Bill C-9 Explained - Speaking the Truth in love

Bill C-9

Bill C-9: When the State Wants to Define Faith

Understand the Combatting Hate Act — and why it matters to our congregation and Christian Churches

Current Status: In a 186-144 vote, the House of Commons closed debate on the controversial Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Act, on March 10, 2026, opening the door to remove the good faith religious speech protections in the Criminal Code. It includes a critical amendment to remove the religious exemption from Canada's hate speech laws.

This briefing is about the freedom to read Scripture aloud, preach the whole counsel of God, and live according to our Christian teaching without the threat of criminal prosecution.

Read more: "A Christian Response to MP Marc Miller’s Comments"

Section OneWhat Is Bill C-9?

Bill C-9 — officially the Combatting Hate Act — is a federal proposal to amend Canada's Criminal Code regarding hate speech and hate crimes. The original intention of the Bill is to be protective, as some of its goals are to combat religious and ethnical violence, as well as the intimidation of worshippers at places of worship.

While these are legitimate goals that we would certainly support, we want to dig deeper and show what is buried within the bill's language, which was deepened by a late-stage political amendment. The provisions of this Bill then become a direct and serious threat to religious expression in Canada.

Section TwoThe Four Dangers to Our Christian Freedom of teaching

🛡 Removal of the Religious Exemption

Section 319(3)(b) of the Criminal Code protects good-faith expressions based on religious texts. Bill C-9, with the Bloc Québécois amendment, would eliminate this protection. Reading Scripture in public could become legally risky if a listener claims he or she felt that hatred was promoted.

📖 Vague Definition of "Hatred"

Current law requires speech to be "intense and extreme." Bill C-9 lowers this to any expression "involving detestation or vilification." This watered down definition cab be used and even weaponized to frame even ordinary theological teaching — for example, what the Bible says about sin.

⚖ Removed Prosecutorial Safeguards

Currently, the federal Attorney General must approve hate propaganda charges — a safeguard against politically motivated prosecution. Bill C-9 removes this requirement, opening the door to charges by local authorities without central oversight or accountability.

👤 Listener-Determined Guilt

Under the new framework, guilt may hinge on whether a listener feels intimidated — not on the speaker's objective intent. This shifts the law from an objective to a subjective standard, where the subjective feelings of an observer determines the legality of an objective sermon.

Section ThreeWhat Could This Mean for Our Church?

Preaching on sin and sexuality

A Liberal MP on the justice committee explicitly raised Bible passages in Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Romans as examples of potential hate speech, questioning whether quoting them could constitute promotion of hatred against Canadians who are not male and female heterosexuals. This is no hypothetical — this exchange occurred on the parliamentary record.

Teaching biblical values

Legal scholars have warned that expressing genuine biblical belief about sexuality that doesn’t align with the Scriptural teaching — speech that historically enjoyed full free speech protections — would no longer be guaranteed protection under Bill C-9.

International warning signs

In Finland, a grandmother and former government minister was criminally charged for quoting the New Testament and criticizing her church's participation in Pride events. In Spain, a bishop faced prosecution for remarks on sexuality. This is where Canada would be moving toward.

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."

2 Timothy 1:7

Section FourA Balanced Perspective

We do not oppose the law's intent to protect places of worship from violence and harassment and other provisions regarding discrimination of religion and ethnicity.

Our concern is with how the law is written — and what it removes. The religious exemption has not been used by solid Christian Churches in objective discourse to promote or to shield promotion of hate and violence against Canadians. The reason it is enshirned in our laws is to protect clear, objective and good-faith theological expression.

Removing it solves a problem that does not exist, while creating a new, dangerous problem.

Section FiveWhat You Can Do

1. Pray — and stay informed Ask for wisdom for our lawmakers, protection for religious freedom, and courage for our congregation to speak truth without fear.
2. Contact your MP directly Write, call, or email your Member of Parliament. Express your concern about the removal of Section 319(3)(b) and ask them to restore the religious exemption. Find your MP at ourcommons.ca.
3. Sign petitions against it as you see fit.
4. Know your rights — and document your speech Consult with a lawyer familiar with religious liberty law. Keep records of your sermons, teachings, and public statements. Freedom of religion remains protected under Section 2 of the Charter — but that protection may need to be defended in court.

Final Word

The Bible is the most banned book in history. While it could be pointed out that Bill C-9 doesn't ban the Bible, what we can see is that It is not being banned only for now.

However, the Christian faith does not derive its legitimacy from the state, nor does it require the state's permission to speak. The church has always been called to be faithful — and our task is not to be alarmist, but to be alert. Our desire is to serve our nation and its people with the Word, whose Law calls out us our sin and Gospel offers Grace in Jesus Christ. We desire to continue to preach the full Counsel of God.

Therefore, we will continue to teach what the Scriptures say. And we will do so with love — for our neighbours, for those with whom we disagree, and for a nation that still, under its Charter, promises freedom of conscience and religion to every person.

"We must obey God rather than men."

Acts 5:29