Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Portage—Lisgar.
I rise today to speak to the motion before the House regarding the programming debate on Bill C-9, the combatting hate act. I do so at a moment when the urgency of this legislation could not be higher.
Over the past week, Canadians have, once again, been confronted with the disturbing reality of hate-motivated violence in our country. In Toronto, we have had gunfire at three synagogues over the past week. There are bullet holes in the buildings where members of the Jewish community, families and children, gather to pray and come together. I went to the Shaarei Shomayim synagogue and saw where the rounds cut through three layers of doors into the inner halls of the building. This is serious. This is criminal. This is a despicable act of anti-Semitic hate and intimidation.
When a synagogue is shot at in the middle of the night, the message is clear. It is an act meant to intimidate, to create fear and to send a signal to Jewish Canadians that they are not safe in their own communities.
In Toronto—St. Paul's, I have heard from families consistently over the past two-plus years about the rising sense of fear in our city. I have heard of protests in Jewish neighbourhoods that seek to hold a community responsible for events overseas, deliberately failing to distinguish between a diverse cultural and faith community here in Canada and the actions of a government abroad. As I have said before in the House, it is unacceptable for any Canadian to have to endure a torrent of hate to go to worship, to take their kids to school or to just go to work on any given day.
Stopping the fear and intimidation outside of places people can reasonably expect to gather or access services was a commitment that we campaigned on as a Liberal caucus last spring. When the Minister of Justice introduced this legislation earlier in this Parliament, we stepped up to fulfill this commitment. He spoke about the responsibility we have as legislators to ensure that Canada's legal framework keeps pace with the realities that our communities face. He spoke about the need to respond to law enforcement, who have asked for clarity in law.
This bill would strengthen the Criminal Code's response to hate-motivated conduct, including intimidation and the promotion of hatred against identifiable groups. These provisions are designed to protect Canadians in the most fundamental sense by protecting their right to gather, to worship and to participate in a society free from intimidation and fear. It would also prohibit the public display of symbols associated with listed terrorist groups in Canada. These are important gaps to clarify in our laws, and they are consistent with the Canadian approach to freedom of expression and to the prohibition of hate speech that has been a feature of Canadian law for over 60 years.
The government introduced this bill in the first week that the House returned in September, and here we are more than six months later. The time for filibusters and for delay has come to an end. If members of the House, and the opposition in particular, acknowledge that the attacks that we have been seeing are unacceptable, and if they acknowledge that anti-Semitism and other forms of hate are rising in Canada, then now is the time to move this legislation forward.
It is one thing to condemn hate in a statement or social media post. It is another thing to support concrete legislative changes to the Criminal Code that would protect Canadians from that hate. This is why this motion before the House today matters.
This is not about cutting off debate, as members opposite are claiming. The bill has been debated in committee since October of last year. This is about ensuring that the debate actually leads somewhere, that the committee completes its clause-by-clause consideration of the bill, that amendments are voted on and that Parliament can move forward in addressing a very real challenge in our country.
Opposition to this bill is rooted in misinformation. Canadians have a charter-protected right to freedom of expression. That right is vital to any well-functioning democracy. However, as Canadian courts have ruled repeatedly, this right is limited when an individual's actions infringe on the rights of others or cause harm to them.
Prohibiting hate speech is, and has always been, a reasonable limit on free expression. Prohibiting protests that impede access to community centres, schools or places of worship is a reasonable limit on free expression. Prohibiting the public display of hate symbols and symbols of registered terrorist groups is a reasonable limit on free expression. This balance is at the beating heart of the rights and obligations we have to one another as citizens protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
For the members opposite who see Bill C-9 as an unwarranted restriction on free expression or, worse, who twist and misrepresent the provisions of this bill to incite opposition on false grounds, it is time to stop. Jewish Canadians should not have to wonder whether Parliament will act when synagogues are targeted. Muslim Canadians should not have to question whether their mosques are safe. Members of racialized or LGBTQ communities should not have to fear that hate directed toward them will go unanswered. Every Canadian deserves to know that their Parliament stands firmly against hate in all of its forms. Bill C-9 delivers that commitment in line with the charter and with respect for the freedom of conscience and religion.
I have heard concerns and had discussions with faith communities in my own riding about the protection to read scripture and sacred texts. At committee, these were taken seriously. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice introduced a “for greater certainty” clause to make clear that legitimate religious expression and the quoting of sacred texts in good faith are not and will not be criminalized. Above all, the charter protects this right.
Let us agree that the status quo is not an acceptable option. Police forces have asked for clarity. Jewish Canadians have asked for protections. We want to see terror symbols off our streets. We expect fear and intimidation in our communities and neighbourhoods to stop. We want accountability for violent and hateful acts, and we want them prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. When synagogues are targeted by gunfire, when communities are living with fear and when hate crimes are rising across the country, Canadians expect their elected representatives to act responsibly and decisively. They expect us to work together. They expect us to move beyond procedural stall tactics in the House and in committee, and to focus on the safety and well-being of the people we serve.
That is what the motion allows us to do. It ensures that Parliament can complete its work on legislation that seeks to protect Canadians from hate and violence. Hatred thrives when institutions fail to respond, but Canada has always been strongest when we stand together, across faiths, across communities and across political lines, to defend the values that define this country. Those values include freedom, dignity and safety for every Canadian.
That is why this legislation matters. That is why I am going to be supporting the motion before us today.