Jewish groups welcomed the government’s anti-hate bill passing through the Commons Wednesday evening after months of filibustering and fractious debate about whether it threatens religious freedom.
Bill C-9, as it’s known, would make it a crime, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, to obstruct someone from accessing a place of worship or other sites where Jews, Muslims and other identifiable groups gather.
The bill also criminalizes the willful promotion of hatred toward religious and ethnic groups by publicly displaying terror or hate symbols.
Conservatives have railed against the bill which they have said would limit religious freedom, holding it up for months in committee with lengthy filibusters.
Their opposition focused on the bill’s proposal to remove a religious exemption in the Criminal Code allowing someone who quotes from a religious text to escape prosecution for hate speech. Bloc Québécois MPs have argued for years that the exemption can be used as cover for promoting homophobia, racial abuse and antisemitism and they tabled an amendment to the bill which the Liberals supported.
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But Conservatives argue that removing the exemption could curb religious freedom. Last year, several Conservative MPs brought Bibles to the justice committee, where the bill was scrutinized for months, to reinforce their arguments.
On Wednesday in a third reading debate, Conservative Andrew Lawton, who once single-handedly filibustered an entire meeting of the justice committee to hold up the bill, said he has heard from scores of people of faith who were concerned that it would hamper religious expression.
In the final Commons debate on the bill, Larry Brock, Conservative justice critic, said the removal of the religious defence, which has existed for 56 years, was not in the original bill, but appeared late in its progress through the Commons through the unexpected amendment.
Mr. Brock said millions of Canadians, including Jews, Christians, Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus, had expressed concern about removing the religious exemption.
He accused the government of shutting down debate about the change to the Criminal Code which he said had been rushed through “for political reasons only.”
Earlier this month, the government, after months of delay in committee, moved a motion to fast-track the bill so it can move onto its next stage in the Senate, which is expected to begin after Parliament returns from its Easter break.
But Mr. Brock accused the government of choosing “speed over scrutiny, process over principle and politics over clarity.”
The Conservatives tried to send the bill back to the Commons justice committee in an 11th hour attempt to halt its progress. But their attempt was defeated.
However, Conservatives in the Senate are expected to continue to oppose the bill.
Kevin Lamoureux, parliamentary secretary to the Government House Leader, accused the Conservatives of spreading misinformation and fear among members of religious communities. He said the bill would not take away the religious rights of Canadians or hamper their ability to quote from scripture.
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Bloc Québécois MP Gabriel Ste-Marie said his party supported freedom of expression and freedom of religion, but not if it goes so far as inciting hatred.
Liberal MP Anthony Housefather said he had been arguing for years for protections contained in the bill in the face of rising attacks on the Jewish community. And he noted that in the past month three synagogues in Toronto have been shot at.
He said the bill gives special protection for people seeking to worship, including in churches, synagogues and mosques, making it harder for people “screaming and yelling” and carrying hate symbols from obstructing people entering and leaving.
Speaking in the debate, Mr. Housefather argued that an intimidation and obstruction offence was needed to ensure that people could freely enter and leave their places of worship and schools.
Mr. Housefather added that existing laws to combat hate were not always used by police.
A number of Jewish organizations, including the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center and B’nai Brith Canada, welcomed the adoption of Bill C-9 by the House of Commons.
In a joint statement, they said “Jewish communities across Canada have faced escalating threats, intimidation” for more than two years.
They urged the Senate to “move quickly to pass Bill C-9 and help ensure that all Canadians can live in safety and security.”
However, the advocacy group Independent Jewish Voices Canada warned that the bill could curb legitimate protest and risks criminalizing dissent.
In a statement, it said “heinous acts” such as the targeting of Jewish religious premises and businesses in Toronto and Montreal should not be used to justify legislation that could suppress activism, “particularly when associated with criticism of the State of Israel and support for Palestinian human rights.”
Tim McSorley, national co-ordinator of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, expressed concern that the prohibition on publicly displaying terror symbols could capture imagery that looks similar but is unrelated.
He said images related to the Ku Klux Klan would not be covered by the bill’s provisions.