Bill C-9, formally titled the Combatting Hate Act, passed on June 4. As Broadview reported in December 2025 the bill “aims to better protect communities from hate-motivated conduct and improve public safety, including for faith groups. It would criminalize intimidation or blocking access to schools, places of worship and other community spaces; ban the public display of certain hate and terrorism symbols; and streamline the process for laying hate-propaganda charges.”

But critics, including The United Church of Canada, Canadian Labour Congress, Independent Jewish Voices, the Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council, and others argue the bill could criminalize peaceful protest, chill free speech and hinder religious expression.

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“It is Canada’s most significant attempt in a generation to restrict protest and silence dissent,” read a joint statement released in December. “It protects institutions from accountability, expands punitive policing, and criminalizes the democratic expression of communities across Canada.” 

Rev. Rob Oliphant, the Liberal MP for Don Valley West in Toronto, a United Church minister and a longtime advocate for 2SLGBTQ inclusion, disagrees. Broadview journalist James Adair spoke with him earlier this month, three days before the bill passed, about his perspective on Bill C-9.

James Adair: Could you explain how you view the bill and its place in the current Canadian political context?

Rob Oliphant: The bill is attempting to do a major revision of how we address hatred and intimidation based on the various grounds protected under human rights law – particularly religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation and other characteristics that make people targets of hate.

The history of the United Church is one where antisemitism has, at times, been profound. I can remember occasions at General Council — when I was a commissioner — where I felt I had to stand up for Jewish people because others were not doing so.

That’s why I think the United Church should be supporting this bill. As a church and as a faith community, we should be standing against hatred. I have not been satisfied with the United Church’s position on this issue because I don’t think it was the appropriate position.

We have rising hate crimes across this country. A place of worship in my riding, Temple Emanu-El, had 20 bullets shot........

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