Jessica Fancy

Mr. Speaker, Procedure · 44 wordsI rise today to speak to Bill S-209, the protecting young persons from exposure to pornography act. I want to begin not only as a member of Parliament in the chamber but also from the perspective of a former educator and as a mom.Procedure Claims · 13 wordsBefore I entered politics, I spent almost two decades working with young people.¹ Anecdote · 9 wordsI saw their potential, their curiosity and their struggles.AnecdotePartly on point Claims · 26 wordsEvery day, I was reminded that the adults in a child’s life have a responsibility to create conditions where they can learn, grow and thrive safely. Reasoning · 8 wordsToday that responsibility extends far beyond the classroom. Claims · 86 wordsIt extends into a digital world that is available to our children 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That reality should concern us all. In rising here today as a mom, like parents across the country, I have watched technology transform childhood. Many of us remember growing up in a world where childhood had limits, where certain materials were difficult to access and where adults acted as gatekeepers. Today a child can stumble across explicit and violent sexual content in a matter of seconds, Reasoning · 35 wordsand not because they were looking for it, not because parents have failed and not because teachers have failed but because the online world has been built in a way that makes that exposure possible, Claims · 13 wordsand where, instead, they are learning from an industry designed to generate profits. Positioning · 7 wordsThat should alarm every one of us.Positioning Claims · 22 wordsAs an educator, one of the most important lessons I tried to teach my students was the difference between reality and performance, Reasoning · 42 wordsyet when children encounter pornography at a young age, often before they are emotionally prepared to understand what they are seeing, that distinction becomes very blurred, as their expectations are shaped, their perceptions are shaped and their ideas about relationships are shaped. Claims · 15 wordsIn some cases, those consequences can be quite profound. Our laws have not kept pace. Reasoning · 26 wordsOur Parliament is right to examine ways to reduce that exposure, because protecting kids from these harms is a responsibility we all share, regardless of party. Thanks · 45 wordsI want to take a moment to also thank Senator Miville-Dechêne for her work and service by keeping this issue before us here in Parliament, as well as my colleague from Saskatchewan, with whom I sat on HUMA, for her undying support in protecting children.Thanks Procedure · 11 wordsI am happy to also be a seconder to the bill.²Procedure Claims · 41 wordsOur government is committed to keeping Canadians, especially children, safe, including online.Vague promise We agree on the objective of preventing children from accessing online pornography. Bill S-209 shares this objective very closely and aligns with Bill C-34, the safe social media act.³ Procedure · 4 wordsLet me be clear.Procedure Claims · 9 wordsOur government fully supports the principle behind the bill. Reasoning · 39 wordsIts alignment with Bill C-34 is not an obstacle. It is precisely why we support sending Bill S-209 to committee for study, as the bill asks the right questions and demands action to prevent children from accessing online pornography. Claims · 32 wordsAt its core, the bill would require commercial providers of online pornography to take concrete steps to restrict access by people under 18 years of age The status quo is not acceptable.⁴ Reasoning · 49 wordsOnline services must take greater responsibility to protect children from being exposed to harmful content on their platforms. The remaining question is not whether action is needed but how to build a framework that works in practice, protects privacy, can be enforced effectively and remains responsive as technology changes. Claims · 97 wordsBill S-209 closely aligns with the work of our government that we are advancing through our safe social media act, Bill C-34, which would place an affirmative obligation on operators of regulated services. This would ensure that safeguards are put in place to mitigate the risk before children are exposed to harmful content, rather than after the situation has occurred. If an operator has reasonable grounds to suspect that its service makes pornographic content accessible, it would have to implement age verification or age estimation measures to mitigate the risk of children’s being exposed to this content.⁵ Reasoning · 6 wordsAdequate protection is the first consideration. Claims · 43 wordsThe digital safety and data protection commission of Canada, an independent, permanent regulator that would be created through the safe social media act together with Bill C-36, would have to be satisfied that the measures implemented by an operator will meet that requirement.⁶ Procedure · 4 wordsThis is so essential, ProcedureReasoning · 31 wordsas the objective is not merely to demonstrate that an age assurance measure has been implemented. Its objective is to mitigate the risk that children will be exposed to pornographic content. Claims · 105 wordsThis approach recognizes that regulated services do not all operate in the same way, as their designs, users and methods of providing access to content might differ. Bill C-34 would establish the required outcome and assign responsibility for assessing the adequacy of the measure to the regulator with the necessary technical expertise to do so. Second, Bill C-34 would also set clear limits on the collection and use of personal information for age assurance so that personal information could only be used to verify or estimate a person’s age, ⁷and it would have to be protected and destroyed as soon as the process is complete. Reasoning · 20 wordsThese safeguards are built directly into the safe social media act because protecting children should not create new privacy risks. Claims · 121 wordsThe digital safety and data protection commission of Canada would provide the continuing institutional capacity needed to apply this framework. As the body responsible for administering and enforcing that legislation, the commission would also assess the measures used by regulated operators and determine whether they satisfy the applicable requirements. This commission could establish guidelines concerning the protection of children in relation to regulated services. It could also make regulations specify design features that operators must integrate into regulated services as part of their duty to protect children. While this authority also extends beyond age assurances, it demonstrates the central role that the commission would play in giving practical effect to the duty to protect our kids, much like our senator’s bill. Reasoning · 15 wordsThat continuing role is particularly important because age assurance technologies and industry practices will evolve. Claims · 54 wordsDifferent services might require different measures, and new evidence might identify more effective, privacy-protective approaches. The framework would therefore permit this flexibility and innovation without leaving adequacy entirely to the discretion of its regulators. As we know, the Internet has created some extraordinary opportunities, but it has also created unprecedented access to harmful content. Reasoning · 69 wordsThe question before us is whether we are willing to acknowledge that reality and then take action. As a former educator, I want young people to learn about relationships through respect, empathy and healthy human connection. As a mother, I want children protected during the years when they are most vulnerable. As a woman, I want girls growing up in a society that values their dignity, equality and humanity. Positioning · 14 wordsThose goals should be uniting all of us. This debate is not about politics.Positioning Reasoning · 43 wordsIt is about children, families, the kind of culture that we are going to build for this next generation, and whether we are willing to say that the safety and well-being of our children matter more than a convenience of an online industry. Claims · 4 wordsI believe they do. Procedure · 22 wordsFor those reasons, I am pleased to support Bill S-209 and these objectives of protecting young persons from exposure to pornography online.Procedure