hear from witnesses on the removal of the religious exemption.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 12, 2026.