Carol Todd holds a photo of her late teenage daughter Amanda Todd, who died by suicide in 2012, outside B.C. Supreme Court in October, 2022.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
Child-safety advocates and technology experts are urging the federal government to swiftly bring back the online harms bill, but to split it in two to speed passage of measures that protect children from abuse.
Bill C-63, which died when the last Parliament was prorogued in January, included initiatives to combat online child abuse and hate. But it faced sharp criticism from opposition MPs and civil liberty advocates for also proposing new criminal offences for hate propaganda and hate crimes – including life in prison for inciting genocide.
Advocacy group OpenMedia says hundreds of messages have been sent to MPs since the election calling for the government to reintroduce the online harms bill. They want it to focus on measures to improve online safety for children and youth, and to create an independent regulator to tackle predatory behaviour, bullying and abuse online, while protecting online privacy or expression.
The bill drew criticism from civil liberties groups for proposing a “peace bond” to deter people feared to be planning to carry out hate crimes and hate propaganda offences, with penalties such as house arrest.
Government ministers have indicated they plan to bring back the online harms bill but have not yet confirmed who would be shepherding it through Parliament.
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Earlier this month, Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon said he expected it would be steered through by Canadian Identity Minister Steven Guilbeault.
Among those calling for a swift reintroduction of the bill is Carol Todd, the mother of Amanda Todd, a teenager who died by suicide after falling victim to cyberbullying.
She warned that Canada is lagging far behind countries such as the U.S. and Britain, which have already passed laws to protect people in the digital sphere.
Ms. Todd said the government should take feedback it received on Bill C-63 before the election, including criticism of increased penalties for hate crimes, and put the Criminal Code measures on a separate track.
“They need to do two bills. If they put the same bill through, the same things will happen again and it will get held up,” she said.
Bill C-63 would have forced online platforms to swiftly remove child sexual abuse material, intimate content shared without consent, and posts encouraging a child to self-harm.
It would have created a digital safety commission and ombudsperson to combat online hate.
“The previous government’s attempt to combine a platform accountability bill with a criminal justice bill was unwise,” said John Matheson, who leads the Canadian arm of Reset Tech, a global non-profit that fights digital threats to democracy,
“The Carney government would miss the mark if they do not create a new public regulator to hold platforms accountable in keeping our kids safe,” he said.
The advocacy group OpenMedia wants the government to bring back the bill soon after MPs return from their summer break.
“Canada’s next Online Harms Act should be about addressing the worst online harms, and not package in broader measures that aren’t about the consequences of digital technologies,” said Matt Hatfield, the group’s executive director.
He said the controversy over new criminal penalties for hate speech and hate crimes “completely overshadowed discussion of part one, the real core of the Online Harms Act.”
“There’s still critical amendments to make to part one’s text to strike the right balance between safety and online privacy and expression, but these changes are at a scale a parliamentary committee given adequate time can accomplish.”
Lianna McDonald, executive director of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, said it “would not be opposed to the approach of addressing Criminal Code and human rights amendments through its own bill or bills, and addressing online harms to children in its own bill.”
“It was clear in the last session that there was consensus amongst our elected officials that legislative action to protect children from online harms is urgently needed, so it seems more likely that a bill focused on the protection of children will be able to move forward,” she said.
Charlotte Moore Hepburn, medical director of the division of pediatrics at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, said “a new bill – one that prioritizes online safety for children and youth – is essential.”