{"id":335393,"date":"2025-12-09T21:43:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T21:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/335393\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T21:43:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T21:43:09","slug":"liberals-to-accept-bloc-amendment-to-remove-religious-exemption-from-hate-speech-laws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/335393\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberals to accept Bloc amendment to remove religious exemption from hate-speech laws"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Bloc Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois MP Martin Champoux said last week the Liberal party is trying to backtrack on a commitment to eliminate an exemption contained in hate speech legislation.Justin Tang\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The federal government says it will stick to a promise to support removing a religious exemption to Canada\u2019s hate-speech laws, in an attempt to secure support from the Bloc Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois for its flagship anti-hate bill. <\/p>\n

A senior government source said the Liberals plan to support an amendment to the bill tabled by the Bloc to remove the exemption, which has long been part of the country\u2019s criminal code.<\/p>\n

The Globe and Mail is not naming the source, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the strategy. <\/p>\n

The change to the criminal code is due to be considered along with other amendments on Tuesday at a Commons Justice committee meeting. The committee is looking in detail at the anti-hate bill known as Bill C-9.<\/p>\n

In the Commons this month, the proposed changes have been the subject of heated exchanges<\/a>, including accusations from the Conservatives that the government and Bloc want to curb religious freedom. <\/p>\n

Opinion: Canada needs to pass its anti-hate legislation. But that will just be the first step<\/a><\/p>\n

The exemption allows a person who cites religious beliefs or quotes from a religious text to escape prosecution for hate speech. The Bloc has argued for years that it can be used as cover for promoting homophobia, racial abuse and antisemitism.<\/p>\n

The amendment to Bill C-9 was scheduled to be voted on last week, but the meeting of the Commons Justice committee where it was due to be considered was abruptly cancelled. Justice Minister Sean Fraser had previously assured the Bloc Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois that it would support the amendment in the committee. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Justice Minister Sean Fraser in the House of Commons on Nov. 7, 2025.Sean Kilpatrick\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

At a hastily arranged news conference last week, Bloc Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois Leader Yves-Fran\u00e7ois Blanchet warned the government that it would pay a political price if it fails to support his party\u2019s amendment, as he said it had pledged to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is absolutely clear that without the removal of the religious exemption from the Criminal Code, there is no way that the Bloc Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois will look at this bill any more,\u201d Mr. Blanchet said at the press conference. <\/p>\n

The senior government source said Tuesday the government is planning to press ahead and support the Bloc amendment, saying that it does not pose a threat to religious freedom or the right to quote from religious texts. <\/p>\n

Bloc MP Martin Champoux argued in the Commons on Thursday that the Liberals had \u201cflip-flopped\u201d on whether to support his party\u2019s amendment, having assured his party that they would previously.<\/p>\n

Opinion: Freedom of expression must not become a right to harass or intimidate<\/a><\/p>\n

Religious groups have been contacting MPs to express apprehension about the proposed amendment to the anti-hate bill.<\/p>\n

The Conservatives oppose the removal of the exemption, saying it will curb religious freedom, and have argued for a cross-country tour by the Justice committee to hear from more witnesses. <\/p>\n

Lola Dandybaeva, a spokesperson for the Justice Minister, said in a statement last week, \u201cWe remain open to constructive improvements in good faith\u201d to the bill.<\/p>\n

More to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Bloc Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois MP Martin Champoux said last week the Liberal party is trying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44,714],"class_list":{"0":"post-335393","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}