Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government is expected to introduce legislation as early as Tuesday to crack down on people willfully intimidating and obstructing individuals entering places of worship, cultural community centres and schools, CBC News has learned.
A source with knowledge of the government’s plans says Ottawa will propose three new offences under Canada’s Criminal Code, including creating a new hate crime offence.
Carney promised during his election campaign to respond to what he’s called a “horrifying rise in hate” including antisemitism and Islamophobia. He signalled to his caucus this week changes were coming.
“All Canadians must be able to get up, go to work, go to their church, temple, mosque, community centre and then come home and sleep soundly at night,” Carney told his MPs in Edmonton on Wednesday.
“And when our laws repeatedly fail to protect those basic rights, we need new laws. This fall we will deliver them.”
CBC News has now learned new details about the first of at least three pieces of legislation the Liberals hope to table this fall that involve changes to the country’s criminal justice system.
The Liberals are facing criticism from the Conservatives that the government isn’t taking antisemitism seriously and isn’t tough enough on crime. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has called for stronger hate-crime laws and for the deportation of non-Canadians spreading hate in the country.
The Liberals’ legislation next week is expected to propose Criminal Code changes to give police and prosecutors new tools to try to protect people accessing a range of religious and cultural buildings, the source said.
The source says the move is in response to gunshots fired at religious schools, bomb threats at cultural institutions and violence against people going to places of worship.
The total number of police-reported hate crimes across the country increased from 2,646 incidents in 2020 to 4,882 cases in 2024, according to Statistics Canada data.
Rabbis, imams, church leaders and community members have spoken out about acts of aggression including people banging on windows, vandalizing buildings, sending hate mail and harassing worshippers since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war.
Jewish and Muslim groups have called for governments to create safe “bubble zones” around places of worship after witnessing more hate crimes targeting mosques, synagogues and Jewish institutions.
Toronto passed a controversial bylaw earlier this year to restrict protests around daycares, schools and places of worship after months of demonstrations following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel and Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. Some argued the new protest bylaw didn’t go far enough to protect vulnerable groups while others said it infringed on people’s right to protest.
New intimidation and obstruction offences
Justice Minister and Attorney General Sean Fraser said the federal government doesn’t have the jurisdiction to prevent people from being in a particular place, but can take other action.
“Criminalizing morally culpable behaviour that may take place in proximity to those institutions or elsewhere is something that we do have the authority to move forward with,” Fraser told reporters on Thursday outside a Liberal caucus meeting.
A source says the government is expected to propose a new intimidation offence that would make it illegal to try and scare people so they won’t access religious or cultural buildings used by identifiable groups.
Justice Minister Sean Fraser said the federal government is not responsible for ‘regulating the ability of people to be in a particular place,’ but is seeking to add criminal provisions prohibiting the obstruction of facilities such as synagogues and mosques.
A new obstruction offence would also be created to prohibit people from willfully blocking or obstructing someone’s access to those properties, the source said.
To avoid infringing Charter rights, the source said, there would be an exemption so people can advocate and protest as long as it’s lawful.
The new offences are expected to be similar to offences that make it a crime to intimidate or obstruct patients or healthcare workers from doing their job or accessing care. The offences were created in 2021 after protests against vaccine mandates and other COVID-19-related public health measures.
It will be up to the court to decide what properties fall under this offence, the source said. Churches, mosques, synagogues, religious or secular daycares and schools would qualify, the source said, but so might cultural centres, community centres and 2SLGBTQ+ spaces if they are primarily used by an identifiable group.
Separate offence for hate crimes
The government is also expected to propose a separate offence for anyone committing any other crimes while motivated by hatred because of someone’s race, religion or sex, the source said.
“We are looking to establish new measures that would address hate more broadly that is coupled with other criminal behaviour that may take place regardless of its proximity to a particular faith-based institution,” Fraser hinted on Thursday.
The government faced criticism in the past over its Online Harms Act, Bill C-63, that proposed a similar kind of hate crime offence. Some raised concerns the offence could lead to a penalty of life imprisonment. Others worried the offence could put those accused under pressure to falsely plead guilty to lesser charges.
The source says to address those concerns, the government is expected to propose an escalating sentence structure. Hate would also be defined and wouldn’t include disliking, offending or humiliating someone, the source said.
Noah Shack, CEO for Israel and Jewish Affairs, says the upcoming legislation is a “much-needed step in the right direction”, but more action is needed. He’s calling on the federal government to hold criminals accountable, fill in gaps in Canada’s anti-terror legislation and increase security for communities in the upcoming budget this fall.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) says the government needs to strike the right balance with this legislation and isn’t commenting further until it’s introduced.
“Absolutely no one should be harassed in Canada, particularly in places of worship and religious community,” said NCCM spokesperson Steven Zhou. “The right to peaceful protest should also be protected.”
Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman said her party will assess the legislation once it’s tabled, but for years the “Liberals did nothing.”
“No one should be afraid to worship in peace, but that is exactly what the Liberal government has allowed over the last two years of their inaction while our communities called out for help,” Lantsman said in a statement.
She said the Conservatives presented a plan almost two years ago about how to protect Canadians from “threats of vandalism, hate, intimidation and violence in our communities simply because of who they are and how they worship.”
The party also tabled legislation to address arson attacks at places of worship and has called for a series of other measures, including creating an Anti-Hate-Crime Task Force and speeding up access to a government security program for communities at risk of hate-motivated crimes, Lantsman said.
