The proposed Combatting Hate Act may disproportionately curtail the Charter rights of marginalized communities: Black Legal Action Centre

TORONTO, Oct. 6, 2025 /CNW/ – Black Legal Action Centre is concerned that Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Act, may inadvertently threaten fundamental Charter rights central to the Black and marginalized communities. BLAC recognizes the need to protect communities, including our Black communities, from hate. However, the provisions risk undermining the critical ability of these groups to advocate for their rights and challenge systemic injustice.

Bill C-9 would amend the Criminal Code to create new offences, including intimidating or obstructing access to places used by identifiable groups, hate-motivated crime and propaganda offences, codifying “hatred”, and removing the Attorney General consent requirement to prosecute hate propaganda.

The new intimidation and obstruction offences could be interpreted broadly to criminalize forms of peaceful protest and assembly. Particularly, the language surrounding “intent to make someone afraid” or “intentionally obstruct or interfere” could be applied to general advocacy activities. Marginalized communities – including Black communities who have a long history of using public demonstrations to demand justice – face the stereotype of being aggressive or intimidating. Therefore, racialized groups could face heightened legal risk if their legitimate protests are construed as intimidation or obstruction, endangering their right to advocate for systemic change.

The Charter guarantees freedom of expression and freedom of association. The Supreme Court has recognized that while hate speech provisions serve a pressing and substantial objective, they infringe upon the freedom of expression and may be allowed only in limited circumstances.

The proposed new hate propaganda offence targeting the public display of certain symbols, even with exceptions for education or art, raises concerns about its potential overreach. Significantly, the removal of the requirement for AG’s consent to lay hate propaganda charges could lead to a proliferation of police charges against racialized individuals and groups for organizing protests, holding signs, or engaging in public demonstrations, even where the alleged conduct does not meet the required high threshold of “detestation or vilification” outlined by the Supreme Court. 

A charge, even without a conviction, has significant detrimental effects on racialized people. This streamlining, intended to allow law enforcement to “act quickly to counter hate speech”, could also create a chilling effect by causing Canadians to self-censor and discourage legitimate and necessary advocacy from communities that have historically faced suppression of their voices.

BLAC calls on the Minister to thoroughly review the Bill to ensure it does not unintentionally undermine our Charter-protected rights. An overbroad approach could curb the very voices the Bill intends to protect, threatening the ability of those most affected by hate to defend themselves and demand justice.

Black Legal Action Centre is a non-profit community legal clinic mandated to combat individual and systemic anti-Black racism in Ontario. Our work involves engaging in systemic advocacy, public legal education and free legal representation to eligible low- or no-income Black Ontarians who have experienced anti-Black racism.

https://www.blacklegalactioncentre.ca 

SOURCE BLACK LEGAL ACTION CENTRE