The Canadian Parliament is considering a proposal to remove a religious exemption from Canada's hate-speech laws, reports CBC News. The Criminal Code currently exempts individuals "if, in good faith, the person expressed or attempted to establish by an argument an opinion on a religious subject or an opinion based on a belief in a religious text." However, a proposed amendment to the Liberal Party’s Bill C-9, dubbed the Combatting Hate Act, would remove that exemption.
The proposal was first introduced by the Bloc Québécois, a Quebec-centered political party. The party believes that religion could be a cover for promoting hate, which is why they want to remove the religious exception. Some of the Members of Parliament belonging to the Liberal Party backed the Bloc Québécois’ proposal in the House of Commons’ justice committee.
Dr. Charles McVety is president of Canada Christian College. He says that they want to adopt the same draconian measure that is stifling free speech in Great Britain.
"For example, if you have a deeply held conviction that homosexuality is a sin, then you could not be prosecuted. They are going to remove that so you can be prosecuted in the same manner as the prosecutions of the U.K.," informs McVety.
McVety says that, even though Muslim groups have expressed concerns about the amendment, it is about the implementation.
"The government never implements it against Muslims. They only implement this against primarily Christians or people who said something offensive to either Muslims or the LGBTQ community,” states McVety.
He points out the double standard.
“You can say whatever you want against Christ or whatever you want against Jews, but if you say anything against those two communities, you are going to get arrested and even thrown in prison,” says McVety. “They want to bring that to Canada."
