Hate speech: Simon Jolin-Barrette asks Ottawa to end religious exemption

The Minister of Justice Simon Jolin-Barrette asks his federal counterpart, Arif Virani, to criminalize hate speech pronounced “under the cover of faith” and castigates “the inaction of the federal legislator” after recurring excesses in Montreal.

Two articles included in the Canadian Criminal Code allow for the exemption of any person making hateful remarks if they are part of the defense or presentation of a religious point of view.

In a letter sent Thursday to Mr. Virani including The Journal obtained a copy, Mr. Jolin-Barrette asserts that the kind of speech justified by these articles “contributes to a toxic climate” and that it “must no longer be tolerated”.

“By keeping this exception in place, the Government of Canada is perpetuating legal loopholes that contribute to withdrawal, communitarianism and social exclusion, thereby protecting behaviors and speech that lead to discrimination and violence,” accuses the Quebec minister.

Rising tensions

Since October 7, 2023, the SPVM has reported 310 hate crimes and incidents against the Jewish (230) and Arab-Muslim (80) communities. Across Canada, hateful acts have almost tripled since 2015, according to RCMP figures.

As recently as Tuesday, the Montreal City Police Service (SPVM) launched an investigation into a demonstrator who gave a Nazi salute during a demonstration that ended up degenerating last Friday.

Last March, doctor Eric Sabbah was forced to pay $25,000 in fines by the College of Physicians after calling for a “great cleansing” of Gaza.

In May, the DPCP gave up pursuing imam Adil Charkaoui, due to lack of “evidence”, despite an incendiary and widely publicized speech during which he called on “Allah” to “take charge” of the “Zionist aggressors”.

“Allah, identify them all one by one and then exterminate them, and exclude none of them!” he chanted into a microphone, in Arabic, during a demonstration.

An artistic blur

The question surrounding religious exemption has already arisen in Ottawa. The leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet, proposed a bill to tackle the religious exemption. His initiative has been stuck in parliamentary limbo since February.

Called to comment on the proposal a year ago, Mr. Virani’s office responded that “the Government of Canada is not aware that the defense invoked could constitute an obstacle to fighting this rise in hatred.”

In Quebec, the National Assembly almost adopted a motion presented by the Parti Québécois to demand from Ottawa the withdrawal of the articles in question, but the Liberal Party of Quebec opposed it.

For Minister Jolin-Barrette, it is “imperative and urgent” that the federal government repeals these provisions which “directly contradict the right to equality enjoyed by citizens under the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.”

A copy of the letter was sent to all Ministers of Justice in Canada.