CALGARY, AB: The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms announces the release of Restoring Freedom in Canada: An Agenda for Parliament and the Senate, a new report proposing wide-ranging reforms to protect constitutional freedoms, limit government overreach, and strengthen democratic accountability. The report comes as Parliament prepares to return on September 21, 2026, followed by the Senate on September 28.

The Justice Centre is calling for a national debate about the kind of country Canadians want to build and the principles that should guide federal lawmakers.

The report argues that freedom should not be treated as one policy objective among many. It should be the starting point for judging legislation and government action. Laws that expand surveillance, regulate expression, weaken privacy, treat Canadians differently based on race or ancestry, or interfere with personal medical decisions must face careful public scrutiny.

The following key priorities are outlined:

Protect privacy and digital freedom

• Defeat Bill C-34, the Safe Social Media Act. This sweeping law could force every Canadian, not only children, to submit to age-verification or age-estimation systems before accessing social media. It would also place online expression under the watch of a powerful, Cabinet-appointed Digital Safety Commission armed with intrusive inspection and enforcement powers.
• Defeat Bill C-22, the Lawful Access Act. The report warns that the Bill would expand government access to Canadians’ digital information, lower the legal threshold for obtaining subscriber information, and require service providers to retain and organize data for easier state access.
• Strengthen federal privacy laws and amend Bill C-36. The Bill recognizes privacy as a fundamental right but would transfer oversight from the independent Privacy Commissioner to a Cabinet-appointed commission and leave key protections to future regulations. Companies should not disclose personal information to government without judicial authorization, except in genuine emergencies.
• Reject a national digital identification system. Digital credentials must remain genuinely voluntary. Canadians must retain non-digital alternatives, and governments must be prohibited from using digital identity systems to track behaviour, build profiles, or control access to lawful services.
• Reject a central bank digital currency and protect access to cash. Canadians should retain the freedom to conduct lawful transactions without every purchase becoming part of a centralized digital record. Parliament should guarantee continued access to cash and reject laws that unnecessarily restrict its lawful use.

Protect free expression and restore an independent press

• Repeal Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Act.The report calls for the restoration of the Criminal Code defence for good-faith religious opinions based on religious texts. Criminal law should remain precise and restrained when freedom of conscience, religion, and expression are at stake.
• Repeal the Online Streaming Act. The federal government should not use the CRTC to influence what Canadians watch, hear, and discover online or to determine what qualifies as authentic Canadian culture.
• Repeal the Online News Act. Government should not manage the financial structure of the news industry or make the circulation of information more difficult. A free press should compete for readers, subscribers, and advertisers without becoming dependent on government policy.
• End government funding of media. The report argues that media outlets cannot hold government accountable while depending on that same government for lavish subsidies.
• Strengthen the Access to Information Act. Federal officials should be required to create and preserve records explaining important decisions. Mandatory deadlines should be enforced, ministers’ offices should be brought within the Act, and claims of Cabinet confidentiality should be independently reviewed.

Defend equality, family autonomy, and medical choice

• Protect female-only spaces for women and girls. The report affirms the importance of female-only crisis centres, sporting categories, washrooms, changerooms, and prisons. Its immediate call to action is to end the placement of trans-identifying male offenders in women’s prisons.
• End race-based sentencing. Canadians who commit comparable crimes should not receive different punishments on the basis of race, ancestry, or immigration status. The report recommends repealing section 718.2(e) of the Criminal Code and ending the use of Impact of Race and Culture Assessments in sentencing.
• End laws and agreements that grant privileges based on race or ancestry. Rights-recognition agreements should be transparent, protect existing private property, and involve meaningful consultation with provinces, municipalities, affected residents, and the public.
• Remove the state from counselling rooms. Criminal law should punish coercion and abuse, not dictate which personal or therapeutic goals adults may pursue. The report calls for the repeal of the Criminal Code prohibition on counselling choices enacted through Bill C-4.
• Stop expanding physician-assisted suicide. Parliament should permanently exclude mental illness as a sole qualifying condition, strengthen protections for vulnerable Canadians, protect conscience- and faith-based healthcare institutions, and improve access to suicide-free palliative care.
• Restore medical autonomy and healthcare choice. The report calls for the repeal of the Canada Health Act, allowing provinces to develop and test different approaches to delivering timely healthcare in accordance with their constitutional jurisdiction.

Protect Canadian sovereignty and democratic accountability

• Do not surrender Canadian decision-making to unaccountable international bodies. International cooperation must remain subject to Canadian voters and the Parliament they elect. The federal government should not enter binding agreements that compromise Canada’s ability to act in the interests of Canadians.

The report calls on Canadians to measure Parliament’s work against a practical question: Does a proposed law protect the freedom and dignity of citizens, or does it give government unnecessary control over their lives?

Justice Centre Research and Education Director Mike Campbell said, “Canadians should expect Parliament and the Senate to defend freedom deliberately and consistently.”

“Government exists to serve citizens, not to monitor their private lives, control what they say and read, or manage their personal decisions,” he added.

The Justice Centre is Canada’s leading civil liberties organization defending Charter rights and freedoms in the courts of law and in the court of public opinion. Founded in 2010, the Justice Centre funds lawyers across Canada, relies entirely on voluntary donations to carry out its mission, and issues official tax receipts to donors.