“As of April 4, 2026, Canadian authorities have jailed individuals for publicly quoting the Bible because of their Christian beliefs.”

Every one who, by communicating statements in any public place, incites hatred against any identifiable group where such incitement is likely to lead to a breach of the peace is guilty of an indictable offence... No person shall be convicted of an offence under subsection (2) if, in good faith, the person expressed or attempted to establish by an argument an opinion on a religious subject or an opinion based on a belief in a religious text.

Everyone in Canada is free to practise any religion or no religion at all. We are also free to express religious beliefs through prayer or by wearing religious clothing for example. However, these freedoms are not unlimited. There may be limits on how you express your religious beliefs if your way of doing so would infringe on the rights of others or undermine complex public programs and policies.

The Minister of Justice has examined Bill C-9, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (hate propaganda, hate crime and access to religious or cultural places), which was tabled in the House of Commons on October 7, 2025. The Bill would create a new hate crime offence and amend existing provisions related to hate propaganda. The main Charter-protected rights and freedoms potentially engaged by the proposed measures include Freedom of religion (section 2(a)) and Freedom of expression (section 2(b)). The proposed offence would limit freedom of expression under section 2(b), since the wilful promotion of hatred by display of symbols is expressive activity, but the consistency with the Charter is supported by the specific intent requirement.

All in all, Canada did not criminalize public Bible reading or quoting Scripture in late March 2026. Bill C-9 would remove a narrow religious-text defense in certain hate-propaganda offenses, but it does not ban Scripture itself, and it had not become law as of March 30, 2026. In January 2026, Justice Minister Sean Fraser likewise rejected claims that the bill would "criminalize faith" or stop religious leaders from reading sacred texts.

Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms: a) freedom of conscience and religion; b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication. The rights and freedoms in the Charter are not absolute. They can be limited to protect other rights or important national values. For example, freedom of expression may be limited by laws against hate propaganda or child pornography.

The constitution provides for freedom of conscience, religion, thought, belief, opinion, and expression. Every individual is equal under the law and has the right to equal protection and benefit of the law without discrimination based on religion. The law imposes “reasonable limits” on the exercise of these religious rights only where such restrictions can be “demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.”

Canada's mainstream Jewish advocacy groups have applauded the government's passage of Bill C-9, with a 186-137 vote in the House of Commons. The bill aims to combat hate crimes amid rising antisemitism.

Canada's Liberal government is currently forcing through the outrageous Bill C-9, which could make it a hate crime to quote from sections of the Bible. Marc Miller, the minister of Canadian identity and culture, testified in parliamentary discussions about the legislation that he believes there is “clear hatred” in the Bible, particularly in Deuteronomy, Leviticus and St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans.

The Christian Institute has warned that planned changes to hate speech laws in Canada could lead to the criminalisation of quoting Scripture. Proposed changes to the Combating Hate Act remove exemptions that prevent being convicted for making supposedly hateful statements in “good faith” based “on belief in a religious text”.

Canada is one step closer to passing “hate crime” legislation that would make historic Christian beliefs illegal to express. The Liberals got Bloc support by including a clause that would remove the religious exemption from Canada's hate speech law.

The Quebec government adopted legislation on Thursday, extending a ban on wearing religious symbols in public workplaces to daycare workers, prohibiting prayer rooms in public institutions, and banning public prayer without explicit municipal consent. Martin Laliberté, the head of the Assembly of Quebec Catholic Bishops, believes the new law turns religious people into second-class citizens, stating that it was a right to express faith publicly, and now it is not.

As of early 2026, no reported cases exist where Canadian authorities have jailed individuals specifically for publicly quoting the Bible due to Christian beliefs. Bill C-9, if passed, removes the 'good faith' religious defense for willful promotion of hatred (Criminal Code s.319(3)(b)) but does not retroactively apply, and prosecutions require Attorney General consent with high evidentiary thresholds.

On Dec. 9, in a House of Commons justice and human rights committee meeting, the Liberal Party voted in favour of a controversial Bloc Québécois amendment to Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Act, that removes the religious speech defence from Canada's hate speech law. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), Toronto Cardinal Frank Leo and the Catholic Civil Rights League (CCRL) have expressed grave concern about the religious-text guardrail potentially being removed.

Quoting a passage from a religious text such as the Bible could become a crime under new proposals put forward in Canada. Current Canadian hate crimes laws contain a clause which protects people who make statements in 'good faith' based 'on belief in a religious text'. But lawmakers have put forward plans to remove that defence, opening up Christians and people of other faiths to potential prosecution.

Canada's House of Commons has passed Bill C9, known as the Combating Hate Act, on March 25th, 2026... The legislation removes a long-standing religious exemption from Canada's hate speech laws, opening the door to potential criminal charges against Christians who publicly affirm biblical teachings on topics such as homosexuality and gender.