Submissions

The Justice Centre’s submission argues that Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Act, threatens freedom of expression and is unnecessary, inconsistent, and politically motivated. The document warns that removing the Attorney General’s consent requirement for hate-speech prosecutions will lead to more Canadians being charged over their words, while new prohibitions on certain political symbols are arbitrary and risk criminalizing legitimate expression. It criticizes the bill for attempting to define and punish emotions like “hatred,” for imposing excessive and duplicative penalty increases, and for creating new offences—such as impeding access to places of worship—that are already covered under existing Criminal Code provisions. The submission contends that Bill C-9 could criminalize peaceful protest, expand subjective enforcement, and undermine important legal defences, especially the long-standing religious-expression defence under section 319(3). Overall, it concludes that Bill C-9 is unnecessary, overbroad, and harmful to Charter freedoms.