It remains to be seen if the Liberal Party will ultimately be compelled to scrap the Combatting Hate Act down the road, but it is clear that Bill C-9’s legislative momentum in the House of Commons has been significantly disrupted.  

Civil rights organizations and faith-based groups challenging the bill cheered on Jan. 26 when both Liberal and Conservative members of the justice and human rights committee paused clause-by-clause consideration of Bill C-9. This was done to prioritize a review of Bill C-14, the Bail Reform Act. The one Bloc Québécois member, MP Rhéal Fortin, voted against the delay.

Fortin introduced the controversial amendment, agreed upon by the Liberals on Dec. 9, to remove the religious-speech protections from the hate law section of Canada’s Criminal Code. The centrepiece provisions of the bill are criminalizing intimidation and obstruction outside of establishments used by faith-based groups and banning the intentional flaunting of “certain terrorism or hate symbols in public.”

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The review of Bill C-9 was scheduled to resume on Feb. 9 following three sessions focused on bail reform. However, Liberal chair James Maloney cancelled the meeting shortly before it was to start.

Feb. 23 is the next possible date for a justice and human rights committee meeting as parliamentarians take off the week of Family Day.

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Minister of Justice and Attorney General Sean Fraser, the bill’s sponsor, spoke out on Feb. 10 against what he perceives as “obstruction” by the Conservatives when his party is “trying to collaborate” and is apparently willing to make modifications.

“We have seen requests from the Conservatives to shift the definition of hate in the bill,” said Fraser. “We’re willing to accommodate those. We have seen requests to change the requirements around the role of the consent of the attorney general. We’re willing to accommodate those. We’ve seen calls to make clear that you are not able to classify reading religious texts as hate. We’re willing to accommodate that and are willing to put text in the bill that indicates the wilful promotion of hatred does not include reading religious texts or ordinary practices of faith.”

These convictions contrast with public statements uttered by former justice and human rights committee chairman Marc Miller, who was appointed as the Canadian identity and culture minister on Dec. 1.

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Speaking for 4 My Canada, a Christian political advocacy group, was Brandan Tran, Campaign Life Coalition’s director of public affairs and outreach. He said all groups at the podium “unequivocally oppose anti-Semitism, violence, intimidation and hatred in all its forms,” but “threats, vandalism and calls for genocide are already offences listed under Canada’s Criminal Code.”

Petitions from the aforementioned groups have attracted signatures from over 60,000 Canadians and were presented to lawmakers.