The Senate made one change to Bill C-9 and passed it on June 4, 2026. The Senate did not pass any amendments to help clarify and protect religious expression. The bill has been sent back to the House of Commons for a vote on the change.
Bill C-9 has passed in the Senate. What’s next?
The Senate amended Bill C-9 by adding the noose to the list of symbols in the offence of promoting hatred through the use of symbols. The bill was then passed by the Senate.
A bill has to pass with the same wording in both houses of parliament, so the Senate’s change to Bill C-9 has been sent back to the House of Commons to be voted on. This can happen very quickly. It doesn’t require going through the whole legislative process again. If the House votes in favour of the amendment, the bill is passed.
Did the changes made in the Senate add clarity or protection for religious expression?
The Senate did not restore the religious belief defence. There was a motion before the Senate to add clarity and protection for religious expression through changes to the ‘For greater certainty’ clarification clause, as the EFC and others recommended. This motion was defeated by 40 votes to 21.
How will Bill C-9 affect religious expression?
Bill C-9 will remove the religious belief defence from the
Criminal Code.
Currently, if a person is found to have
wilfully promoted hatred, there are four defences a person could invoke. One of these defences is if the person, in good faith, expressed an opinion on a religious subject or based on a belief in a religious text.
This defence has only been invoked a handful of times, and never successfully.
The Supreme Court has found the defences help to narrow the scope of the offence and that the religious belief defence protects religious expression in borderline cases.
We think this defence is an important safeguard and have advocated for it to be retained.
Even without this defence, it’s important to note that the criminal offence is the ‘wilful promotion of hatred.’ It means that a person’s intention is to promote hatred. Bill C-9 defines hatred as "an emotion of an intense and extreme nature that is clearly associated with vilification and detestation." It includes the clarification, "For greater certainty, the communication of a statement does not incite or promote hatred, for the purposes of this section, solely because it discredits, humiliates, hurts or offends."
Scripture, in and of itself, has never been considered hatred by the courts.
The EFC will monitor the impact of the changes made in Bill C-9 and continue to advocate for freedom of religion and belief.
For updates and more information, see
TheEFC.ca/C-9.