Chamber
commons
Stage
3rd Reading
Introduced
Sep 19, 2025
Progress
This bill strengthens Canada's hate crime laws by creating new offences for hate symbols, hate-motivated crimes, and blocking access to religious or cultural places.
Key Changes
- Creates a new offence for publicly displaying hate symbols, including the Nazi swastika, SS bolts, or symbols associated with listed terrorist entities
- Creates a new standalone hate crime offence where any federal offence motivated by hatred carries an increased maximum sentence
- Creates a new offence for intimidating someone to prevent them from accessing a religious building, cultural centre, cemetery, school, or seniors' residence
- Creates a new offence for intentionally blocking or interfering with someone's lawful access to those same places
- Removes the requirement for the Attorney General's consent before hate propaganda charges can be laid
- Adds a legal definition of 'hatred' to the Criminal Code, specifying it involves detestation or vilification stronger than mere dislike or disdain
Gotchas
- The hate symbol offence includes defences for legitimate purposes such as journalism, education, religion, or art, meaning not all displays of these symbols are automatically criminal
- The bill clarifies that speech or conduct does not constitute hate promotion or a hate crime solely because it discredits, humiliates, hurts, or offends — setting a higher legal threshold
- The scaled sentencing for hate crimes means the maximum penalty depends on the underlying offence, potentially resulting in sentences up to life imprisonment if the base offence already carries that maximum
- The obstruction offence includes an explicit exception for people who are near a location only to obtain or communicate information, which could protect protesters or journalists
- Removing the Attorney General consent requirement for hate propaganda prosecutions may lead to more frequent or potentially more varied use of these charges by prosecutors across jurisdictions
- The new intimidation offence (s. 423.3) is added to the list of offences that can trigger reverse onus bail conditions, meaning accused persons may have to show why they should be released rather than the Crown showing why they should be detained
Who's Affected
- Religious communities and people attending places of worship
- Identifiable groups using cultural, educational, or social facilities
- Individuals who display hate symbols in public
- People who commit crimes motivated by hatred against protected groups
- Prosecutors and law enforcement who handle hate crime cases
- Journalists, educators, artists, and religious figures (who have explicit exemptions for legitimate use of symbols)
Vibes
0 responses
Gotchas
- The hate symbol offence includes defences for legitimate purposes such as journalism, education, religion, or art, meaning not all displays of these symbols are automatically criminal
- The bill clarifies that speech or conduct does not constitute hate promotion or a hate crime solely because it discredits, humiliates, hurts, or offends — setting a higher legal threshold
- The scaled sentencing for hate crimes means the maximum penalty depends on the underlying offence, potentially resulting in sentences up to life imprisonment if the base offence already carries that maximum
- The obstruction offence includes an explicit exception for people who are near a location only to obtain or communicate information, which could protect protesters or journalists
- Removing the Attorney General consent requirement for hate propaganda prosecutions may lead to more frequent or potentially more varied use of these charges by prosecutors across jurisdictions
- The new intimidation offence (s. 423.3) is added to the list of offences that can trigger reverse onus bail conditions, meaning accused persons may have to show why they should be released rather than the Crown showing why they should be detained
Summary
Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Act, makes several changes to the Criminal Code to better address hate-motivated conduct in Canada. It creates new criminal offences, including one for publicly displaying hate symbols (such as the Nazi swastika or symbols linked to terrorist groups), one for committing any federal crime motivated by hatred, and two new offences for intimidating people or blocking their access to religious buildings, cultural centres, cemeteries, schools, or seniors' residences used by identifiable groups. The bill also removes the requirement that the Attorney General must give consent before hate propaganda charges can be laid, which previously made it harder to prosecute these cases. Penalties for the new hate crime offence are scaled up based on the seriousness of the underlying crime — for example, if someone commits an assault motivated by hatred, they could face a longer sentence than for the assault alone. This bill was introduced in response to concerns about rising hate crimes in Canada, including attacks on religious communities and the use of hateful symbols in public spaces. It aims to give law enforcement and prosecutors stronger tools to address hate-motivated conduct.
Automatically generated from bill text using Claude
Vibes
0 responses