Canada’s Criminal Code will likely continue to explicitly prohibit the disruption of a religious service, after MPs were deluged with correspondence urging them not to remove that part of the law. The House of Commons justice committee has been studying Bill C-51, which includes a clean-up of the Criminal Code to remove sections that are considered outdated, unconstitutional or redundant. The Liberal, Conservative and New Democrat members of the committee all voted to keep section 176, following some wrangling over what new language to use. They argued its removal would send the wrong message at a time when hate crimes directed against religion are on the rise. The government’s rationale for removing it was that the section is made redundant by other Criminal Code prohibitions on assault, uttering threats, causing a disturbance and inciting hatred against an identifiable group.

Source: National Post November 09, 2017 17:26 UTC