Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government will introduce a bill this week proposing new hate-related Criminal Code offences aimed at protecting people accessing places of worship, religious or cultural buildings, and schools, by making it easier for law enforcement to lay hate-crime charges, CTV News has learned.
A government source with knowledge of the bill tells CTV News the government is looking to introduce three new Criminal Code offences and will table the bill as early as Tuesday.
The proposed legislation would include a wilful intimidation offence, an obstruction offence and a standalone hate offence.
In the case of the intimidation offence, it would make it illegal for someone to try to intimidate somebody in an effort to stop them from accessing facilities used by an identifiable group, the source said.
Those facilities would include, but not be limited to religious or cultural buildings, community centres used by identifiable groups, places of worship and schools.
CBC News first reported details about the expected bill this week.
Speaking to reporters at a caucus retreat in Edmonton on Thursday, Justice Minister Sean Fraser addressed an increase in hate crimes in Canada.
“We want to advance measures that will help address the scourge of hate crimes that we see in this country, specifically faith-based communities, but also hate against identifiable groups more broadly,” said the minister.
The latest data from Statistics Canada indicates that the number of hate crimes reported to police has almost doubled since 2020.
The second proposed new Criminal Code offence will focus on obstruction — aimed at stopping protesters from wilfully blocking or obstructing someone’s access to facilities used by an identifiable group.
The government will, however, include an exemption to ensure people can advocate and protest as long as it’s lawful, the source said, clarifying that the government is not trying to infringe on Charter rights.
The third Criminal Code offence that will be proposed is a standalone hate offence within the Criminal Code.
This offence could apply to any crime that is deemed to be motivated by hate but would be coupled with another offence, said the source, adding that the government’s aim with this third offence is to address hate more broadly.
The standalone hate crime offence would not have to be tied by proximity to a facility used by an identifiable group and could apply, for example, to a crime motivated by race, religion or sexual orientation.
The government’s aim is that these new Criminal Code offences could be a clear tool to help law enforcement more easily identify and define hate crimes to lay charges.
At a municipal level, some cities have taken steps through new “bubble zone” bylaws to also protect places of worship, religious or cultural buildings and schools.
With files from CTV News’ Stephanie Ha
