The federal government is introducing new legislation that would create “a new crime of hate” in the Criminal Code, outlaw the promotion of hateful symbols like the Nazi swastika that cause harm, and protect religious institutions from “obstruction and intimidation,” Justice Minister Sean Fraser announced Friday.
The long-promised hate crime bill is the first major legislative move by Canada’s attorney general for the fall sitting of Parliament, which is already being dominated by the issue of combating crime.
“One of the great promises of Canada is the ability of our citizens to live freely in their communities, regardless of the colour of their skin, the god they pray to, or the person that they love,” Fraser told reporters in Ottawa.
“Sadly, too many Canadians are robbed of these freedoms that so many of us take for granted. Frankly, the prevalence of hate crimes in this country that steal those freedoms are something that should shock the conscience of every Canadian.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney wrote on social media: “Those who spread hate and violence in our communities will have no safe harbour in Canada.”
The minister was quick to tell reporters in a press conference that the bill upholds free speech values and won’t target symbols that certain groups have called hateful, such as the Palestinian flag.
Yet he could not give assurances that law enforcement and prosecutors will always be able to clearly make that distinction in real time, only that additional training may be needed, particularly surrounding what counts as using a listed symbol to promote hatred.
“It’s not lost on me that we are in new territory, and sometimes there may be a learning curve with the adoption of these new laws,” he said.
“So we’re going to work alongside our provincial counterparts and with law enforcement to ensure that they have the tools that they need.”
The legislation comes as police forces in jurisdictions like British Columbia expand their hate crime units to counter a rise in hate-motivated incidents.
Although Statistics Canada reported a slight increase in the number of police-reported hate crimes last year, with 4,882 incidents compared to 4,828 in 2023, attacks against Jewish people made up the vast majority of crimes against religious groups, with 920 incidents reported to police last year.
What would the legislation do?
The bill, if passed into law, would create four new criminal offences, including a specific criminal offence of hate that could be applied when a crime is committed specifically because of motivation of hatred toward a victim.
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Fraser likened the new charge to an aggravating factor applied in the prosecution of a criminal act.
“If a person robs a store because the owner comes from a particular group, or if a person commits harassment against someone who is seeking to attend university classes merely because they belong to a particular community of faith or race, this behavior is not just morally culpable,” Fraser said. “The impact has reverberations through the entirety of a community, and I would argue tears at the seams of the social fabric of the nation.”
If convicted, the charge would raise the likelihood of an offender facing the maximum sentence of the underlying crime, including life in prison.
Separate offences would also be created for intimidating someone from accessing religious buildings or places of worship, and intentionally obstructing people from those places. Schools, community centres and other places used by “identifiable groups” are also covered by the new provisions, as well as certain cemeteries.
Both offences carry a maximum sentence of 10 years behind bars.
Fraser said the bill takes a “different approach” from the concept of establishing “bubble zones” around those institutions, which the minister said would be up to municipalities to regulate for specific buildings.
The bill would also make illegal the willful promotion of hatred by displaying certain “hateful” symbols in a public place, with a maximum sentence of two years in prison.
It specifically identifies the Nazi swastika as a symbol subject to that offence, as well as symbols that are associated with listed terrorist organizations, and any symbols that closely resemble or are “likely to be confused” with those hateful symbols.
That provision got the most attention Friday, with Fraser facing questions on whether it would apply to instances like flying a Nazi flag or wearing a Hamas symbol on a shirt during a peaceful protest, or the private display of such symbols.
The legislation specifically exempts the use of listed symbols in “legitimate” circumstances — such as journalism, education or art — and “good faith” displays intended to point out the harm such symbols create.
“It’s not a blanket ban on particular symbols,” he said. “It is a new offense that deals with the willful promotion of hate through the use of those symbols.
“I would liken it to the example of having both a charge of assault and assault with a weapon,” he added. “Sometimes the tool that you use can increase the harm to the victim and to the community. If the view of law enforcement and of Crown prosecutors is that there was an attempt to willfully promote hate against an identifiable group through the use of those hate symbols, that is a scenario where this new charge would have application.”
Although he declined to get into “hypothetical” scenarios, Fraser explicitly said “this is not about the Palestinian flag,” which some Jewish organizations have said has been used to promote antisemitism amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
“Canadians have the right to free expression,” the minister said. “This bill goes to great lengths to specifically protect the ability of Canadians to take part in peaceful protests and to freely express themselves in a nonviolent way.
Fraser added the bill includes “specific language to exempt peaceful protests and to make clear that Canadians who seek to communicate information continue to be free to do so.”
The legislation also makes clear that the new hate offence cannot be applied to a criminal act just because it “discredits, humiliates, hurts or offends.”
The bill also seeks to remove provisions in the Criminal Code that require the attorney general’s sign-off for pursuing hate propaganda offences and for charges of advocating or promoting genocide, putting the onus on Crown prosecutors and law enforcement.
Canadian Jewish groups welcomed the legislation, saying it will help make those communities safer. But the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) said it could have gone further by outright banning even the peaceful display of terrorist symbols.
“I think we believe that the simple flying of those flags should be a criminal offence. The government is taking a different route,” CIJA vice president and general council Richard Marceau said in an interview, adding he’s hopeful the bill is further improved in the legislative process.
“Parents are afraid for their kids when they drop them off at school. We’ve seen houses of worship, synagogues being targeted. … So to have a bill that would prohibit the obstruction of access to those institutions, as well as the intimidation of people accessing those institutions, is the right thing to do.”
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) on Friday raised concerns that the bill could be used to stigmatize and criminalize peaceful protesters, and could indeed target the flying of flags at demonstrations.
“I believe the minister was not able to answer that question, and neither are we, so it’s definitely a risk that this type of conduct will be criminalized,” said Anaïs Bussières McNicoll, director of the CCLA’s Fundamental Freedoms Program.
She also said the definition of buildings protected under the legislation is overly broad, and that repealing the requirement for an attorney general’s sign-off on hate crime prosecutions removes “an important safeguard” meant to protect free expression.
McNicoll said Fraser’s commitment to further training for law enforcement and prosecutors on the legislation also needs explicit definitions.
“I think whenever we’re talking about what is criminal in our society, utmost transparency is needed,” she said.
“To the extent that there are some kind of thresholds or parameters that the minister has in mind, but that are not explicit within the bill, they should be made explicit within the bill. They shouldn’t be left to further training for the police, which we won’t be able to attend and which protesters won’t be aware of.”
A spokesperson for the federal Conservatives, who have been pushing for tougher hate crime measures, said they were still reviewing the bill and declined to immediately comment Friday.
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