Liberals unveil bill that legally defines “hatred,” outlaws swastikas & terror symbols

The Carney government has tabled a new anti-hate bill to legislate a government definition of “hatred” and clamp down on “hate propaganda” including the display of hate symbols like the Nazi swastika.

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The Carney government has tabled a new anti-hate bill to legislate a government definition of “hatred” and clamp down on “hate propaganda” including the display of hate symbols like the Nazi swastika.

Bill C-9, entitled An Act to amend the Criminal Code (hate propaganda, hate crime and access to religious or cultural places), was introduced on Friday.

The proposed legislation would define “hatred” in the Criminal Code. Critics argue that legislating such a definition could restrict freedom of speech and assembly.

“This behaviour is not just morally culpable; the impact has reverberations through the entirety of the community. And, I would argue, tears at the seams of the social fabric of the nation,” Minister of Justice Sean Fraser told reporters during a press conference in Ottawa.

The proposed legislation aims to “repeal the requirement that the Attorney General consent to the institution of proceedings for hate propaganda offences.”

Additionally, it calls for the government to “create an offence of wilfully promoting hatred against any identifiable group by displaying certain symbols in a public place.”

The bill would also create an offence for intimidating a person to impede their access to places primarily used for religious worship.

Several municipalities across Ontario and Calgary recently introduced bylaws that prevent protesting near certain locations, known as “bubble zones.”

These perimeters are usually around schools, places of worship, clinics and libraries, often at the request of institutions seeking to prevent demonstrations outside their buildings.

The zones range from 20 to 100 metres and protesters who engage in those zones can face fines and jail time.

Symbols such as those used by the Nazis during the Second World War, like a Nazi swastika, or any other imagery associated with the government’s list of terrorist entities, could be subject to the legislation, such as displaying the flags of Hamas or Hezbollah.

“A symbol that so nearly resembles” those known to be deemed as hate or terrorist symbols that are “likely to be confused with that symbol” would also be targeted, with a maximum sentence of up to two years imprisonment.

“There are many behaviours that are despicable in this country that are characterized by hatred towards another that may not reach a criminal threshold,” said Fraser. “It is important that we do not fail one another as we have in too many incidents in the past.”

Asked whether such legislation would permit future governments to declare any group a terrorist group for political purposes, Fraser said it came down to having “faith in our institutions.”

“When it comes to the process that the Government of Canada has in place across previous Conservative and Liberal governments is that we actually have an independent process led by the national security apparatus that has objective criteria that informs whether an individual group will be listed,” said Fraser.

The minister added he believes Canada’s “downfall” would come not from a foreign adversary but a future government.

“One of the things that keeps me up at night is that I don’t fear that Canada will somehow suffer its downfall at the hands of a dictator on the other side of the world; I fear that the threat is far closer to home,” said Fraser.

“It will be some future government empowered by an erosion of our rights today and empowered by an erosion of our institutions today.”