I think the difficulty would be that the public would have to know that the building is being used for that specific purpose. I worry that if we make it overly broad, and it's somebody's house, for example, the person may not know it is being used for that purpose. The crown could then prove there was a prayer group there last Saturday and that it was thus used for a religious purpose that one time, and would therefore attract the higher sanction.
I don't think that's what this hate mischief is designed to do. It's designed already to cover buildings used for religious purposes—thus churches, and mosques, but also other locations now where people would gather for other purposes in the other classes that we're now expanding. But I do think we have to be careful in how broadly we define these buildings so we can be sure that the intention of the person was to target that group because of their religion or whatever other reasons we're talking about.
That's why I say again that it doesn't mean this wouldn't be criminal activity and wouldn't be factored in during sentencing. But to call it hate mischief, I think it has to be coupled with the building itself being used primarily for that purpose. I prefer that. I think it's easier for the public to recognize that type of hate mischief rather than opening it up to all uses.