A hate speech bill set to pass into criminal law has now adopted an amendment that would remove religious defences.Bill C-9, the Combating Hate Act, is currently in the committee stage of its legislative process, and was undergoing a clause-by-clause review by the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights on Tuesday evening.According to the National Post, an agreement between the Liberals and the Bloc was reached, in which the Liberals would approve the Bloc's amendment on religious freedoms, and then the Bloc promised to support the passing of the bill.Currently under the Criminal Code's s. 319, exemptions are made for religious freedom when dealing with the promotion of hate "if, in good faith, they 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.".This is what the amendment sought to revoke.“It is clear the Liberals will do whatever it takes to pass this even though (the amendment) wasn’t their idea,” stated Conservative MP Larry Brock.“It wasn’t their intention two years ago.""It was never their intention during the hearing from the numerous witnesses we heard until it became abundantly clear they would be going into a winter break without the passage of Minister Fraser’s signature piece of criminal legislation.”According to the Catholic Register, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Sean Fraser, stated in a press conference earlier Tuesday that religious freedom wouldn't be harmed..“The amendment that the Bloc is proposing will … in no way, shape or form prevents a religious leader from reading their religious texts,” stated Fraser. “It will not criminalize faith.”In the Free Speech Union of Canada's (FSUC) brief on Bill C-9 the "Religious Defence" amendment stated, "Bill C-9 would revoke the ‘good faith’ religious defence under s. 319 of the Criminal Code.""The proposed amendment to remove the religious defence renders Bill C-9 even less Charter-compliant that it was previously.".The FSUC points out under s. 319 of the Criminal Code, the "public incitement of hatred" law already infringes on the freedoms guaranteed in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.This, of course, is the right to freedom of expression, which gives everyone in Canada the right to freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression.S. 319 states — "Everyone who, by communicating statements in any public place, incites hatred against any identifiable group where such incitement is likely to lead to a breach of the peace is guilty of..."Without the religious exemption, the FSUC says it's difficult to justify this section of the Code — because it infringes too heavily on Canadians guaranteed freedom of expression in the Charter.."The removal of the religious defence now risks the constitutionality of s. 319 as a whole," stated the FSUC in the brief."Given Bill C-9’s current structure and scope, which poses an undeniable threat to Canadians’ freedom of expression, the religious defence found in s. 319 of the Criminal Code must not be removed.""To do so would render Bill C-9 less Charter-compliant than it already is and will cast a nation-wide chill on speech and expression, particularly on the expression of matters of faith," it concluded.
