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Combatting Hate Act

2026-06-15 Sitting 136 Showing 1–15 of 15

A bill to change hate speech laws. It would remove the requirement for the Attorney General's consent before laying hate propaganda charges, create new offenses for hate-motivated crimes and intimidation to impede access to religious or community sites, and criminalize displaying hate symbols in public. In debate, the Bloc pressed for Attorney General oversight to prevent abuse and misuse. The Conservatives argued it was performative and that existing laws suffice. The Liberals emphasized rising hate crimes and the need for this law to protect minorities and places of worship.

Official Hansard ↗

Hon. Kevin Lamoureux

Liberal 11:00 p.m.

“I want this bill to pass. People are sad and angry. The government should do something. This bill should not hurt religious freedoms. What does the other guy think about religious freedoms?”

Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, the member from the Bloc really elevates the necessity of having legislation of this nature. Sadly, there are too many in society who want to play a destructive role when it comes to racial tensions and behaviours. The hate out there is very tangible. That is one reason I believe it is very important to see this legislation pass. Over the last number of years, I have found there is a certain element of society that has been emboldened, and we are seeing more racist behaviour and hatred out there that is not acceptable. This legislation, I think, would make a difference. My Conservative friends should realize that it would not impact religious freedoms. I wonder if the member can give his thoughts on the religious freedoms issue.

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Lori Idlout

Liberal 11:15 p.m.

“You're talking about the old system where the Attorney General has to approve charges. I want you to talk more about that. It must be important. I hope explaining it will make me look smart.”

Hon. Evan Solomon

Liberal 11:20 p.m.

“I want this bill to pass. I talk about protecting people from hate. I don't mention any trade-offs or costs.”

Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time tonight. I am pleased to rise today to speak to the message from the Senate concerning Bill C-9, the combatting hate act. At the outset, I would like to thank all who have contributed to the development and the study of the legislation: the Minister of Justice, the members of the House and Senate from all parties who participated in the debate, witnesses who appeared before committee, community organizations, faith leaders, legal experts, advocates and Canadians who shared their experiences and perspectives throughout this process. Today we are considering a message from the Senate that includes an amendment to Bill C-9. Our government supports this amendment. I will speak to that shortly. I think we should remember first why the legislation was introduced in the first place. At its core, Bill C-9 is about basic things: protecting all Canadians from hate and making sure that every Canadian has the right to worship in safety, to gather at their community centre in safety, to go to a summer camp that is a religious camp in safety, and to be who they want to be and to worship whom they want in safety. This is a diverse country. In my riding of Toronto Centre, there are people of every different faith and people of different backgrounds, cultures, ethnicities, identities and beliefs, just as there are living together in communities across our nation, and that diversity is to be celebrated. That diversity is our great strength. It strengthens our communities, our economies, our values and our openness. That inclusion is part of who we are, but we have to be candid about what is happening. We have seen a startling crisis of hate, specifically a disproportionate and vicious rise in anti-Semitic attacks in the last two years, specifically targeting the Jewish community, but also all forms of hate. We should name them, and one does not diminish the pain of the other by naming anti-Semitism, by naming Islamophobia, by naming homophobia or by naming anti-Black racism. This does not diminish one or the other or group them together. What it does is identify groups, individuals and families who are experiencing disproportionate hate. Across the country, Canadians are witnessing these attacks against places of worship, threats directed at religious and cultural communities, acts of intimidation, hateful demonstrations and targeted harassment against individuals. The synagogue where I was raised, where I was bar mitzvahed and where I was confirmed, Temple Emanu-el, was shot with 20 bullets through the glass front doors, where I entered and so many families to this day enter in peace. There were people inside. Thank God no one was hurt. In so many synagogues across the country, this is happening. We know this, and it is one of the key reasons for Bill C-9. It is so sad that it is necessary for us to do this in Canada, but it is, and it is for the people who are directly affected. I have spoken to them. I know them. They are members of my own family. These incidents are not simply statistics. People are fearful. They have anxiety. They ask us, as a government, what we are going to do to protect them. They feel vulnerable. They want legislation to protect their community centres, their schools and their places of worship, and we need to make sure not just that they are heard but also that we act on that. That is what the bill is about, because no Canadian needs to live in fear. No Canadian should be intimidated when they are attending a synagogue, a mosque, a church, a temple, a community centre or a cultural gathering where people practice their faith or celebrate their heritage. I was recently in Quebec City with colleagues, and we went to the mosque that was shot up. We met two survivors. They had bullets still in their bodies. They remember that tragic act of Islamophobia, and they live with those wounds. Today it is anti-Semitic attacks on the rise, and that time it was Islamophobic attacks. Sometimes there have been attacks on the 2SLGBTQ community. Just recently it was the moment to mark the anniversary of what happened in the club where so many members of that community were massacred. Bill C-9 responds to these tragic realities. The legislation would create new, important tools within the Criminal Code to address hate-motivated conduct and better protect communities and better protect people, families and kids who are being targeted when they just want to live their life in this great country of ours. Among the measures, the bill would create new offences aimed at preventing the obstruction of access to places primarily used by an identifiable group and preventing intimidation of individuals seeking to access those spaces. If we go to a synagogue today, there are police cars around it. Some hon. members: Oh, oh! Evan Solomon: Mr. Speaker, members of the opposition are chirping about that, but they can come to the synagogue where I was and try chirping, because we are there, there is fear and this bill would stop it. This is not a slogan and this is not something to be divided on and try to score points about. This is about supporting a bill that would protect people and prevent this kind of fear and intimidation. The bill would create new hate-motivated offences that could be applied when a criminal offence is committed that is motivated by hate towards an identifiable group. This reflects the sad reality that hate-motivated crimes do not only harm individual victims; they send a message to the entire community. They create fear, they create intimidation and they create communities that feel targeted. When someone commits a crime motivated by hatred towards a religious group, an ethnic community or another identifiable group, the impact extends beyond the single victim. Bill C-9 recognizes that reality and would ensure that our criminal law reflects the broader harm that hate-motivated crimes can cause. This legislation also addresses the public display of hate symbols used to promote hate, such as the symbols of listed terrorist organizations. These symbols have long been associated with terror and intimidation, persecution and discrimination, and they have been used throughout history to threaten, terrorize and dehumanize. On the purpose of the legislation, let us be clear, and let us not twist it to score a political point. I know that my hon. colleagues in the opposition, in good faith, want to protect Canadians like everyone else. This is not about regulating legitimate debate or limiting legitimate debate. This is not about limiting political disagreement. In fact, we protect that every single day. This is not about limiting academic discussion or religious expression. That is protected. Religious freedom is protected under section 2 of the charter. Canadians remain free to express those views, to disagree with one another and to engage in public discourse. Rather, this legislation is focused on conduct that promotes hatred and seeks to intimidate or target communities, and these are important. The Senate has proposed an amendment to include the noose among the hate symbols captured by legislation. We support this amendment, because at the heart of this, it is not about limiting religious freedoms. We have a protected charter right to practise sincere religious beliefs, but not to invoke hate or incite violence, and the right to be protected in any forum where one is inciting hatred or promoting violence against another identifiable group. Bill C-9 is necessary. Bill C-9 is urgent to protect our citizens, to protect our communities and to protect our schools, and to do it in a very specific manner and a very targeted way so that it does not limit freedom of expression or religious expression, but rather protects communities that are feeling threatened. My hon. colleagues from the opposition say they want to protect all communities. This is their chance to act on it in an expeditious way.

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Hon. Evan Solomon

Liberal 11:30 p.m.

“I want more laws against hate. Police need more guidance to secure citizens where they worship and go to school. This bill adds a new category for displaying hate symbols. It's not just words. It would be the law.”

Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault

Liberal 11:30 p.m.

“Nobody should feel unsafe because of who they are or where they worship. Hate crimes are rising in Canada. I think we should work together and pass this legislation before summer. Let's set partisanship aside.”

Hon. Evan Solomon

Liberal 11:30 p.m.

“I want to pass this bill. It will protect communities and places of worship. Police need guidelines to do that. Stop creating division. Let's vote on this bill.”

Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for his work bringing communities together and keeping them safe. This is an extremely important time for us to have a thorough and fair debate about how we are protecting communities, but it is not the time to invoke more division. It is not the time to stand in the way of the protection laws that the leaders of these communities and the opposition are purporting they want to protect. Bill C-9 is the very thing that communities are asking for, which is laws that protect them and their places of worship and that give police guidelines on how they should protect these communities. This is not the time for more division or to divide one Canadian against another with false ideas of what the bill would do. The bill is clear. It would protect not only freedom of religion but also communities. It is time to vote to protect communities and listen to the community leaders.

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Hon. Evan Solomon

Liberal 11:30 p.m.

“We already have laws against hate crimes. But I want to pass a new law too. Maybe that will help the people who need protection. I want to look like I'm doing something. I'm the Minister after all.”

Natilien Joseph

Liberal 11:30 p.m.

“I want to talk about feelings and not the actual bill. Hate is bad. My community is a victim. I want to look like a champion for my community. This bill will make me look like I'm helping them.”

Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise to speak on behalf of the people of Longueuil—Saint‑Hubert. There are days in the House that are full of procedure and routine, and then there are days like this, where Parliament is doing exactly what it was created to do. These are the moments that give true meaning to the office we hold. My colleagues have explained the mechanics of Bill C‑9. I will use my speaking time to address the reality that this bill recognizes. Let us start by stating the obvious: Hate is real in Canada. It exists today, in 2026, in our workplaces, our schools, our places of worship, and our neighbourhoods. Statistics Canada data confirms this year after year: Police-reported hate crimes have risen sharply. Synagogues are being targeted, mosques are being targeted, and people are being singled out because of their background, faith, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Black Canadians are consistently among the groups most affected. I am going to talk about these communities that are being targeted. Black communities have been part of the fabric of this country from the beginning. They have helped to build it, defend it, care for it and educate it. The Haitian community has had roots in Quebec for over 60 years. It has given us doctors and nurses who have kept our health care system afloat. It has given us teachers, entrepreneurs, artists and members of the House of Commons and Quebec National Assembly, and yet these very communities face a dual reality that Parliament must have the courage to acknowledge. Black Canadians are overrepresented in our prisons. Reports from the Office of the Correctional Investigator have been documenting this for years. At the same time, they are also overrepresented among victims: victims of hate crimes, victims of intimidation, victims of acts meant to remind them that they will always be seen as different. Bill C‑9 tells this community and all communities targeted by hate that the law sees when they are targeted. The amendment regarding the noose is the clearest expression of all this. This symbol carries a history of terror that all Black families know without needing to be taught. When it appears on a construction site or in a locker room—and yes, that still happens—its message is instantly understood. Until now, a victim who reported such acts would find themselves thrown into a legal maze. However, from now on, Canadian law will clearly state that using this symbol to intimidate or promote hatred is an offence. Confronting anti-Black hate means naming it. That is exactly what this amendment does. I would like to highlight the fact that this amendment comes from the Senate. It was the senators who listened to their communities, who scrutinized this bill thoroughly and who saw that it could be improved. I thank them. This is our parliamentary system at its best: two chambers working together to produce better legislation. The stand-alone hate crime offence, the heart of the bill from the outset, completes this work. Hate takes forms that leave no visible mark: repeated threats, violence and intimidation. This offence gives the justice system the tools to prosecute these acts for what they are: criminal offences. For victims, no matter which community they belong to, the equation changes. Reporting will be worth it. No single law can resolve decades of inequality on its own, but this law does what it can. It acknowledges suffering that has long gone unnamed, and it tells Black Canadians and Haitian Canadians, as well as all communities affected by hate, that their government sees what they are going through and takes it seriously. There is no room in Canada for symbols that deliberately promote hate. Voting for this bill will be one of my proudest moments in this House. I urge all of my colleagues from every party to do the same.

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Natilien Joseph

Liberal 11:40 p.m.

“You should already know this. I want this bill to pass so the government can claim it is helping everyone. More safety laws for everyone!”

Natilien Joseph

Liberal 11:40 p.m.

“You say you support freedom. But I'm not going to answer about religion or your law. Instead I'll bring up how your party wanted to take Quebec out of multiculturalism. Maybe you don't agree with your own party.”

Hon. Kevin Lamoureux

Liberal 11:40 p.m.

“I got a lawyer to say my bill doesn't threaten freedom. See, he's honest! Everyone who says different is lying to you.”

Natilien Joseph

Liberal 11:40 p.m.

“I don't like what Conservatives say. That makes me sad. They shouldn't be allowed to undermine how I want everyone to get along.”

John-Paul Danko

Liberal 11:50 p.m.

“I'm filling time with kind words and saying nothing anyone could pin down later.”

Hon. Ruby Sahota

Liberal 11:55 p.m.

“Some people did something bad with a noose in Toronto. I hope that makes you look bad.”

Hon. Kevin Lamoureux

Liberal 11:55 p.m.

“Don't believe what the Conservatives are saying about this bill. They're spreading misinformation.”

What they said. What they meant.

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