Religious Freedom

During his Jan. 30 address at the Conservative Party of Canada's national policy convention (Jan. 29-31) in Calgary, Poilievre told those gathered, "You will have the ability to worship God in your own way.”

Groups that opposed Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Act and its threat to criminalize religious speech, are celebrating after the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights voted Jan. 26 to delay further consideration until after tackling Bill C-14, the Bail Reform and Sentencing Act.

Parliamentarians return to the House of Commons from their winter recess on Jan. 26, which will trigger renewed debate over Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Act.

The Christian Heritage Party (CHP) of Canada and the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) are taking to the courts next month to defend freedom of political and religious expression.

For the fourth consecutive year, North Korea was named the country where Christians face the most extreme persecution, according to Open Doors’ World Watch List 2026, but Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's dictatorship just over a year ago has propelled the Mideast nation up the list.

A charged justice and human rights committee debate over Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Act, will persist into 2026 as the Liberal Chair, James Maloney, suspended sittings for the rest of the year.

Excerpt from Cardinal Francis Leo’s letter of support for the CCCB’s concern about federal Bill C-9, and an edited text of the CCCB letter.

Liberal MPs on the justice and human rights committee voted Tuesday evening to approve a controversial Bloc Québécois amendment to Bill C-9 that removes the religious speech defence from Canada’s hate speech law.

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) is urging Prime Minister Mark Carney to retract the Liberal Party’s reported agreement with the Bloc Québécois to remove religious-belief exemptions from Canada’s hate speech laws.

The Quebec government will be expanding its secularism rules across public institutions in a new bill that is expected to be tabled Thursday.