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A Calgary woman is leading a national movement to get the federal government to reinstate legislation aimed at protecting people — especially children — from harmful online content.
A group of parents, doctors, educators and other advocates from across the country planned to head to Parliament Hill Thursday morning to launch the Countdown for Kids campaign. They are calling for the Online Harms Act to be reintroduced and strengthened before the end of the year.
The bill, officially known as Bill C-63, was brought to the table last year. He proposed harsher penalties for spreading hate online. It would also require online platforms such as social media companies to remove certain content within 24 hours of it being flagged as harmful.
But the bill was not passed before federal elections and parliament were adjourned. Since then it has not been introduced again.
Calgary's Sarah Austin is trying to change that.
“The digital environment that children are exposed to from the moment they wake up to the moment they fall asleep is completely unregulated,” said Austin, CEO of Children First Canada and mother of a teenager.
“This puts children's lives at risk, and they will continue to suffer immeasurable suffering unless our government takes action.”
The campaign comes amid growing concerns about online child sexual exploitation and cyberbullying across the country, including in Alberta.
Over 3 years, more than 17,500 cases were investigated in Alberta
Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) warn for many years that complaints of online sexual exploitation are on the rise.
Its Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit investigates offenses including Materials about sexual abuse and exploitation of childrenComputer-related child sexual abuse, Internet child luring, voyeurism and child sex trafficking.
Since 2022, the unit has investigated more than 17,500 cases across the province, according to ALERT. Over three years, charges were brought against 446 people, for a total of almost 1,900 charges.
There are also concerns about violent online groups that pressure vulnerable young people into harming themselves. Like CBC Fifth Estate Earlier this year it was reported that Red Deer Teen became a victim of a violent extremist group called 764.
At the University of Calgary, Associate Professor of Law Emily Laidlaw has been advocating for internet safety legislation for years. She also holds a Canada Research Chair in Cybersecurity Law.
Laidlaw said every day young people are exposed to content that promotes harmful behavior such as suicidal ideation, eating disorders and self-harm.
“For a long time, there has been pressure on parents to take on this burden and figure out how to protect their children. And we absolutely need to focus on tools to empower families. But this is a community-wide problem. And when it comes down to it, you need some kind of regulatory body that will protect the public interest,” Laidlaw said.
She said jurisdictions such as the European Union, the UK and Australia have developed laws to address the problem; but like the United States, Canada is lagging behind. She said previous attempts to pass such laws have been mired in debates over freedom of expression and censorship.
Laidlaw is now concerned about the development of artificial intelligence, especially AI chatbots.
“There are some adjustments that need to be made and it is absolutely essential that chatbots are included in the new legislation,” she said.
Legislation on the way: Office of the Minister of Justice
A national coalition led by Austin is calling on the Liberal government to rename the Internet Harms Act the Internet Safety Act.
They say they have two non-negotiables: that the federal government should create an independent regulator to ensure compliance by online platforms and that these digital platforms should be legally required to keep users safe.
The federal justice minister's office told CBC News in a statement it will move forward with legislation to protect children from online sexual exploitation – a Liberal campaign promise starting in 2021.
It is still unclear whether Minister Sean Fraser will reintroduce the previous bill or whether it will be rewritten.
“The work continues, we continue consultations to get this right. We will have more to say as we finalize the law and begin to implement it, and we expect all parties to work together to ensure the safety of our children,” said Lola Dandybaeva, the office's media relations manager.
