Blog post by Augustin Hamilton (Quebec Life Coalition) — Photo (edited): AnaPliego/Adobe Stock

Note: Since Bill C-9 was passed by the Senate on June 4th with amendments by a vote of 45 in favor, 13 against, and two abstentions, it must now go back to the House of Commons. If the House of Commons passes the bill as is, it will become law.

The censorship bill C-9 is a strange stew where, at times, ingredients are thrown in, and at other times, they are taken out. As of June 4th the stew is on the stove; senators will vote on it in the third, and final if the vote is positive, reading.

C-9, the bill that condemns “hatred”! But what kind of hatred?

Introduced by the Liberals, it initially defined hatred as follows: “an emotion that involves detestation or vilification and that is stronger than disdain or dislike”.

Now “hate” is defined as such in C-9: “emotion of an intense and extreme nature that is clearly associated with vilification and detestation”.

Condemn vilification? Absolutely! As for “detestation,” it’s synonymous with “hatred” (so much for clarity…). But what’s absurd here is that an emotion is, by definition, passive and triggered by an external cause; one feels an emotion. And if the emotion is both “intense and extreme,” it must be due to an external cause that is more or less proportional.

The danger of such a vague definition is that it could be exploited by unscrupulous activists and judges.

Furthermore, C-9 imposes new penalties on top of those already applied to hate crimes, thereby creating disproportionate penalties.

Fortunately, the Liberals removed the provision from the bill that would have eliminated the need for the Attorney General’s approval to initiate a prosecution; that provision would have opened the door to many abusive prosecutions by overzealous officials...

We have just learned that the Liberal government, supported by the Bloc Québécois, is rushing Bill C-9 toward a final vote in the House of Commons — possibly as early as this Friday. Debate has been cut short. Committee study has been shut down. They are trying to force this deeply troubling “speech control” law through before public opposition can grow any stronger.

This tells us something important: they are worried. 
And it means we must act immediately.

One of the most dangerous elements of Bill C-9 is the removal of the long-standing religious exemption in the Criminal Code. This protection has allowed Canadians to express sincerely held religious convictions without fear of criminal prosecution. If it is removed, peaceful expression of biblical or moral beliefs on social issues could be investigated or even charged as “hate speech.”

Bill C-9 would also expand police powers to act on complaints about speech, including anonymous allegations made online. The chilling effect on freedom of expression could be profound.

We now have very little time left. Please use this form to contact your Member of Parliament right now. Your email or phone call could help stop this bill.

==> https://en.cqv.qc.ca/say_no_to_c_9

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We are starting today, in the midst of many activities, our Lent Fundraiser. We are aiming to fundraise 20,000$ in the next three weeks.

I'll be giving more details in emails to come, but just to give you an inkling of what we are doing these days, here are just some of the activities we are engaged in to fight in Quebec and the rest of Canada for faith, family and life, from conception to natural death. I think you'll agree that your sacrificial donation will be well used by us:

First, just as I'm writing, two Quebec Life Coalition women representatives are working hard alongside their English-Canada counterparts at the UN in New York City, attending the various gatherings of the Commission for the Status of Women (CSW) conference. I just received these photos which I thought I would share. 

You see, these UN conferences are often used as venues to promote pro-abortion, pro-LGBT ideologies. But when our representatives get inside the room, you can be sure they ask very embarrassing questions, and deflate any attempts to pretend there's a consensus behind the pro-aboriton position. But attendance of these events comes with a big price-tag. Thank you for helping us cover these expenses. (I'll have much more to say about this UN work in a future email.)

2) We're actually very active in Quebec on Facebook. Just today, a post we published about a hair-dressing salon standing up to the transgender ideology has accumulated over six thousand likes, and climbing, as I write. This is not unusual for our page, which we maintain with the utmost diligence. There is no better way to get a large Quebec-and-Canada audience to read about pro-life issues than this. But this diligence comes with a price, so we hope you can donate today to help us continue this essential social media work.   

3) I'm in the midst of organizing Génération Vie (see below), which is a pro-life, pro-family conference that aims to federate Christians, pro-lifers, and pro-family advocates into one powerful force that can move mountains in Quebec, for the betterment of all. Stay tuned. But this conference requires funding from people like you to make it happen.

4) We've just organized two events in the short term (see entries below for details on these events):

One family event featuring archduke Rudolf of Habsburg-Lorraine, grandson of the last Austro-Hungarian Emperor. Father of 8, he will speak on "Building a strong family in a shattered world". 

The other event: March 17 will mark the beginning of a one-year countdown toward the planned legalization of euthanasia for mental illness alone. The slippery slope is here. That's why we're organizing a euthanasia protest on march 17 in Montreal (see below). 2026 should also be the year where Canada reaches the grim 100,000 milestone of deaths by euthansia. Your donation will help us continue launching initiatives like these to fight for dignified care at the end of life, without resorting to killing the physically --and soon mentally-- ill.

We need you. Thank you for supporting us; it is extremely appreciated.  Together, we are building a Culture of Life in Quebec.

Thanks for joining us in this mission!

God bless,

Georges Buscemi

P.S. Our Lent fundraiser starts today and goes on for 3 weeks. We're aiming to fundraise 20,000$. Please give today if you can.

Time is running out.

The federal government is moving to shut down debate and rush Bill C-9 through Parliament within days. If this happens, Canadians may soon face a law that weakens protections for free speech and religious freedom.

One proposed amendment would remove the Criminal Code’s “religious text exemption.” This protection currently ensures that Canadians cannot be prosecuted for simply quoting or citing sacred texts in public discussion.

If the government succeeds in cutting off debate this week, the bill could be pushed through Parliament as early as the coming days.

We must act immediately.

Please take one minute right now to contact your Member of Parliament and urge them to:

• Vote against the motion to cut off debate on Bill C-9

• Keep the Criminal Code’s religious text exemption

• Reject Bill C-9 in its entirety

Public pressure works. In the past, strong backlash from Canadians has forced governments to retreat from harmful policies. But it only works if people speak up quickly.

Contact your MP using the form below:

By Augustin Hamilton (Quebec Life Coalition) — Photo: motortion/Adobe Stock

Bill C-9, entitled “Combatting Hate Act”, introduced by Mark Carney's Liberal government on September 19, 2025, poses a serious threat of censorship to the freedom of expression of Christian, pro-life, and pro-family Canadians, whose words are often labeled “hateful” by their opponents for the simple reason that their discourse criticizes the ideology of the latter.

As far as we are concerned, C-9 proposes:

• to redefine hatred,
• to create a new category of “hate-motivated” offenses as an aggravating factor in the commission of a crime.
• and to facilitate the prosecution of “hate crimes” by removing “the requirement that the Attorney General consent to the institution of proceedings for hate propaganda offences".

“Hatred” (understood here as a feeling) has been defined by case law as follows in the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in R. v. Keegstra: “hatred connotes emotion of an intense and extreme nature that is clearly associated with vilification and detestation,” and "Hatred is predicated on destruction [...] [It represents] an emotion that, if exercised against members of an identifiable group, implies that those individuals are to be despised, scorned, denied respect and made subject to ill-treatment on the basis of group affiliation."

However, Bill C-9 defines “hatred” as follows: “the emotion that involves detestation or vilification and that is stronger than disdain or dislike.” We can already see that the definition is much vaguer and does not include the idea of mistreatment, for example, which opens the door to varying degrees of interpretation within the courts and commissions responsible for judging cases of “hatred.”