I know that hate-based crimes of a religious nature are on the rise for certain groups across Canada, and that's something we are all very concerned with. I'm just wondering if that is a problem that legislation by itself is going to solve. If the judge has section 176 at his or her disposal, or these other sections of the Criminal Code, the sentence is still going to end up being the same if someone is guilty of the crime.
Is the general public in the religious community aware of section 176, or are they just aware of the fact that a crime has been committed and something in the Criminal Code will take care of it? Or is this more of a societal problem that we need to educate people on, to produce a more harmonious society? Leaving it in or taking it away, is that really going to have a huge difference? I don't think the average Canadian is very aware of the wording in the Criminal Code. I have a copy, and it's really thick, so it's quite a voluminous document to go through.
Do you have any comments on that?