Discussion · Private Members' Business
Louis Villeneuve Liberal
“I want to send this bill to a committee for study. It protects children by stopping them from seeing pornography online, which causes real harm to their mental health. It fits well with other government plans to make social media safer for young people.”
“Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to speak to Bill S-209 on an issue that affects us all: our children’s safety online. A week ago, I welcomed my 17-year-old nephew, Charles André, to the Hill. He wanted to deliver a message to the Minister of Health and the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture. He came to talk about how he became addicted to porn at the age of 10 and suffered psychological and physical harm as a result. Fortunately, my nephew has a strong support network and managed to break free from this vicious cycle. However, he wanted to make sure that our government puts measures in place to protect children. I want to commend him for his leadership and courage in speaking out publicly about his experience. The post about his meeting with the ministers went viral, and he had to deal with a lot of hateful and violent comments, which is another problem that comes with social media. However, he also received a lot of kind comments. Young people, mothers and fathers expressed their support for Charles André’s call for action, which strikes me as a clear message that people want to see the government take the necessary measures to protect our young people. Children across Canada use online services every day to learn, to express themselves and to connect with their friends, their family and their community. However, these services can also expose children to inappropriate and harmful content and interactions. These harms are very real. They can harm young people’s mental health, their development and their understanding of what healthy, respectful relationships look like. Too many children are exposed to measurable and preventable harms online, and our laws have not kept pace. Pornography is a big part of that challenge. Children are exposed to it, whether they are looking for it or not, including on services that many of them use every day, such as social media. All too often, it only takes a few clicks, without any verifications, for a child to access such content. Parliament is right to examine how we can reduce that exposure. Protecting children from such harm is a responsibility we all share, across party lines. I would like to acknowledge the work of Senator Julie Miville‑Dechêne, who brought this issue to Parliament’s attention through Bill S‑209, as well as the member for Battlefords—Lloydminster—Meadow Lake, who is sponsoring it in the House. This bill reflects a legitimate and widely shared concern that children should not have unrestricted access to online pornography. Let me be clear. Our government fully supports the principle underlying this bill, which is the protection of children. That is why I am pleased to confirm today that the government will support sending Bill S‑209 to committee for study. This bill is closely aligned with the work we are undertaking through Bill C-34, the safe social media act, but that alignment is not an obstacle. On the contrary, it is exactly why we should move forward with Bill S-209. Bill C-34 is based on a simple premise: A child’s online experience is shaped by the content they see, by the way these platforms are designed and by the interactions these platforms enable. These risks rarely exist in isolation. The content, the design and the interactions can combine to amplify the effects on children. That is why Bill C-34 proposes comprehensive measures to make online services safer from the design stage onwards. Furthermore, together with Bill C-36, it establishes a new framework to better protect Canadians online. Rather than relying on voluntary commitments from platforms, our government is proposing to enshrine clear legal responsibilities for operators of regulated social media services and AI chatbot services. Their duties would be brought together under a single framework based on transparency, accountability and independent regulatory oversight. Operators would have a duty to act responsibly by assessing and mitigating risks associated with harmful content. They would have a duty to protect children by incorporating age restrictions into the design of their services. They would have a duty to make content that sexually victimizes a child as well as intimate content communicated without consent, including deepfake sexual images, inaccessible within 24 hours. The bill would also prevent children under the age of 16 from opening accounts on regulated social media platforms unless those services can demonstrate that they are safe for them. As for chatbots, they will be required to direct users to support services when users express thoughts of suicide or self-harm. One important point is that Bill C-34 directly addresses children’s exposure to pornographic content. Under this bill, if the operator of a regulated service has reasonable grounds to suspect that its service is making pornographic content accessible, it would be required to implement age verification or age estimation measures. These measures should be sufficient to mitigate the risk that children will be exposed to pornographic content on the service in question. This requirement is also part of the broader duty to protect children set forth in the bill. The bill also provides clear safeguards by establishing a framework for these measures. Among other requirements, the regulator would be required to ensure that the measures are effective. Personal information could be collected or used only for age verification or age estimation purposes. It would have to be protected while it is being retained and then destroyed once the verification or estimation is completed. These requirements are set forth directly in Bill C-34. They are intended to ensure that the measures designed to protect children also respect privacy. To ensure that these protections are effective, the bill also provides for ongoing independent oversight. It recognizes that protecting young people online requires binding rules and a regulator capable of enforcing them. Bill C‑36 would create the digital safety and data protection commission of Canada, an independent, permanent regulatory body made up of members with proven expertise. For the first time, the major online platforms would be accountable to a Canadian regulator with real power. The commission would be able to conduct audits and inspections, issue compliance orders and impose administrative monetary penalties of up to $10 million or 3% of an operator’s gross global revenue, whichever is higher. It would review the digital safety plans that operators would be required to publish to explain how they are identifying and mitigating risks on their services. It could also make regulations to issue guidelines. The commission would offer support to victims of online harm. It would also serve as a recourse for users who are dissatisfied with a platform’s response to more serious content. It would operate independently. Platforms would no longer be able to get by on mere promises. They would have to demonstrate convincing results. Bill S‑209 and Bill C-34 are both grounded in a well-established principle: Children deserve to be protected, including online. Both bills recognize the importance of protecting children from being exposed to online pornography. This common objective presents an opportunity for us to consider how these two approaches can complement one another and strengthen our efforts to protect children online. That is why our government supports sending Bill S-209 to committee for study. Our commitment to protecting children is clear. The committee is the appropriate forum to examine Bill S-209 alongside the new framework proposed in Bills C-34 and C-36 and to ensure that these initiatives work together toward the shared goal of creating a safer online environment for children and families across Canada. By protecting our children, we are protecting Canada’s future. The experiences young people have online today will help shape the citizens, workers, innovators and leaders they become tomorrow. We have a responsibility toward them and toward Canada’s future.”
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A repeated line
“Our laws have not kept pace.”
Said 4 times by 4 members since October 28.
Every time it was said
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to speak to Bill S-209 on an issue that affects us all: our children’s safety online. A week ago, I welcomed my 17-year-old nephew, Charles André, to the Hill. He wanted to deliver a message to the Minister of Health and the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture. He came to talk about how he became addicted to porn at the age of 10 and suffered psychological and physical harm as a result. Fortunately, my nephew has a strong support network and managed to break free from this vicious cycle. However, he wanted to make sure that our government puts measures in place to protect children. I want to commend him for his leadership and courage in speaking out publicly about his experience. The post about his meeting with the ministers went viral, and he had to deal with a lot of hateful and violent comments, which is another problem that comes with social media. However, he also received a lot of kind comments. Young people, mothers and fathers expressed their support for Charles André’s call for action, which strikes me as a clear message that people want to see the government take the necessary measures to protect our young people. Children across Canada use online services every day to learn, to express themselves and to connect with their friends, their family and their community. However, these services can also expose children to inappropriate and harmful content and interactions. These harms are very real. They can harm young people’s mental health, their development and their understanding of what healthy, respectful relationships look like. Too many children are exposed to measurable and preventable harms online, and our laws have not kept pace. Pornography is a big part of that challenge. Children are exposed to it, whether they are looking for it or not, including on services that many of them use every day, such as social media. All too often, it only takes a few clicks, without any verifications, for a child to access such content. Parliament is right to examine how we can reduce that exposure. Protecting children from such harm is a responsibility we all share, across party lines. I would like to acknowledge the work of Senator Julie Miville‑Dechêne, who brought this issue to Parliament’s attention through Bill S‑209, as well as the member for Battlefords—Lloydminster—Meadow Lake, who is sponsoring it in the House. This bill reflects a legitimate and widely shared concern that children should not have unrestricted access to online pornography. Let me be clear. Our government fully supports the principle underlying this bill, which is the protection of children. That is why I am pleased to confirm today that the government will support sending Bill S‑209 to committee for study. This bill is closely aligned with the work we are undertaking through Bill C-34, the safe social media act, but that alignment is not an obstacle. On the contrary, it is exactly why we should move forward with Bill S-209. Bill C-34 is based on a simple premise: A child’s online experience is shaped by the content they see, by the way these platforms are designed and by the interactions these platforms enable. These risks rarely exist in isolation. The content, the design and the interactions can combine to amplify the effects on children. That is why Bill C-34 proposes comprehensive measures to make online services safer from the design stage onwards. Furthermore, together with Bill C-36, it establishes a new framework to better protect Canadians online. Rather than relying on voluntary commitments from platforms, our government is proposing to enshrine clear legal responsibilities for operators of regulated social media services and AI chatbot services. Their duties would be brought together under a single framework based on transparency, accountability and independent regulatory oversight. Operators would have a duty to act responsibly by assessing and mitigating risks associated with harmful content. They would have a duty to protect children by incorporating age restrictions into the design of their services. They would have a duty to make content that sexually victimizes a child as well as intimate content communicated without consent, including deepfake sexual images, inaccessible within 24 hours. The bill would also prevent children under the age of 16 from opening accounts on regulated social media platforms unless those services can demonstrate that they are safe for them. As for chatbots, they will be required to direct users to support services when users express thoughts of suicide or self-harm. One important point is that Bill C-34 directly addresses children’s exposure to pornographic content. Under this bill, if the operator of a regulated service has reasonable grounds to suspect that its service is making pornographic content accessible, it would be required to implement age verification or age estimation measures. These measures should be sufficient to mitigate the risk that children will be exposed to pornographic content on the service in question. This requirement is also part of the broader duty to protect children set forth in the bill. The bill also provides clear safeguards by establishing a framework for these measures. Among other requirements, the regulator would be required to ensure that the measures are effective. Personal information could be collected or used only for age verification or age estimation purposes. It would have to be protected while it is being retained and then destroyed once the verification or estimation is completed. These requirements are set forth directly in Bill C-34. They are intended to ensure that the measures designed to protect children also respect privacy. To ensure that these protections are effective, the bill also provides for ongoing independent oversight. It recognizes that protecting young people online requires binding rules and a regulator capable of enforcing them. Bill C‑36 would create the digital safety and data protection commission of Canada, an independent, permanent regulatory body made up of members with proven expertise. For the first time, the major online platforms would be accountable to a Canadian regulator with real power. The commission would be able to conduct audits and inspections, issue compliance orders and impose administrative monetary penalties of up to $10 million or 3% of an operator’s gross global revenue, whichever is higher. It would review the digital safety plans that operators would be required to publish to explain how they are identifying and mitigating risks on their services. It could also make regulations to issue guidelines. The commission would offer support to victims of online harm. It would also serve as a recourse for users who are dissatisfied with a platform’s response to more serious content. It would operate independently. Platforms would no longer be able to get by on mere promises. They would have to demonstrate convincing results. Bill S‑209 and Bill C-34 are both grounded in a well-established principle: Children deserve to be protected, including online. Both bills recognize the importance of protecting children from being exposed to online pornography. This common objective presents an opportunity for us to consider how these two approaches can complement one another and strengthen our efforts to protect children online. That is why our government supports sending Bill S-209 to committee for study. Our commitment to protecting children is clear. The committee is the appropriate forum to examine Bill S-209 alongside the new framework proposed in Bills C-34 and C-36 and to ensure that these initiatives work together toward the shared goal of creating a safer online environment for children and families across Canada. By protecting our children, we are protecting Canada’s future. The experiences young people have online today will help shape the citizens, workers, innovators and leaders they become tomorrow. We have a responsibility toward them and toward Canada’s future.