Justice Minister Sean Fraser introduced new legislation in the House of Commons on Thursday aimed at combating hate crimes and strengthening protections for Canadians. In his remarks, Fraser described the bill as part of Canada’s broader commitment to ensuring all citizens can live freely in their communities regardless of race, religion, or sexual orientation.“One of the great promises of Canada is the ability of our citizens to live freely in their communities regardless of the color of their skin, the God they pray to, or the person that they love,” Fraser said. He emphasized that hate-motivated offenses continue to undermine those freedoms. “Sadly, too many Canadians are robbed of these freedoms that so many of us take for granted,” he told MPs. “Frankly, the prevalence of hate crimes in this country … should shock the conscience of every Canadian.”.Fraser pointed to recurring reports of targeted attacks as evidence of the urgency of the issue. Noah Shack, CEO, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs released the following statement: “This legislation, tabled in the first week of Parliament, is an important signal of government action to confront serious threats facing Canada’s Jewish community. ..No Canadian should be targeted when dropping their kids off at school, visiting an elderly parent, or attending religious services."“It is disheartening when you read the news and see day after day stories about yet another victim suffering … at the hands of someone who’s not simply conducting a criminal activity, but who’s motivated by their hatred towards an entire group of people,” Fraser said.Although full details of the bill were not immediately released, Fraser confirmed that so-called “bubble zones,” which restrict protests around places such as religious institutions, will not be included in the legislation.Instead, the bill focuses on strengthening existing hate crime provisions and creating new tools to address the willful promotion of hatred, including through the use of hate symbols..Fraser explained that prosecutors would be able to pursue charges where hate symbols are used to deliberately promote hatred against an identifiable group.He likened it to the distinction between assault and assault with a weapon, where the tool itself can increase the harm. “If the view of law enforcement and of Crown prosecutors is that there was an attempt to willfully promote hate against an identifiable group through the use of those hate symbols, that is a scenario where this new charge would have [application],” he said.At the same time, he stressed that academic or journalistic uses of such symbols would not be targeted, noting that “merely displaying this symbol, in and of itself, is not the sole harm we’re trying to target. It does have to be tied with the willful promotion of hatred.”.Fraser also addressed how the law would be applied on the ground. He acknowledged that definitions of hatred are already a challenge for law enforcement and that police have raised concerns about the current requirement to go through provincial attorneys general before laying charges.The new law, he said, is intended to “allow law enforcement to act more neatly, and at the same time give them more clarity than existed before to address the very problem … that exists in our communities today.”As one example, Fraser pointed to incidents of swastikas being flown in Canada, saying the new legislation is designed to ensure such displays can be dealt with more directly when tied to the willful promotion of hate..While the federal government defines criminal law, Fraser noted that enforcement falls primarily to provincial and municipal police services. He said the government would work with national organizations that specialize in training law enforcement to recognize hate in their communities and emphasized the need for collaboration with provinces.“It’s not lost on me that we are in new territory, and sometimes there may be a learning curve with the adoption of these new laws,” he said, adding that he had personally heard from law enforcement officials requesting greater clarity around definitions of hatred.
