Portage–Lisgar MP warns Bill C-9 could ‘criminalize’ Bible passages
- Steven Sukkau
- Dec 19, 2025 Updated 2 hrs ago
A Manitoba Conservative MP is warning that the federal government’s proposed Combating Hate Act could threaten religious freedom, claiming amendments tied to Bill C-9 may allow prosecutors to “criminalize quoting the Bible.”
Brandon Leslie, the Portage–Lisgar MP, posted the warning on Facebook this week, calling the legislation “Orwellian overreach” and urging Canadians to reject it. He also promoted a petition suggesting Liberal-Bloc amendments could be used to prosecute people who share scripture from the Bible, Quran, Torah or other religious texts.
“The state has no place in the religious texts or teachings of any faith community,” the petition says, arguing that freedom of expression and religion must be protected.
Leslie repeated the accusations in Question Period, accusing the Liberals of trying to “police the thoughts of Canadians” by “making amendments to criminalize sections of sacred texts.” He linked Bill C-9 to broader cultural grievances, claiming Liberals “tacitly support tearing down statues” and are waging a war on “values, faith and heritage.”
“Canadians do not want a government that wages war on their values, their faith, and their heritage,” he told the House.
**New criminal offences target intimidation and hate symbols**
Bill C-9 was tabled in the House of Commons on October 7, and aims to update hate-crime provisions, create new offences against intimidating or blocking access to religious and cultural sites, and ban the public display of Nazi and terrorist hate symbols unless for journalism, education, religion or art.
If passed, Bill C-9 would make it a criminal offence to intimidate someone in order to stop them from entering places of worship, cultural centres, schools, seniors’ homes or cemeteries, with penalties reaching up to 10 years in prison.
The bill would also make it illegal to intentionally obstruct access to those same locations, though it includes an exception for people who are there solely to obtain or communicate information — intended to protect peaceful protest and information sharing.
Another major component of the legislation is the creation of a new hate-crime offence that increases penalties when an underlying Criminal Code offence is motivated by hatred toward an “identifiable group,” such as those defined by race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, age or disability.
Finally, the bill proposes a new hate-propaganda offence that would prohibit the public display of Nazi swastikas, SS bolts or symbols linked to terrorist entities. The measure includes defences to allow legitimate purposes such as journalism, education, artistic expression or religious context, ensuring those uses would not be captured by the criminal prohibition.
The law would also allow police to seek wiretap warrants and DNA orders for intimidation crimes, and judges would be able to impose bail conditions like no-contact orders or geographic restrictions, subject to judicial discretion and review.
The Charter review explicitly states that “hatred” is defined as extreme vilification, not dislike or discomfort, and that the bill would not criminalize expression that merely “discredits, humiliates, hurts or offends.”
It also clarifies that legitimate religious expression, including quoting sacred texts, does not meet the legal threshold for hate promotion unless it is used with wilful intent to encourage violence or extreme vilification.