moved for leave to introduce Bill C-531, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (hate propaganda)
Mr. Speaker, I am introducing this bill, with the support of the leader of the Bloc Québécois who felt it was relevant to do so, because there is an important loophole in sections 318 and 319 of the Criminal Code.
At the end of March, a judge had to dismiss a charge of inciting hatred against Jean-Claude Rochefort, who writes a blog in which he was inciting hatred against women. He was disseminating hate propaganda and defending the Polytechnique killer, who killed 14 women in that college. He was defending Marc Lépine and saying that there should be more Marc Lépines.
I believe that we should pass this bill because the Criminal Code does not define a group of women as an identifiable group. Because of this, the judge was not able to proceed with the incitement of hatred charge, as this can only be brought when the hatred is directed at an identifiable group. We need to include the word “gender” in the identifiable groups listed in sections 318 and 319 of the Criminal Code, so that women can be recognized as an identifiable group and so no one else can ever utter threats, incite hatred or distribute hate propaganda.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed).