Bill C-9 is a bill that would remove the Good Faith Religious Exemptions from the Criminal Code's hate speech provisions. It was supported by the Bloc Quebecois in the minority parliament, despite conservative opposition from Christian leaders and groups.
00:00:17.360So what this does is this is going to secure the Bloc support for the bill in the minority parliament,
00:00:21.860despite conservative opposition and concerns from Christian leaders and groups over the potential impacts on scriptural expression.
00:00:30.540Because as we know, one of the ones, and it was Mark Miller, who claims to be a Christian,
00:00:37.360was stating several Bible verses that address homosexuality, sexual promiscuity, and that they basically want to criminalize this.
00:00:48.920But he referred to that, to the Bible. As a Christian, he refers to the Bible as hate speech.
00:00:53.940And I don't know what Bible he's reading, but it's certainly not the same one that I'm reading.
00:00:59.160So the amendment was not part of the original draft, and there was no witnesses testified on it due to prior meeting cancellations, which was last Thursday.
00:01:09.320And like I say, we only found out on late Monday night that they were going to be having this eight-hour meeting yesterday.
00:01:15.620And so people were calling and lobbying all day.
00:01:18.740And I just, again, I was in a meeting with a group of over 900 pastors and church leaders and other leaders yesterday morning.
00:01:27.220And everybody was coming together to lobby the government and to call their elected representatives.
00:01:33.700But Justice Minister Sean Fraser stated that change won't target religious texts and that it will just strengthen hate crime tools.
00:01:45.860But I just, none of us are going to fall for that.
00:01:49.880We believe this is a lie and that it will indeed lead to the further persecution of Christians in Canada,
00:01:55.520especially when these activist groups or individuals start claiming harm and victimhood.
00:01:59.980And the case then goes before activists, politicians, judges, and human rights tribunals.