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<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n To secure Bloc Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois support for its censorious Bill C-9, the Liberals have reportedly agreed<\/a> to a troubling trade: removing the long-standing religious defence from Canada\u2019s hate-speech laws. This would be a mistake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bill C-9, the Carney government\u2019s combating hate act, would expand criminal prohibitions on expression and increase penalties for speech offences, including online speech. Now, the bill may also gut the defence that protects good-faith religious opinion or speech rooted in religious texts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout the justice committee\u2019s hearings, Bloc MPs fixated on this defence. Their central example, repeated to nearly every witness, was a group prayer delivered by controversial imam Adil Charkaoui at a Quebec pro-Palestinian rally in 2023. In that prayer, Charkaoui asked God<\/a> to \u201ckill the enemies of the people of Gaza\u201d and take care of the \u201cZionist aggressors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Those comments were rightly condemned. They are grotesque. Complaints about them were investigated, and the RCMP prepared a report. It was reviewed by three Crown prosecutors, who concluded that no charges were warranted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n As Quebec\u2019s director of criminal and penal prosecutions put it, \u201cThe evidence does not establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the words spoken constitute incitement to hatred against an identifiable group\u201d under Sec. 319 of the Criminal Code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n One may argue that \u201cZionist\u201d was just code for \u201cJews.\u201d One may also believe that praying for death is morally abhorrent. But the decision not to charge Charkaoui turned on the basic threshold of incitement to hatred, not on the religious defence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n And even if it had involved the defence, one inflammatory prayer at a political rally is not a justification for dismantling a safeguard that protects millions of Canadians from state intrusion into matters of faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The religious defence has also been essential to the constitutionality of the hate-speech prohibition itself. In R v Keegstra, the Supreme Court wrote that the offence is a minimal impairment on the right to freedom of expression, in part because of \u201cthe presence of the Sec. 319(3) defences.\u201d The courts upheld the law because the religious exemption exists. Remove it, and the constitutional floor collapses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n But even beyond constitutional risk, removing the defence is a profound moral and civil liberties mistake. We should not want, let alone empower, prosecutors to criminalize any form of prayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Religious texts across traditions contain pleas for justice against enemies, metaphors for divine retribution and expressions of anguish, symbolism and cosmic struggle. This is not the realm of the police. If the state begins parsing Psalms or Hadiths line-by-line in a courtroom, then we have forgotten why the Charter exists at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Advertisement 1<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trending<\/p>\n\n\n\n In practice, the defence is already exceedingly narrow. It has rarely been invoked and, based on my case law search, has never succeeded. Courts have also rejected attempts to cloak hateful speech in religious language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n In R v Harding, for example, the Court of Appeal for Ontario affirmed a lower court\u2019s finding that the defence does not shield speech that wilfully promotes hatred merely because it is embedded with religious language, because then \u201creligious opinion could be used with impunity as a Trojan horse to carry the intended message of hate forbidden by Sec. 319.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Religious expression is messy, symbolic and deeply human. It concerns the nature of justice, suffering, good and evil \u2014 the most intimate dimensions of identity and conscience. These are precisely the areas where the criminal law must not tread. We do not want the government parsing religious texts, or religious speech, especially given that most of our political leaders are absolutely ignorant of religion, including, in some cases, their own religion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, in a shocking display at the justice committee, Liberal committee chair Marc Miller claimed<\/a> to Derek Ross, executive director of the Christian Legal Fellowship, that portions of the Bible are \u201chateful.\u201d Miller then doubled down on X, writing, \u201cI say this, in particular because I am a Christian,\u201d which is in itself mind-boggling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s dangerous for politicians to believe they can use statutes to sanitize scripture they don\u2019t even properly understand. Criminal law is the state\u2019s most violent instrument. It should not be swung at the human soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Bible is the most banned book<\/a> in history, precisely because it is powerful and points to an authority beyond the reach of government. A government that fears religious speech is not fighting extremism \u2014 it\u2019s fighting competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The proposed amendment to Bill C-9 would take Canada down a dark path. We should never have criminalized belief in the first place. Strip away the religious defence, and Canada will not be combating hate, it will be criminalizing faith. The defence must be maintained. (National Post<\/strong>, December 4, 2025)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Christine Van Geyn: Changes to Bill C-9 aren’t combating hate \u2014 they’re criminalizing faith The Bible is the most banned book in history, precisely because it is powerful and points to an authority beyond the reach of government Author of … Continue reading ![\"Book](\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/nationalpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-1263348133.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=288&h=216&sig=0NEhHn6jiFGs0KKKbrXeiw\")