Primate writes to leaders about proposed amendment to Bill C-9

To:          
The Right Honourable Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada
The Honourable Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada
Yves-François Blanchet, leader of the Bloc Québécois
The Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Dear Prime Minister Carney, Mr. Poilievre, Mr. Blanchet and Minister Fraser,

The Anglican Church of Canada upholds our common commitment in Canada to being a country where every person and community is free to live without facing hate-based discrimination and violence. We support initiatives, such as Bill C-9, intended to address the growing number of incidents of hate-motivated speech and conduct, especially including antisemitism, Islamophobia and the incitement of hatred towards any other identifiable or vulnerable groups and persons.

I write to you on behalf of Anglican Christians across Canada with respect to the proposed amendment to Bill C-9, advocating the removal of the “in good faith” and “religious text” defense exemptions from Criminal Code Section 319(3)(b). We stand with many others who have expressed concerns about these proposed amendments, including Jewish organizations, Muslim leaders, other Christian churches and various advocacy groups.

We are concerned that simply removing these defense exemptions from the Code will introduce new uncertainty about the legal boundaries of faith education and practice. We are also concerned that this may inadvertently deter the kind of open and healthy discourse that is central to spiritual and religious communities—including some of the communities the Bill intends to protect.

On behalf of the Anglican Church of Canada, I would respectfully encourage the Government of Canada to maintain these defenses in the Code without additional amendment as they play a beneficial role in safeguarding religious expression without compromising the critical work of acting against violence, discrimination and hate.

Be certain that the Anglican Church of Canada will always be available to work collaboratively with the Government and other stakeholders towards legislation and programs that seek to uphold our shared concern to combat hate and to protect the freedom of religion.

Yours faithfully,

The Most Reverend Shane Parker
Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada