News from ICLMG

Withdraw Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Act, as it risks criminalizing dissent!


Since you’re here…

… we have a small favour to ask. Here at ICLMG, we are working very hard to protect and promote human rights and civil liberties in the context of the so-called “war on terror” in Canada. We do not receive any financial support from any federal, provincial or municipal governments or political parties. You can become our patron on Patreon and get rewards in exchange for your support. You can give as little as $1/month (that’s only $12/year!) and you can unsubscribe at any time. Any donations will go a long way to support our work.panel-54141172-image-6fa93d06d6081076-320-320You can also make a one-time donation or donate monthly via Paypal by clicking on the button below. On the fence about giving? Check out our Achievements and Gains since we were created in 2002. Thank you for your generosity!
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Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Act, risks criminalizing dissent and must be withdrawn

The International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG) is alarmed that new legislation aimed at preventing hate crimes instead threatens the Charter rights and civil liberties of all people in Canada, including those communities that the government wishes to help protect.

“While we agree that the Canadian government must take action to protect people in Canada, including against hate-based incidents, the provisions of Bill C-9, the proposed Combatting Hate Act, will create a chill against protest and dissent, and risk the criminalization of free expression and free assembly in Canada,” said Tim McSorley, national coordinator of the ICLMG.

New provisions in the bill would outlaw the display of symbols associated with listed terrorist entities. The listing of terrorist entities is secretive, politicized, discretionary and violates due process. It has been used to target groups that have fought for rights of self-determination and against occupation, all while Canadian governments have failed to act against the much more prevalent and deadly violence enacted by states. Based on these concerns, among others, the ICLMG coalition has called for the terror entities list to be abolished, and opposes the creation of new laws that use the terrorist entities list as their basis. 

Furthermore, giving police the ability to discern what symbols are associated with a terrorist entity grants enormous discretionary power. Already, political and cultural symbols associated with Palestinian culture and human rights, including the keffiyeh, have illegitimately been associated with terrorist entities or hate. These new provisions would be a license for police to detain people first, and ask questions later, during protests and other gatherings, further undermining freedom of assembly and free expression.

New offenses in Bill C-9 regarding obstruction and intimidation in proximity to certain places, including places of religious worship, schools, community and sports centres, raise similar concerns. The Criminal Code already allows for police to act on the basis of mischief, intimidation, harassment, or threats. As we have seen across the country, especially in regards to protests in support of Palestinian rights, police have more than enough powers to disrupt protests on a wide range of grounds, and in fact have often engaged in over enforcement, demonstrated by the myriad of charges that have been dropped, as well as the violent dismantling of peaceful encampments. All of this makes clear that these new powers are unnecessary. Moreover, the broad wording would empower police to take discretionary action based on how they interpret the intent of protesters – not protesters’ actions. 

Bill C-9’s removal of the existing requirements for attorney general approval of laying hate propaganda charges, allowing police to make these decisions, compound these concerns. 

The proposed new offences would carry significant penalties, including the threat of jail time, and will result in people who would ordinarily take action to speak out on important social issues refraining from doing so under the fear of being trapped in the dragnet of additional, unclear and broad discretionary powers. If that is not the government’s intent, we urge it to withdraw this bill in favour of approaches that both protect vulnerable communities and ensure the protection of Charter rights and civil liberties in Canada.

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Since you’re here…

… we have a small favour to ask. Here at ICLMG, we are working very hard to protect and promote human rights and civil liberties in the context of the so-called “war on terror” in Canada. We do not receive any financial support from any federal, provincial or municipal governments or political parties. You can become our patron on Patreon and get rewards in exchange for your support. You can give as little as $1/month (that’s only $12/year!) and you can unsubscribe at any time. Any donations will go a long way to support our work.panel-54141172-image-6fa93d06d6081076-320-320You can also make a one-time donation or donate monthly via Paypal by clicking on the button below. On the fence about giving? Check out our Achievements and Gains since we were created in 2002. Thank you for your generosity!
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Fall 2025 will be busy! Please help us stop dangerous Bill C-2 and protect civil liberties!

Four and a half months into this new government, we are worried.

Although Prime Minister Mark Carney ran an “elbows up” campaign, promising to protect Canadians from US President Trump’s threats of annexation and tariffs, he is instead sacrificing our privacy rights, as well as throwing migrants and refugees under the bus, to appease Trump’s false border concerns. This is especially true with his government’s proposed Bill C-2, the “Strong Borders” Act.

To ensure this new government protects our rights, we need your help!

Please click the button below to support our work. Thank you!

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Bill C-2, the rights-violating “Strong Borders” Act, is back in Parliament this week.

This legislation is anti-privacy, anti-migrant and anti-refugee and will make us all less safe by:

  • Arbitrarily limiting the ability of individuals to claim asylum in Canada, in violation of international human rights law.
  • Allowing police and intelligence agencies warrantless access to our personal information, in violation of privacy rights.
  • Granting the government the power to issue secret orders to internet service providers to modify their systems to facilitate surveillance and possibly undermine encryption, placing our data at risk.
  • Allowing for the mass cancellation or suspension of the processing of immigration documents (ex: visas and permanent residency cards) for entire groups of people, including individuals from certain countries.
  • Allowing Canada Post to open and search our letter mail.
  • And much more.

It can’t be allowed to pass!

Help us build the resistance!

Already, we’re working hard alongside hundreds of partner organizations and thousands of Canadians, to stop this dangerous, cruel and unnecessary legislation:

But much more needs to be done:

  • We are meeting with MPs across the political spectrum to tell them about the problems with this bill and why it must be withdrawn.
  • We are working on a brief and a presentation for the Parliamentary study of the bill.
  • We continue to help organize the Stop C-2 network to exchange information and strategize to stop the dangerous bill.

MANY more experts, media commentators, organizations, people across Canada and MPs have opposed the bill since it was first introduced.

But Prime Minister Carney seems determined to have it adopted despite the MASSIVE opposition to the bill.

We will need all the help we can get to protect our rights and stop Bill C-2!

HELP US STOP BILL C-2!

What else is coming up in Fall 2025?

While we will continue the fight against C-2 throughout the fall we are also expecting to see other national security bills or policies that will threaten our rights and freedoms, on top of our ongoing work on existing files. These include continuing to:

  • Oppose Canada’s complicity in the genocide enacted on Palestinians by Israel in the name of “fighting terrorism” and defend our freedoms of expression, association and assembly on this issue and others.
  • Push for ending the use of political, rights-violating and secretive watch lists, including the Terrorist Entities List, and the Canadian and the US No Fly Lists.
  • Call for an end to Canada’s complicity in indefinite detention, unfair extradition and torture, including resolving the cases of Abousfian Abdelrazik, Mohamed Harkat and Hassan Diab, and repatriating all Canadians and family members detained in camps and prisons in Northeast Syria.
  • Oppose the impacts of counter-terrorist financing laws on humanitarian organizations and Muslim-led charities in Canada.
  • Work to reinforce accountability, transparency and due process, including ensuring that any national security review fully involves civil society and impacted communities, increasing funding for review bodies, and reducing restrictions on the defence accessing evidence and other information in terrorism cases.
  • Publish our bimonthly News Digest, featuring all news related to the negative impact of anti-terrorism and national security on rights and liberties in Canada and abroad.
  • Monitor any upcoming artificial intelligence regulation to ensure there are no exemptions for national security agencies or activities, as was the case with the previous government’s Bill C-27.

Prime Minister Carney has described his party as “the party of the Charter,” and committed in Spring 2025, including in conversation with the UN Secretary-General, to protecting human rights.

So far, that is not what he is doing; quite the opposite.

Will you support our work of protecting our rights and freedoms from the negative impact of Canada’s national security apparatus?

I SUPPORT ICLMG

Please share widely and invite your networks to help us protect our rights via email and on Facebook + Bluesky + Instagram + Twitter

Thank you!

Xan & Tim

The ICLMG is a national coalition of Canadian civil society organizations that was established in the aftermath of the rushed adoption of the Anti-terrorist Act of 2001. The coalition brings together 45 NGOs, unions, professional associations, faith groups, environmental organizations, human rights and civil liberties advocates, as well as groups representing immigrant and refugee communities in Canada. Our mandate is to defend civil liberties and human rights in the context of the so-called ‘War on Terror’.