Canadian government set to remove religious exemptions from hate-speech laws

CNA Staff, Dec 2, 2025 / 18:04 pm (CNA).

Legislators in Canada are reportedly poised to strip religious protections from the country’s hate-speech laws as part of an effort to crack down on hateful symbols throughout the country. 

Lawmakers with the Liberal Party of Canada have reportedly struck a deal with the Bloc Québécois party to remove the religious exemptions from the national code.

Canadian law forbids people from “incit[ing] hatred against any identifiable group,” though it provides exemptions for individuals whose opinions are grounded in religion or a religious text. 

The National Post reported on Dec. 1 that the exemptions are expected to be removed in an upcoming amendment to the country’s hate-speech laws. The paper cited a “senior government source” who was granted anonymity to discuss the proceedings.

“The bill is in a place now … everyone is happy,” the source told the Post.

Reports of hate crimes in Canada have been on the rise in recent years, fueled particularly by antisemitic incidents. One report from the human rights group B’nai Brith Canada found a massive rise in antisemitic incidents in the country after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas, with another notable increase throughout 2024.

The proposed bill in the Canadian Legislature would amend the country’s hate-speech laws to criminalize the display of the Nazi swastika as well as the symbol for the Nazi SS organization — both of which are regularly used to target Jewish people.

The legislation, if passed, will also repeal a requirement that the Canadian attorney general sign off on proceedings for “hate propaganda offenses.”

Lawmakers with the Conservative Party are opposing the proposed revisions, arguing that the symbols and crimes it moves to criminalize are “already illegal” and criticizing the removal of the attorney general’s involvement in hate crime proceedings, calling that rule an “important safeguard.” 

The Conservatives also argue that the proposed revision “lowers the legal standard for ‘hatred,’ threatening free speech and targeting legitimate expression.” The amendment would define “hatred” as “the emotion that involves detestation or vilification and that is stronger than disdain or dislike.”

Christian advocates, meanwhile, have also criticized the proposal. The Ontario-based Christian Legal Fellowship in October urged the government to keep the law’s religious protections in place, arguing that the provisions are “directly in line with principles of justice and equality that inform efforts to combat discrimination and hatred.”

“[T]o remove this defense would risk undermining the constitutional integrity” of the hate-speech laws, the group argued. 

Advocates in Canada have elsewhere recently raised concerns over religious freedom protections in the North American country. 

In September, Montreal Archbishop Christian Lépine noted the “serious concerns” around Quebec Premier François Legault’s proposal to end prayer in public places. The prelate argued that to “forbid public prayer would be somewhat like forbidding thought itself.”

In December 2024, meanwhile, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance suggested removing “advancement of religion” from the country’s list of recognized charitable purposes, a proposal one group warned posed a “direct threat to religious freedom and the vital role faith communities play in Canadian society.”

Census data from 2021 showed that the Catholic population in Canada declined by almost 2 million people in the prior 10 years.

Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/268217/canadian-government-set-to-remove-religious-exemptions-from-hate-speech-laws