Founder and CEO of Children First Canada Sara Austin speaks during a ‘Time Is Up: Children and Families Take Over Parliament Hill to Demand Online Safety’ rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on April 27.Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press
Parents and youths rallied at Parliament Hill on Monday, calling on the federal government to retable the online harms bill, with a focus on protecting children from online predators.
Children First Canada, a national charity for children’s rights, is asking Ottawa to rename the previously proposed Online Harms Act to the Online Safety Act. Known as Bill C-63, the previous legislation died when Parliament was prorogued in January, 2025.
“We want to call it the Online Safety Act to focus on the end goal and really uniting all members of Parliament about what we should all agree on, which is the protection of our children,” said Sara Austin, the charity’s founder and chief executive officer.
Online harms legislation should include a duty of care requiring platforms to prevent foreseeable harm, an independent regulator with enforcement powers, and safety coverage across all digital platforms, including social media, gaming and AI, Ms. Austin said in an interview.
“We’re here to work with the government as an ally,” she added. “And to hopefully see this bill being tabled quickly and passed unanimously.”
Under the original proposed bill to address online harms, social-media platforms would have had a duty to act responsibly, to protect children and to make certain content inaccessible, including any material that sexually victimizes a child.
Founder and CEO of Children First Canada Sara Austin holds up an hour glass on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on April 27.Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press
Cases of luring a child via a computer increased nearly 20 per cent, with 2,882 reported instances in 2024 and 3,456 incidents in 2025, according to Statistics Canada data.
A 16-year-old high school student at the rally, Diya Praveen, said she had unknowingly joined some group chats that promoted self-harm and hate speech without understanding the possible danger when she was 13 and 14.
“A lot of young people go on these servers and it becomes a part of what they do or an addiction,” she said in an interview. “It impacts a lot of youth, more than we actually talk about.”
At Monday’s rally, parents, advocates and children between the ages of 10 and 16 gathered near the Centennial Flame, wearing matching purple shirts with the words, “Don’t delay. Protect kids today.” Participants shared their stories of online harm while holding up small plastic hourglasses to symbolize their belief that online safety legislation is long overdue.
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The group was also scheduled to speak about the legislation in meetings with Prime Minister Mark Carney’s staff and Canadian Identity and Culture Minister Marc Miller.
The government “intends to act swiftly to better protect Canadians,” according to Hermine Landry, a spokesperson for Mr. Miller.
“We all want our children to be safe as they navigate the digital world, and platforms have an important role to play in meeting that challenge,” Ms. Landry wrote in an e-mail.
Carol Todd, mother of Amanda Todd, a 15-year-old who died by suicide in 2012 after being cyberbullied, called the lack of legislative action “frustrating.”
Carol Todd, mother of Amanda Todd, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on April 27.Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press
“Amanda was a child. She should have been protected. Instead, she was exploited, harassed and pushed to a breaking point in a digital world that failed her,” Ms. Todd said at the rally. “More than a decade later, children are still being harmed in the same ways.”
Jason Sokolowski, a father from British Columbia who also attended the rally, said his daughter, Penelope, was “groomed and extorted on social-media apps.” She died by suicide just shy of 16.
“It’s a scary feeling to have your child cry out for help and not understand what they need help with,” he said in an interview. “There’s frustration of a slow-moving government against a predator that is moving very fast in real time.”
The group’s calls for new legislation come at a time when Manitoba is aiming to be the first province to ban youth from accessing social media and artificial intelligence chatbots. The federal government is also considering measures to limit digital access.
Ms. Austin said she worries that age verification could cause further delays. She added that age restrictions should extend to gaming platforms as well as social media and AI chatbots, as “kids are experiencing harm on all platforms.”
“If you’re able to add age restrictions, that’s an important piece, but let’s not slow this process down,” she said.