Catholic bishops urge PM Carney to keep religious-text defence in Criminal Code, warning Bill C-9 amendments risk chilling faith-based speech.
Newsroom (05/12/2025 Gaudium Press ) In a strongly worded open letter addressed to Prime Minister Mark Carney, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) has expressed “deep concern” over reports that the Liberal government, with support from the Bloc Québécois, intends to eliminate the long-standing “good faith” religious exemption in Canada’s hate-propaganda provisions as part of amendments contained in Bill C-9.
The provision in question, section 319(3)(b) of the Criminal Code, currently shields individuals from conviction for wilful promotion of hatred if they expressed, in good faith, “an opinion on a religious subject or an opinion based on a belief in a religious text.”
In the letter signed by CCCB president Bishop Pierre Goudreault of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, the bishops unequivocally condemn hatred and affirm the Church’s support for measures that protect vulnerable communities from discrimination, extremism, and violence, including rising antisemitism and attacks directed at Christians.
Yet the Permanent Council warns that removing the narrowly framed defence would create legal uncertainty for clergy, educators, and ordinary believers who teach traditional moral or doctrinal positions drawn from sacred texts.
“Eliminating a clear statutory safeguard will likely therefore have a chilling effect on religious expression, even if prosecutions remain unlikely in practice,” the bishops write, noting that public perception of what constitutes hate speech is often broader than the strict legal threshold upheld by courts.
The letter emphasizes that the existing defence has historically been backed not only by Christian organizations but also by civil-liberties advocates who regard it as essential to Canada’s constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and pluralism under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Rather than abolish the exemption, the bishops urge the government to retain it or, at minimum, to issue an explicit public assurance—recorded in legislative debates and Hansard—that good-faith religious teaching and preaching will not be prosecuted under hate-propaganda laws. They further call for broad consultations with religious leaders, legal scholars, and civil-liberties groups before any changes affecting religious freedom are enacted.
The bishops stress that combating genuine hatred and upholding constitutional freedoms are not mutually exclusive goals, declaring: “We believe it is possible to achieve the shared objective of promoting a society free from genuine hatred while also upholding the constitutional rights of millions of Canadians who draw moral and spiritual guidance from their faith traditions.”
Copies of the letter were sent to Justice Minister Sean Fraser, parliamentary secretaries, and justice critics from the Conservative, New Democratic, Bloc Québécois, and Green parties, as well as to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
The intervention by Canada’s Catholic bishops—the first major faith-group response to the reported Bill C-9 amendments—underscores growing anxiety among religious communities that efforts to strengthen hate-speech laws could inadvertently curtail legitimate theological discourse in a country long proud of its religious diversity and Charter protections.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from CCCB
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