CFE joins 36 other civil society organizations in calling on the Carney Government to withdraw Bill C-9 (Combatting Hate Act)
Today, the Centre for Free Expression (CFE) joined 36 other civil society organizations, in a letter calling on the federal government to withdraw Bill C-9 – The Combatting Hate Act.
“Bill C-9 is deeply flawed and cannot be fixed by amendments,” said James L. Turk, CFE Director. “It creates new criminal laws that risk serious and unjustified infringements on Charter-protected fundamental freedoms, including the criminalization of peaceful protest.”
The joint letter urges the government to pursue community-based alternatives that protect vulnerable groups without compromising the rights and freedoms of people in Canada.
The letter identifies deep flaws in the Bill. One is it would create a new “intimidation” offence which is so broadly and vaguely defined that it could lead to the suppression of constitutionally protected expression and peaceful assembly.
Ironically, this new offence could prevent workers and members of marginalized groups from protesting outside of their own institutions, thereby depriving people of opportunities to express dissent in situations where they face power imbalances.
As Anaïs Bussières McNicoll, Director of the Fundamental Freedoms Program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, has noted, “Bill C-9 risks criminalizing peaceful protests near tens of thousands of locations in Canada. In doing so, this Bill would disproportionately harm the very communities it purports to protect. We urge the government to reverse course on Bill C-9.”
The letter also highlights that the proposed section that would criminalize the wilful promotion of hatred through the public display of certain terrorism or hate symbols lack clear and meaningful safeguards. As written, this provision could criminalize peaceful protesters, in part because listing organizations on Canada’s terror list is a process that lacks transparency and offers limited avenues of appeal.
In addition, the letter points out that the Bill would remove the long-standing requirement that the Attorney General consent to hate propaganda charges. This would increase the risk of arbitrary, inconsistent or selective enforcement, especially against equity-deserving groups who have historically been subject to excessive surveillance and policing of their expression.
Finally, the Bill would create a new hate crime offence that risks leading to excessive and disproportionate sentencing. Here again, the biases inherent in the police use of discretion may lead to discrepancies in the selection of which cases are investigated and charged as hate crimes, to the detriment of some racialized and marginalized groups.
“CFE, as well as other signatories, will be raising these issues strongly as the Bill goes through the parliamentary process,” said Turk.
Read the full letter here.
