A woman from Calgary is spearheading a nationwide initiative urging the federal government to revive a bill designed to safeguard individuals, particularly children, from harmful online content. A coalition comprising parents, healthcare professionals, educators, and advocates from various regions of the country is set to kick off its Countdown for Kids campaign on Parliament Hill this Thursday. Their objective is to push for the reintroduction and enhancement of the Online Harms Act before the year concludes.
The proposed legislation, known as Bill C-63, was introduced last year and included provisions for stricter penalties for disseminating online hate speech. It also mandated that online platforms, such as social media companies, remove flagged harmful content within 24 hours. However, the bill did not pass before the federal election was called and Parliament was suspended, leading to its current status of not being reintroduced.
Sara Austin, a resident of Calgary and the CEO of Children First Canada, is at the forefront of this advocacy effort. She emphasizes the unregulated digital environment that children encounter throughout their day, highlighting the risks it poses to their well-being. Austin asserts that children’s lives are in jeopardy without government intervention.
This campaign gains significance amid escalating concerns surrounding online child sexual exploitation and cyberbullying nationwide, including in Alberta. The Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) has documented a rise in reports of online sexual exploitation, particularly involving children. The Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit within ALERT has investigated over 17,500 cases in the province since 2022, resulting in charges against 446 individuals and nearly 1,900 charges laid over the past three years.
There are also apprehensions regarding violent online groups coercing vulnerable youth into self-harm. Recent reports have highlighted a case where a teenager from Red Deer fell prey to an extremist group named 764.
Dr. Emily Laidlaw, an associate law professor at the University of Calgary specializing in cybersecurity law, has been advocating for online safety legislation for years. She stresses the urgent need for regulatory measures to combat harmful online content that influences destructive behaviors among young people. Laidlaw points out that while other jurisdictions like the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Australia have enacted relevant laws, Canada lags behind due to debates over freedom of expression and censorship.
The coalition led by Sara Austin is urging the Liberal government to rename the Online Harms Act as the Online Safety Act. They demand the establishment of an independent regulatory body to enforce compliance among online platforms, ensuring user safety. The federal justice minister’s office has confirmed plans to introduce legislation to protect children from online sexual exploitation, a commitment made during the Liberal campaign in 2021. The specific details of the upcoming legislation and whether it will be a revision of the previous bill remain undisclosed. The office’s manager of media relations emphasized the ongoing efforts to finalize the legislation and underscored the importance of bipartisan cooperation to safeguard children online.