Parliament is to debate Bill C-367 Friday, legislation that equates religious speech to hate speech and will in effect threaten jail time for Christians quoting the Bible. Bill C-367, first introduced in fall 2023 by Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet, claims to fight the “promotion of hatred or antisemitism,” but critics warn it “will actually strike a fatal blow against freedom of religion and freedom of expression in Canada.”“Bill C-367 is a dangerous threat to every citizen’s right to express their faith in public,” wrote Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) in a news release..The bill eliminates the “religious exemption” in Section 319 of the Criminal Code, which states, “No person shall be convicted of a (hate crime) 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.” .“By eliminating this exemption, Bill C-367 will empower police to treat religious Canadians as hate-criminals if they criticize any identifiable groups,” writes CLC. “Religiously-based expression that is critical of gender ideology, child sexualization and child sex change will likely be deemed ‘hate speech’ against the (sexual minority) community if this bill is passed.”“We will be forced to decide between keeping silent or going to prison while leftist activists and politicians are free to extend their woke ideology all across our nation,” wrote the Canadian non-profit. .Bill C-367 is an alleged response to antisemitic demonstrations across Canada since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. “Blanchet has implied that the reason police are allowing antisemitic speech to happen is because our Criminal Code contains a ‘religious speech’ defence against ‘hate crime’ charges, and therefore, this defence must be eliminated,” CLC said. .The Criminal Code currently has a law against advocating genocide, per Section 318. “Bill C-367 is not really about preventing the advocacy of antisemitism, but rather, it’s just an opportunistic and cynical ruse to allow for the prosecution of Christian pastors and laypeople who preach biblical truths about human sexuality,” wrote CLC. “In time, government authorities will also prosecute Jewish rabbis and Muslim imams when they express traditional sexual ethics.”
