Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault

“Madam Speaker, the digital world now occupies an essential place in the lives of Canadians. It allows us to communicate, stay informed, learn and stay in touch with the people close to us. However, those opportunities also come with risks that we can no longer ignore. Today, children are accessing social media at increasingly younger ages, sometimes without their parents being fully aware. In a few clicks, a child can create an account, start using a platform and become exposed to harmful content while leaving his or her personal data behind. In this environment, we have to wonder whether we are doing enough to protect our young people. I had a chance to consult with the people of Mont-Saint-Bruno—L’Acadie to better understand their concerns about these bills. During our conversations, child protection was front and centre, especially in terms of the negative effects of social media. These discussions reminded me that this issue extends far beyond technology. It concerns our families, our schools, our communities and the health of the next generation. Parents want their children to reap the benefits of the digital world without being exposed to risks they are not yet able to recognize or manage on their own. As parliamentarians, we have a duty to listen and respond to their concerns. The data presented in connection with this bill are concerning. According to the available data, over the past decade, depression has doubled and anxiety has quadrupled among young Canadians aged 15 to 24. Research also shows that young people who have been victimized online report three times more suicidal thoughts. These numbers should make us think long and hard about the environment in which our young people are growing up. It is important to recognize that mental health is influenced by many factors. Social media cannot be held responsible for all the problems young people face. However, when the risks associated with digital spaces compound the challenges that teenagers already face, we cannot afford to look the other way. According to the data, Canadian police recorded 19,516 incidents of online child sexual exploitation in 2023. That is 59% higher than in 2022. Behind these numbers are victims, families and lives that have been profoundly disrupted. These numbers illustrate the scale of the challenge before us. They demonstrate why digital safety must be regarded as a collective responsibility and why our responses must keep pace with evolving risks. That is precisely why this bill represents a significant step forward. It proposes a shift from a primarily reactive approach to a more preventive one, in which platforms must assess the risks associated with their services and take measures to mitigate them. First, tech companies must be held accountable. This bill therefore requires the services in question to regularly assess certain risks associated with their operations, make changes to their design to minimize harm and implement clear reporting mechanisms. It also provides for the publication of digital safety plans to help Canadians better understand the risks inherent to these platforms and the measures taken to address them. This transparency is essential. Second, the bill proposes to strengthen the protection of children. It prohibits anyone under the age of 16 from owning a social media account, subject to exemptions for platforms that can demonstrate that their services are sufficiently safe for our young people. This approach is based on an important principle, specifically that protection must be built into the design of the services rather than simply added once a problem has emerged. At that age, young people are going through a critical stage of their development. Their identity is taking shape, their social relationships are becoming increasingly important, and their ability to cope with certain pressures continues to evolve. Repeated exposure to bullying, harmful content and mechanisms that encourage excessive use can pose an additional risk. Protecting young people does not mean denying their ability to think or make decisions. It means recognizing that the environment they grow in has to take their age and developmental stage into account. It is not just a matter of setting an age limit. It is also about encouraging companies to do more to create safer digital spaces. The bill provides for expedited procedures to make certain content inaccessible, particularly content that sexually victimizes children or survivors, as well as intimate images shared without consent. When such content circulates online, every share can prolong a victim’s suffering. Swift action can help limit its spread and prevent the affected person from being victimized again. Our policies must be able to respond to today’s risks while taking into account that technologies will continue to evolve. Some people may wonder whether these measures might infringe on freedom of expression or privacy. The answer is no. These concerns deserve a serious response. Freedom of expression is essential to our democracy. Canadians must be able to express their opinions, criticize the government, debate social issues and freely participate in public life. The bill is not intended to suppress legitimate debate or ordinary conversations. It targets specific categories of harmful content, particularly the sexual exploitation of children, the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, the bullying of children and any content that incites violence. Protecting young people and preserving freedom of expression should not be seen as opposing objectives. We can preserve the right to debate while requiring that businesses take action against serious harm. Privacy protections are just as essential. Age verification mechanisms must be implemented responsibly, with guarantees regarding the collection, use and destruction of personal data. The goal must be to protect young people, not create new risks to their privacy. To ensure obligations are met, the bill also establishes an independent digital safety commission. Among its responsibilities, the commission would review platforms’ safety plans, assess their age-verification mechanisms, support victims and ensure that platforms meet their obligations. It would also have the authority to impose financial penalties on platforms that fail to comply with the law. Under the proposed framework, these penalties could amount to up to 3% of a platform’s global revenue. This is important because obligations must be backed by credible enforcement mechanisms. I would now like to return to the consultations I had the opportunity to conduct with the people of Mont-Saint-Bruno—L’Acadie. The concerns raised by constituents remind us that the decisions we make here in the House of Commons have real consequences for families across the country. We must show them that we are prepared to act, not only when harm occurs, but also before it happens. We must ensure that platforms take responsibility, that victims have access to support and that parents are not left to navigate systems over which they have little or no control. Prevention, digital education, support for families and work with specialized organizations will remain vital, but we cannot use the fact that we are doing those things as an excuse not to take action. Maintaining the status quo is not enough when risks are increasing, technology is changing and children continue to be exposed to preventable harm. We therefore have the responsibility to adapt our laws to address these challenges. We have the responsibility to ensure that platforms that profit from these young people also help keep them safe. Above all, we have the responsibility to place the well-being of our young people at the heart of our decisions. This bill gives us an opportunity to recognize that just because our children are at home or at school does not necessarily mean that they are safe. We also need to make sure that they are safe in the digital world. By enhancing prevention, demanding greater transparency and accountability from platforms, expediting the removal of some particularly harmful content and establishing independent oversight, we can help create a safer digital environment. We must act with determination but also with discernment by protecting freedom of expression and privacy, which are at the heart of our democracy. Young people deserve to be able to learn, communicate and grow without being left alone to navigate risks that businesses have the means to prevent. That is our responsibility to our families, communities and future generations. I want to thank the people of Mont-Saint-Bruno—L’Acadie for speaking with me and sharing their concerns. They remind why this work is necessary. As young parents, we have a responsibility to keep our children, youth and communities safe. This bill is an important milestone for the community that we represent here in the House. We may not be able to overcome every challenge that the digital world creates, but we can choose to protect the most vulnerable among us more effectively. When it comes to our children’s safety, we have a duty to act.”