Liberals to support Bloc move to remove religious exemption from hate speech laws on Tuesday: source

OTTAWA — After a week of delays and uncertainty, the Liberals say a deal is back on the rails with the Bloc Québécois to remove religious exemptions from Canada’s hate-speech laws in exchange for support to help pass the government’s bill targeting hate and terror symbols.

A senior government source confirmed to National Post that the Liberals on the House of Commons justice committee, which is currently doing a clause-by-clause study of Bill C-9, are expected to support a Bloc amendment to the legislation that will remove the controversial exemption during a Tuesday afternoon meeting.

“Anything can happen at committee, but… we’ll be voting for it,” said the source about the Bloc amendment. They were granted anonymity to discuss inter-party negotiations freely.

Last week, National Post reported that the Bloc and Liberals had struck a deal that would see the government approve an amendment to Bill C-9 that removes the religious exemption for willful promotion of hate from the Criminal Code. In exchange, the Bloc committed to supporting the bill through the House of Commons.

A deal with the Bloc is likely the only way the Liberals can get the bill through committee, as the Conservatives have vowed to oppose it.

But after the report, the deal appeared suddenly to be on shaky ground as both meetings of the Justice committee last week where the amendment was expected to be debated were either cancelled or suspended by the Liberals.

Liberal committee chair James Maloney said at the time he cancelled the meeting to allow MPs to “regroup and find a path forward” as “emotions were running high.” At the same time, the government faced a groundswell of opposition to the amendment by various Muslim, Christian and civil rights groups.

After the second planned committee meeting last week was cancelled at the last minute, the Bloc Québécois accused the Liberals of reneging on a deal they said originally came from Justice Minister Sean Fraser himself.

“The Liberals are abandoning their deal with the Bloc and are abandoning Quebecers. They are pulling the plug on C-9,” Bloc justice critic Rhéal Fortin said in the House of Commons Monday. “How are they going to justify this about-face after so many broken promises?”

In a statement Tuesday, Bloc Québécois spokesperson Julien Coulombe-Bonnafous confirmed Tuesday’s justice committee meeting was going forward.

“If there is no parliamentary obstruction, the Bloc Québécois amendment to remove the religious exemption for hate speech should be discussed,” he said.

Currently, the Criminal Code exempts individuals from charges of willful promotion of hate or antisemitism if the speech is based in good faith on the interpretation of a religious text.

Eliminating the religious exemption is supported by Jewish and LGBTQ groups, the Bloc as well as the Quebec government, who have called for its removal repeatedly since 2023. They all say religion should not be used as a cover for antisemitic or hateful speech.

But news of the Liberals agreeing to remove the religious exemption generated significant backlash from Muslim, Christian and civil liberties groups as well as the Conservatives, who described it as an attack on both freedom of speech and religion. They have argued that it risks criminalizing individuals speaking about their faith.

Bill C-9, which fulfilled a campaign promise Prime Minister Mark Carney made during the spring election, was his minority government’s first major justice bill introduced earlier this fall by Justice Minister Sean Fraser.

It seeks multiple changes to the Criminal Code to confront the issue of hate, with the Liberals citing a rise in police-reported incidents in recent years, particularly in the wake of sustained anti-Israel protests over the last two years.

More to come…

National Post

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