Canadian government reaches deal to remove religious exemptions from hate-speech laws and ban Nazi symbols, sparking free-speech and faith concerns.
Newsroom (03/12/2025 Gaudium Press ) The Canadian government is preparing to strip long-standing religious defences from the country’s criminal hate-speech provisions as part of a broader legislative push to outlaw Nazi symbols and tighten enforcement, according to senior government sources.
A deal struck between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party and the Bloc Québécois will see the removal of exemptions that currently shield individuals whose statements are based on sincerely held religious beliefs or texts. The Criminal Code currently prohibits wilfully promoting hatred against any “identifiable group” but carves out protections for opinions grounded in religion.
“The bill is in a place now … everyone is happy,” a senior government source told the National Post on December 1, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The amendment, expected to be introduced soon, would also explicitly criminalize the public display of the Nazi swastika and the SS insignia—symbols frequently deployed in antisemitic attacks—and eliminate the requirement for the Attorney General of Canada to personally consent to prosecutions for hate propaganda offences.
The legislative move comes against a backdrop of sharply rising hate crimes, particularly antisemitic incidents. B’nai Brith Canada documented a dramatic surge following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, with further increases recorded throughout 2024.
Conservative Party lawmakers have vowed to oppose the changes, insisting that the display of Nazi symbols is already illegal under existing law and warning that removing the Attorney General’s oversight eliminates an “important safeguard” against politicized prosecutions.
The Tories further contend that the bill’s new definition of “hatred”—described as “the emotion that involves detestation or vilification and that is stronger than disdain or dislike”—lowers the evidentiary bar and endangers free expression, including legitimate religious and political speech.
Christian advocacy groups have echoed those concerns. In October, the Ontario-based Christian Legal Fellowship urged Parliament to retain the religious defence, arguing that its removal “would risk undermining the constitutional integrity” of hate-speech laws and conflict with Canada’s commitments to freedom of conscience and religion.
Broader anxieties about declining religious liberty in Canada have surfaced in recent months. In September, Montreal Archbishop Christian Lépine publicly criticized Quebec Premier François Legault’s proposal to ban prayer in public spaces. And just last year, a parliamentary finance committee floated stripping “advancement of religion” from the list of recognized charitable purposes—a suggestion religious leaders labelled a direct assault on faith communities.
The 2021 census underscored the shifting religious landscape: Canada’s Catholic population fell by nearly two million over the previous decade.
With the Liberals and Bloc holding enough votes to pass the legislation in the minority Parliament, the removal of religious protections from hate-speech law appears all but assured—setting the stage for what critics call a watershed moment in the balance between combating hate and safeguarding fundamental freedoms.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from CNA
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