moved that Bill C-9, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (hate propaganda, hate crime and access to religious or cultural places), be read the second time and referred to a committee.
Madam Speaker, today we begin debate on the combatting hate bill, which would offer additional protections to communities of people across this country that have been the subject of unjust actions of hate, not just toward them as individuals but also toward entire communities.
One of the great promises of Canada is the right of its citizens to live freely, regardless of the colour of their skin, the God they pray to, their gender identity or the person they love. Sadly, too many Canadians are routinely robbed of these freedoms, not necessarily by operation of law but too often by virtue of the actions of hate by their fellow Canadians against them. The prevalence of hate crimes in this country is astounding. It can be disheartening to read day after day in the newspapers of the horrific actions our fellow Canadians are subjected to.
Over the course of my remarks, I hope to cover a number of things, including a canvas of the prevalence of hate crimes in this country and an assessment of the measures we need to adopt, specifically including criminal justice reform. I intend to discuss some of the proposed legislative measures we intend to take to address hate crimes in this country and to encourage members to support the important piece of legislation that is before us.
Today, we begin debate on a very important bill to combat hate across the country. It is important that Canadians are able to live their lives freely without being harassed because of their religion or identity. Unfortunately, many people do not have that freedom because of hate crimes that are committed in their communities.
It is important we understand the scale of what we have observed in Canada's recent history. Nearly 5,000 hate crimes are officially reported by law enforcement annually in this country. We know, through conversations with affected communities, that the true number is much, much higher. The under-reporting of hate crimes is in and of itself a symptom of a societal problem: that people may not have faith that the criminal law is actually equipped to deal with the circumstances they face so routinely in their communities.
It troubles me greatly when I open the newspapers and see such stories. When I meet with Jewish Canadians, they tell me that they are beginning to question whether they have a place in this country, as a result of the hate they have been subjected to. I think about what I have witnessed in my own community, with local police laying charges for the advocating of genocide toward Jewish Canadians. Recently in my home province of Nova Scotia, synagogues have been desecrated with hate symbols that seek to intimidate people of the Jewish faith against practising their religion. The National Holocaust Monument has been desecrated. Is there no limit to indecency?
There are many communities that are impacted. I think about Muslim Canadians, who are suffering from a wave of Islamophobia that we must address. I have met with people and visited their mosques, people who have told me what it is like to be harassed in their communities and told me about the fear they have when they seek to gather and pray.
Sadly, the instances of hate are not limited to simple harassment, behaviour that may inspire fear; it can become deadly. It was only a few years ago that there were horrific shootings in Quebec that claimed the lives of innocent people at a mosque. There have been van attacks in London, Ontario, which, again, took the lives of innocent Canadians by virtue of their being who they were.
I think about the horrific anti-Black racism that takes place too often in this country. In my own community, it is a point of pride that we have shifted our conversation from the days of Viola Desmond's courageously taking a stand at the Roseland Theatre to protect the rights of Black Canadians to be treated equally before the law. We gathered with pride to commemorate her induction as a person of national historic significance to this country. However, the honours we bestow upon her, the commitment to take action in the face of such courage, has to be worth more than the $10 bill on which her face appears.
There is a cognitive dissonance that takes place when we celebrate victories over racism of the past but in the same town see instances of hate, including a young Black man being shot with a nail gun by a co-worker on a job site. I sat with the mother of a young man who suffered such a fate. I understand the impact it has on the entire family, questioning whether their move from another part of the world was a good decision.
Look at the instances of hate we saw in Vancouver during the pandemic against Asian Canadians, with a 300% increase in vandalism, graffiti and violent hate crimes taking place. We need to take action.
There is, routinely, vandalism of gurdwaras and temples. This is completely unacceptable, and the impact is so human. It is one thing to see in the news a violent crime committed against the queer community on campus at Waterloo, a stabbing that has taken place in a gender studies class, but the real impact, when we actually talk to people, is that they are concerned about whether they have the ability to walk freely through the streets holding the hand of their loved one.
We have a decision to make: Are we going to witness hate, offer our thoughts and prayers and move on with our day, or are we going to take action to actually correct some of the horrific behaviours?
If we wish to build a stronger Canada, we need to adopt a whole-of-society approach to this challenging issue. This will involve different levels of government, including provinces' investing in education that will ensure that people, from a young age, understand that hate is not acceptable in our communities. It will include investments in training law enforcement, prosecutors and judges to see hate and to call it out as such when they witness it in our courtrooms. Of course, part of the puzzle will involve changes to our criminal law to ensure that we punish bad actors and send a signal to ensure that hate does not continue to foment in our communities.
Bringing about change within society will not happen without investing in education, providing training for those working in the legal system and overhauling the justice system.
It is in this vein on criminal justice reform that I wish to discuss certain specific measures that are included in the combatting hate bill. The conversation follows upon the recent federal election campaign, where we made a commitment to do more to protect the ability of communities of faith to practise their religion day to day in our country.
In particular, we campaigned on commitments to advance new criminal offences when it comes to the obstruction and intimidation of people who seek to access their religious institutions. Too often, people do not feel safe to practise their religion and to visit their churches, synagogues, mosques or temples. Too often, community centres and schools that have been built for specific communities of interest in this country are targeted by those who wish harm upon the people who use them.
These new criminal offences would create the conditions for a safer experience for Canadians from different communities of faith. By ensuring that we protect against the obstruction of those who wish to gather with their community in prayer, we have the ability to allow them to live more freely as Canadians in this country. By criminalizing the deliberate intimidation of those who seek to practise their religion, we have the ability to create a culture of safety, acceptance and inclusion, which I know most Canadians support.
When I talked to people throughout the course of the development of this legislation, one thing was made eminently clear to me. Instances of hate are not limited to the doorsteps of our religious institutions. They can be observed in our streets, in our parks and on our campuses. They can be found in almost every facet of our community. We have decided to move forward with an additional offence, the crime of hate. We intend to have this new offence operate by attaching itself to any criminal activity that takes place in this country where the motivation of the crime was hatred toward an identifiable group of people.
Members can imagine that assault under any circumstances should be condemned not only by the government but by Canadians writ large. Members can imagine as well, I am sure, that the degree of moral culpability is much higher when the target of a particular assault has been targeted because of the colour of their skin, their particular community of faith or their sexual orientation.
We intend to move forward with this offence to offer protections to people who are being harassed by virtue of the community to which they belong when they seek to study in our universities. We intend to use this offence to ensure that the police have the ability to prevent people from being targeted for robberies, assaults and crimes more broadly.
We also intend to move forward with a fourth offence. We intend to criminalize the wilful promotion of hate through the use of hate symbols. It is important that we acknowledge that the wilful promotion of hatred may exist in the Criminal Code already, but when we speak to communities that have been targeted, we understand that the harm that falls upon the community may be greater when a particular tool is used.
This is not the only instance in the Criminal Code where we have adopted such an approach. Of course, the crime of assault exists, but we recognize that assault with a firearm carries a more serious penalty and a higher degree of culpability. Similarly, we recognize that while the wilful promotion of hatred is illegal in this country, the commission of such a crime with the use of a hate symbol, and the impact it has on a community more broadly, is worth specifically addressing through a new criminal offence.
It is important to understand that as we move forward with these offences, we recognize that the impact of hate crimes is not simply felt by the individual victim. The impact reverberates through the entirety of a community and tears, indeed, at the seams of the social fabric of the nation. By addressing these important reforms, we have the opportunity to build a safer Canada.
It is very important to clarify these new offences. When I began this conversation, I first looked at the commitments we made during the last election campaign, including commitments about offences related to intimidation and obstruction. Many people are unable to live their lives freely because some individuals who hate entire groups commit offences to prevent them from using their places of worship. That is unacceptable. These new offences related to intimidating a person and impeding access to a place of worship will allow people to practise their religion across the country.
When I consulted with the public to advance this legislation, one thing became clear. Hate does not only exist around places of worship. It is in parks, on streets, on campuses and in the broader community. That is why we are creating a new hate offence, in addition to the other offences that already exist.
The government must recognize that, when people are victims of other offences, they suffer more when hatred is the motive. Furthermore, the victims themselves are not the only ones affected; communities are too.
The bill sets out a fourth offence, that of the willful promotion of hatred. An offence already exists, but, in my opinion, we must ensure we enforce it, including when it comes to hate symbols. The repercussions on our communities are greater.
It is essential that we take the time to listen to the communities that have been impacted by hate and adopt laws that will better protect them.
In addition to creating these two new offences, there are certain other measures we are moving forward with that would make it easier for law enforcement to actually lay charges when they see instances of hate in our communities. In particular, we are moving forward with two specific changes. The first would codify the Supreme Court of Canada's definition of hatred to ensure that there is clarity in the law for our officers to enforce with certainty. The second would remove the requirement that hate crimes may only be prosecuted after the consent of the provincial Attorney General has been received.
In my view, hate crimes should not be subject to a political assessment but instead subject to the independent ability of law enforcement to determine where hate exists in their communities and to take action where they deem necessary.
We must listen to communities that are experiencing the impact of hatred. In addition to new offences, we will establish new ways for police to enforce these offences under the Criminal Code.
We are making two changes: codifying in the Criminal Code the definition of hatred, as defined by the Supreme Court of Canada. I also want to remove the requirement for a provincial attorney general to review the police assessment. It is extremely important to remove politics from the conversation. If we have the opportunity to create a culture of safety, acceptance and inclusion, I think that we have the obligation to bring forward new rules.
It is also important to realize that there will continue to be acts of hate that take place in this country that may not reach a criminal threshold. I fear that, too often, we, as Canadians, are failing our neighbours. We should seek to be better neighbours. We are responsible, in my view, not only for the acts that we ourselves commit, but for the injustices that we see and accept through our acquiescence and through our inaction. When we see instances of hate in our community, we have a duty to condemn them, to speak up and to show support for our fellow Canadians. It should not be too much to ask that our neighbours take care of one another. Should we adopt that approach, we will collectively be better off.
I believe so sincerely in a Canada where people are free to live their lives, free of considerations for the consequences of hate that may befall them and their communities. I believe in a Canada where Canadians should be free to celebrate their culture, to practise their faith, to be who they are and to celebrate their very identity.
We have the opportunity to create a country based on inclusivity, on acceptance of diversity, a country that celebrates people from different communities. Diversity enriches our country.
It is not enough to offer thoughts after a hate-related incident in our community.
It is not enough when we see incidents of hate time and time again, to offer our thoughts and prayers, and to move on with our lives, knowing that our decision not to take action will foment hate and allow it to continue in our communities.
I believe in a Canada where we have equality and justice and where we celebrate our diversity. I believe this legislation will bring us a little closer to that version of Canada, but we cannot simply offer those thoughts and prayers. We must take action.
Those of us who have been invested with the extraordinary ability to bring our community's voice to Ottawa have an obligation to act. We have been empowered, through the ability to cast a vote in support of legislation in this House of Commons, to stand up for our communities and take a stand against hate. I implore every member of this House to vote in favour of the legislation so we may take action to protect Canadians in our communities.
I believe in a Canada where we will read about hate crimes not in our newspapers, but in our history books. It is only when people have the ability to live freely, to practice their faith, to be with the person they love and to be included regardless of the immutable characteristics with which we are born, that we will have achieved freedom for all. That is the great promise of this country.
I urge every member of the House to support this legislation and make it a reality.
