The Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette, calls on Ottawa to tighten the Criminal Code to prevent hate speech from being legitimized “under the cover of faith”. Through its inaction, the Trudeau government “perpetuates legal loopholes which contribute to withdrawal,” he deplores.
Posted at 1:41 p.m.
His grievances are detailed in a letter sent by the minister to his federal counterpart, Arif Virani, and to all the attorneys general of the other provinces on Thursday.
Simon Jolin-Barrette deplores that a loophole in the Criminal Code is currently being exploited “to legitimize discriminatory or incendiary remarks under the cover of faith”, a practice which “must no longer be tolerated”.
“This exception notably offered a legal shield to radical extremists to encourage hatred and intolerance towards ethnic or religious groups or to spread racist, misogynistic or homophobic messages,” he continues.
Currently, it is a criminal offense to stir up hatred against an “identifiable group” and to foment “anti-Semitism by condoning, denying or minimizing the Holocaust.”
However, in either case, there is an exemption based on religion.
No one can be found guilty if they “have, in good faith, expressed an opinion on a religious subject or an opinion based on a religious text in which they believe,” provides the Criminal Code.
The case of Adil Charkaoui
“Incidents” where comments inciting violence were protected by this exception have been documented, indicates Simon Jolin-Barrette, in his missive, but he does not detail any of them. However, he cites data from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) showing that hate crimes reported by police in the country have practically tripled since 2015.
The case is, however, reminiscent of the decision of the Director General of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) not to prosecute imam Adil Charkaoui for comments he made during a pro-Palestinian rally in Montreal, in October 2023.
“Allah, take care of these Zionist aggressors. Allah, take care of the enemies of the people of Gaza. Allah, identify them all one by one and then exterminate them, and exclude none of them! “, he said, in Arabic, to thousands of demonstrators gathered in the city center.
On social networks, Adil Charkaoui then defended himself from having called for hatred and violence against Jews, pleading that it was in fact an appeal to God. He also said he was quoting the Koran during his speech.
This is also the case that was cited by the leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet, when he requested the withdrawal of the religious exemption from the Criminal Code in November 2023.
