March 26, 2026
Dear Basem Boshra and Darren Major,
I'm writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) to express concern regarding the article, "Contentious anti-hate legislation passes final vote in the House, now moves to Senate."
I have no issues with the existing content of the article, but rather what it is missing.
The article includes the perspectives of each federal political party, giving special attention to the concerns of Conservatives. The piece emphasizes that Conservative concerns are shared by religious groups.
However, there is no mention of the outcry regarding Bill C-9's threats to civil liberties, recently articulated by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA). It's not just the CCLA either, more than 40 civil liberties groups urged against Bill C-9 over fears of criminalizing political dissent and violating Charter rights. Beyond that, in a new report the United Nations Human Rights Committee expressed concerns about Bill C-9's "potential instrumentalization of a vague definition of what constitutes a terrorist symbol and its possible misuse to silence dissenting activism."
The absence of this essential information makes it impossible for Canadians to properly understand Bill C-9 at this late stage of its legislative journey. We are therefore urging you to include this context.
The JSP states that "On issues of controversy, we ensure that divergent views are reflected respectfully, taking into account their relevance to the debate and how widely held these views are. We also ensure that they are represented over a reasonable period of time." At this stage in the debate, and given how widespread these omitted perspectives are, it seems justified and appropriate to us to include the content.
Sincerely,
Jason Toney
Director of Media Advocacy
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