Tories Say Removal of Religious Defence in Hate-Speech Law Is ‘Assault’ on Freedom of Speech, Religion

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Sept. 25, 2025. The Canadian Press/Spencer Colby

Conservatives are reacting negatively to the Liberals reportedly agreeing to a Bloc Québécois demand to remove the religious defence around hate speech in the Criminal Code to secure support for its Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Act.

Media reports indicate the Liberals and the Bloc are poised to pass the related amendments as the House of Commons justice committee is currently undertaking its review of Bill C-9.

Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet said on Dec. 2 that his party “seems to have succeeded in imposing this essential reform.”

Reacting to the news, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said in a Dec. 1 X post that his party “will oppose this latest Liberal assault on freedom of expression and religion.”

“Liberal-Bloc amendments to C-9 will criminalize sections of the Bible, Quran, Torah, and other sacred texts,” he said.

Section 319 of the Criminal Code deals with the public incitement and wilful promotion of hatred and anti-Semitism. A subsection mentions that an individual cannot be convicted of the offence 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.”

Bill C-9 seeks to amend parts of Section 319, but as it is currently written it would not repeal the defence on religious grounds.

Tory MP Leslyn Lewis said the proposed change is “not a minor adjustment,” adding that this will have a direct impact on Christians and other religious communities.

“This is a dangerous precedent. Religious freedom is not a political tool. It is a Charter right, a constitutional protection, and a cornerstone of our society,” she said on X on Dec. 1.

Conservatives have also noted recent comments made by Liberal MP Marc Miller on Oct. 30, while he was chair of the justice committee. Miller was re-appointed to cabinet on Dec. 1 as minister of culture, replacing Steven Guilbeault.

Miller asked a question to committee witness Derek Ross, executive director of the Christian Legal Fellowship, about the “good faith” defence in the Criminal Code.

“In Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Romans, there are passages with clear hatred towards, for examples, homosexuals. I don’t understand how the concept of good faith could be invoked if someone were literally invoking a passage from, in this case, the Bible, though there are other religious texts that say the same thing,” Miller said.

“How do we somehow constitute this as being said in good faith? Clearly, there are situations in these texts where statements are hateful. They should not be used to invoke... or be a defence. There should perhaps be discretion for prosecutors to press charges.”

Ross responded that he doesn’t agree with Miller’s characterization about the Bible being hateful. “If members of Parliament are of the view that passages of the Bible are hateful, that’s something that Canadians should be aware of,” he said.

Tory MP Andrew Lawton remarked on social media that the Liberal MP “who wants clergy members jailed for quoting scripture is now Canada’s minister of identity and culture,” in reference to Miller.

Lawton has been vocal about his opposition to Bill C-9, saying it will lower the threshold of what constitutes hate and of what can be considered free expression in Canada.

The bill in its current form seeks to remove the requirement to obtain the attorney general’s consent to prosecute hate propaganda offences. It would also criminalize the display of certain symbols in public places if they promote hatred against an identifiable group. The bill would also create an offence for those who block access to places of worship.

In addition, Bill C-9 would create a new definition of hatred that doesn’t employ the word “extreme” used by the Supreme Court, which defines hatred as “emotion of an intense and extreme nature that is clearly associated with vilification and detestation.”

Conservatives say the bill could lead to a similar situation as in the United Kingdom, where police are routinely arresting individuals for comments made online. Justice Minister Sean Fraser has said this is “far-fetched.”

Asked to comment on the Conservatives’ stance on removing the religious defence to hate speech in the Criminal Code, a spokesperson for Fraser blamed Conservatives for delaying justice committee proceedings on Bill C-9.

“Because the Combatting Hate Act could not be reviewed at committee, no amendments were considered,” Lola Dandybaeva told The Epoch Times in a statement. “It would be inappropriate to speculate about changes that Conservatives never allowed the committee to debate.”

The Justice Department when announcing the tabling of C-9 in September said the bill seeks to address the “horrifying rise in hate crimes” driven by “antisemitism, Islamophobia, homophobia and transphobia.”

“This legislation strengthens protections against hate so Canadians of all races and ethnicities, faiths, sexualities and genders can feel safe in their communities and be free to celebrate their identities,” Fraser stated at the time.

The Bloc Québécois, staunchly in favour of secularism, has long sought to have the religious defence to hate speech removed.

“Invitation to hatred, promotion of violence, sometimes of genocide, peppered with sexist segregation and religious intervention in the work of the state, youth radicalization, bullying in our schools, recruitment argument for gangs... All these behaviours run contrary to our values and our identity,” Blanchet said.

Editor’s note: the article was updated with a statement from Minister Fraser’s office.