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See elsewhere for a description of this bill and its passage into law.
Status of bill C-250:
The bill was given royal assent by the Queen's representative in Canada on 2004-APR-29. It took immediate effect. It is now part of the legal code of Canada. Some propaganda directing hatred against persons of any sexual orientation, heterosexuals, homosexuals and/or bisexuals, is now a crime in Canada. Sexual orientation now joins four other groups protected against hate speech on the basis of their "color, race, religion or ethnic origin." 1 However, a "not withstanding" clause allows religiously motivated hate speech.
Initial reactions to the bill:
Sponsor Svend Robinson said that "It's a bill that recognizes that when hate crimes are perpetrated in this country against those who are of a minority religion or race or ethnic origin or color, that Canada says this is wrong." But there's one group in the country and that is gays and lesbians -- the group that has more hate crimes, more violence perpetrated against it -- that isn't included in the hate propaganda laws." 2
The legislation was strongly opposed by religious conservatives. They warned that Christian pastors or Muslim Imams could find themselves in jail if they were to preach that homosexuality is evil or sinful. They suggest that the Bible and/or Qur'an might be confiscated as hate literature. This is most unlikely. The bill contains a "not withstanding" clause which prevents prosecution of individuals for religiously motivated hate speech. Thus, if a person referred to passages in a Bible or any other religious text during the presentation of hate speech, then they could not be prosecuted under the law. Vic Toews of Canada's right-wing party, the Canadian Alliance, said: ''I'm concerned about the chilling effect of this kind of decision.'' 3
Robinson denied that the bill would inhibit normal religious speech when it denigrates gays and lesbians. He told the House of Commons Committee on Justice and Human Rights who was examining the bill: ''There's not an attorney general in the country anywhere at any level who would consent to the prosecution of an individual for quoting from the Bible. An attorney general who tried something like that would be run out of town on a rail.'' 2 He said that the Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party and Bloc Québécois members support the bill, but that the extreme right-wing Canadian Alliance does not. He said that the Alliance has "...opposed every equality bill that's come before the House for gays and lesbians."
Inspector David Jones of the Vancouver Police Department told The Canadian Press that he believes being gay puts people at an added risk on the streets. He said: "Sixty-two per cent of the violence is based on sexual orientation. That points to the need to protect these people." Jones also referred to the murder of Aaron Webster, a 41-year-old photographer, who was assumed to be gay and was beaten to death on 2001-NOV-17, in Stanley Park in Vancouver BC. 3
John Fisher, spokesperson for the gay-rights lobby group Egale testified that ''the legislation as it stands, by being under-inclusive, by failing to protect a group equally needing protection, is unconstitutional.'' He suggested that if the law were not changed that the courts would eventually modify the law by reading "sexual orientation" into the legislation as a protected class.
Liberal Justice Minister Martin Cauchon told the House of Commons on 2003-MAY-14 that he supported the bill. It passed through the committee hearing later that month.
This essay continues below.
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Reaction to the bill as it was discussed and passed in Parliament:
 | Focus on the Family, Canada issued a news release which stated that they "...and the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, among other groups, believe the law may be used to silence those with religious views on the morality of homosexual behaviours. 'We do not condone, in any way, the promotion of hatred against anyone or any group,' said Bruce Clemenger, president of the EFC. 'However, the ambiguity of what this bill will capture may well silence what otherwise would be legitimate public comment on issues of sexual morality'." | ||||||||||
| The Vancouver Sun reported that bill C-250: "has been described by some Alliance MPs and religious groups as a 'fascist' measure that could criminalize anyone for reading quotes on homosexuality from the Bible or the Koran." 4 The individuals making these comments seem to be either deceitful or misinformed, because, as soon as the bill is given royal assent, there will be two passages in the Criminal Code that specifically allow religious individuals to legally engage in hate propaganda against gays and lesbians. | ||||||||||
| Brian Rushfeldt of the Canada Family Action Coalition said: "Canadians who are speaking out against the redefinition of marriage are already being accused of 'hate' speech by homosexual activists...When C-250 is passed into law later this fall, the activists will begin to insist on prosecution to silence their critics with criminal sanctions." 4 This also appears to be deceitful or misinformed. Section 308 already contains a passage that protects a person from prosecution if their statements are relevant to any subject of public interest, and if, on reasonable grounds, the person believes them to be true. | ||||||||||
| Svend Robinson has said that these criticisms are unfounded. "The suggestion that including gays and lesbians in a law that protects against violence and hatred would touch religious beliefs and the right to quote from the Bible is utterly without foundation. What this bill is about is sending a message to the gay bashers, it's about sending a message to those who promote hatred, and violence and even death of gay men." 4 | ||||||||||
| Canadian Alliance Member of Parliament James Moore said: "There's a lot of distrust in general towards the judiciary right now, and it's leading a lot of people to be very fearful of giving powers to the judiciary that aren't necessarily defined specifically with regard to religious tolerance and religious freedom." 4 | ||||||||||
| Leader of the Canadian Alliance, Stephen Harper said that he was "encouraged" by some amendments to the bill, which he feels gives significant protection to religious freedom. But he remains opposed to C-250 because "homosexuality is such an inherently controversial issue there is a danger that this could have, if not tightly defined, very wide implications." 4 This comment may be a reference to a definition of the term "sexual orientation" which is held by some conservative Christians. The vast majority of legislators, gays, lesbians, religious liberals, human sexuality researchers, mental health therapists, etc. define sexual orientation in terms of the sex of the persons to which an individual is sexually attracted. A person is either a heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual, depending upon whether they are sexually attracted to persons of the opposite sex, same sex, or both sexes. But some Fundamentalist and other Evangelical Christians define the term differently. They include pedophilia, necrophilia, hebephilia, incest, and other sexual crimes as additional sexual orientations. Under their definition, protecting persons of all sexual orientations against hate crimes and hate speech would protect sexual criminals from prosecution and criticism. | ||||||||||
| On 2003-SEP-23, six days after the bill was passed in Parliament, Focus on the
Family Canada featured a discussion of C-250 in their "Today's
Family News." They mentioned:
Nowhere in the Focus or FRC articles did they mention the two subsections in the bill that give immunity from prosecution to speakers and writers of religiously-based racist, xenophobic, homophobic, and some other forms of hate speech. 6 | ||||||||||
| The 2004-MAY issue of ChristianCurrent discussed the bill. This is a conservative Christian monthly magazine distributed free through churches and conservative Christian book stores. They commented on bill C-250 which they said: "...may make it a crime to read certain Bible passages in public." 7 |
Reactions to the passing of the bill in the Senate:
As passed, the bill has an escape clause which allows religiously motivated hatred. The text specifies that an individual is immune from prosecution under the act "if, in good faith, the person expressed or attempted to establish by an argument an opinion on a religious subject or an opinion based on a belief in a religious text;" However, many conservative Christian leaders are troubled that the act is not sufficiently specific. They feel that the act is vague. A religiously-motivated persons who wants to attack a group -- or advocate genocide against a group -- on the basis of their "color, race, religion, ethnic origin or sexual orientation" will not know what the limits of free speech are. Some comments on the day after the bills passage are listed below:
| Janet Epp Buckingham, spokesperson for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, a conservative religious group, said: "This legislation comes at a time when issues of sexual morality and marriage are at the forefront of public debate. Without a clear definition of what is criminal hatred, it is ambiguous what public statements will be considered criminal." |
| Bruce Clemenger, president of the EFC, said: "While opposing the promotion of hatred against anyone, we are deeply concerned about the chilling effect this legislation may have on the legitimate expression of religious belief. We as a religious community want to ensure that the purpose of prohibiting hate speech does not criminalize the legitimate expression of religious belief, the resulting views of morality nor religious texts." |
| Justice Critic Vic Toews from the Conservative Party said: "Unfortunately, most Liberals in both the Senate and the House of Commons chose to support an NDP-sponsored law that could put fundamental Canadian freedoms in jeopardy. I am very disappointed in the Liberals' obstruction of Conservative efforts to amend the bill - amendments that that would have protected freedom of religion as well as secular free speech in Canada." (The Conservative party was recently formed as a merger of the Progressive Conservatives and the much larger, extreme right wing Canadian Alliance party.) |
| Derek Rogusky, spokesperson for Focus on the Family Canada said: "This bill was pushed through Parliament with little public consultation. It's unfortunate that both Senators and MPs rejected the concerns of thousands of Canadians, and ignored the huge flood of correspondence they received about this bill. Canadians are now stuck with this poorly-worded legislation, and it's left to the courts to define what is and what isn't hate propaganda." |
| The Christian Coalition International (Canada) posted an essay on their web site titled "Fascist anti free speeech hate crimes Bill C-250 receives royal assent and becomes law." They are concerned that anti-gay material published by conservative Christian groups in the U.S. may be classified as hate literature and refused entry into Canada. They wrote: "The hate crime provisions of the Criminal Code are used by the federal postal agency to prohibit importation of materials deemed under the legislation to constitute hate propaganda. With groups like Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America, and other pro-family groups shipping pro-family materials into Canada the new law also creates concern that the materials may be subject to interception, seizure and forfeiture as 'hate' materials by Canada Post." 8 |
| Dr. Charles McVety, president of Canada Christian College issued a press release. It said, in part: "Paul Martin and his Liberal team adopted Private Member's Bill C-250 and pushed it through the Senate to become law just in time to pave the way for a new election. Now criticism of the redefinition of marriage may be a criminal offense punishable by up to two years in prison." 8 |
| Liberal Senator Anne Cools said that C-250 exposes "millions of Canadians to criminal prosecution who hold moral opinions about sexuality." 8 |
Subsequent reactions:
| During 2004-AUG, R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY discussed a recent conviction of a Swedish pastor for violating that country's hate speech legislation. He said: "The recent expansion of hate crimes laws in Canada, intended to outlaw all criticism of homosexuality, is convincing proof that these trends are not limited to Europe." |
Legal note:
The above essay is intended to give an overview of hate crimes legislation in Canada to a popular audience. It is based on the Criminal Code as it exists on 2003-SEP-17. The law changes with time. For specific guidance, we recommend that you obtain an interpretation from a qualified lawyer. Do not rely on the above essay to make personal decisions.
References used:
- "Criminal Code: Hate Propaganda," Department of Justice, Canada, 2003-APR-30, at: http://laws.justice.gc.ca/ Section 318 (4).
- "Make gay-bashing a hate crime, Robinson says," CTV.ca, 2003-MAY-16, at: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/
- Randall Palmer, "Canadian hate-crimes bill sparks Bible, Koran row," MSNBC News, 2003-MAY-16, at: http://famulus.msnbc.com/
- Peter O'Neil, "Homosexuals to be covered by anti-hate legislation. 'Fascist' bill passes Commons, 141-110," The Vancouver Sun, 2003-SEP-18, at: http://canada.com/
- "Canadians Make Free Speech a Crime," Family Research Council, Washington Update, 2004-APR-29.
- "Anti-hate law will have 'chilling effect'," Today's Family News, Focus on the Family, Canada, 2003-SEP-23.
- "Svend's folly," Christian Current, 2004-MAY, Page 2.
- "Fascist anti free speech hate crimes Bill C-250 receives royal assent and becomes law." Christian Coalition International (Canada) at: http://www.ccicinc.org/
- Albert Mohler, "Criminalizing Christianity: Sweden's Hate Speech Law," 2004-AUG-5, KSKY radio, Dallas TX. See: http://www.ksky.com/
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Copyright © 2003 & 2004 by Ontario Consultants on Religious
Tolerance
Latest update: 2004-AUG-12
Author: B.A. Robinson
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