By a majority 5-4 vote, Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Act, proceeded out of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights on March 11 and was reported back to the House of Commons.

Bloc Québécois MP Rhéal Fortin joined the four Liberals in voting yes, while the four Conservatives voted no.

The report stage and third reading of the bill have not yet been scheduled. Under the motion that ended debate on Bill C-9 — passed 186–144 on March 10 — only one day is allotted for the report stage and one day for third reading.  

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It is expected that the bill will pass third reading and advance to the Senate during the week of March 23-27. Parliamentarians are in recess from March 16-20.

The revised bill includes the controversial provision to remove the religious speech defence from Section 319(3)(b) of the Criminal Code. The text of this current exemption, the law of the land since 1970, reads: The current exemption protects a person referring to religious texts, stating: “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.”

Liberal MP Patricia Lattanzio tabled a “clause of greater certainty,” included in the new version of the Combatting Hate Act, which sought to assuage people of faith concerned about the removal of the safeguard. Her amendment reads that “nothing in subsection 319(2) or (2.2) shall be construed as prohibiting a person from communicating a statement on a matter of public interest, including an educational, religious, political or scientific statement made in the course of a discussion, publication or debate, if they do not willfully promote hatred, hatred against an identifiable group by communicating the statement.”

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However, Conservative MP Andrew Lawton said the “circular reasoning” he detected in the bill creates more uncertainty, and it preserves the latitude for a hate charge to be brought against someone citing a religious text. Both the Canadian Catholic Civil Rights League (CCRL) and Christian Legal Fellowship (CFL) told The Catholic Register that the amendment does not go far enough to ensure sincere religious speech is safeguarded against hate charges.  

The broad coalition opposing the bill, comprising millions of Canadians, religious institutions, legal experts and civil society organizations, has grown this week. On March 10, it was announced that over 350 Muslim organizations signed on to an open letter released by the National Council of Canadian Muslims.  

“We have worked with optimism that the text of the bill could be amended to assuage our concerns, alongside other faith groups in the Christian, Jewish and Sikh communities,” stated the letter. “However, while we have heard a number of commitments to that end, in our view, the final text of the amendments does match what was committed to.

“Therefore, we have no choice but to oppose the passage of C-9 in its current form to the Senate. We urge MPs to stand clearly to voice that we cannot stop hate through harming civil liberties — and we urge leaders to reject any piece of legislation that negatively impacts the civil liberties of faith communities, who are the exact communities this Bill is meant to protect.”

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Upon the likely passage of Bill C-9 in its current form, the notable groups and figures who have spoken out against the legislation, including the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and Toronto Cardinal Frank Leo, will have an opportunity to implore the Senate to make further amendments.  

More to come...