QUESTION PERIOD — Justice
Fight Against Online Sexual Exploitation of Youth
June 22, 2021
Honourable senators, my question is for the Government Representative in the Senate. In its latest report, the highly-regarded Canadian Centre for Child Protection criticized federal and provincial governments for their inaction in combatting the proliferation of child sexual abuse images on the internet. Furthermore, a committee in the other place has just recommended that the age and consent of all participants in pornographic videos be verified by porn sites before they’re posted.
Will the government take action on this issue given that many websites and server owners refuse to do so?
Thank you, esteemed colleague, for raising this important issue and asking this question. I commend you for your efforts on this issue, including the bill you introduced here.
The government takes this issue very seriously and is studying it thoroughly. To answer your question, however, I can’t give an exact timeline in terms of any measures the government might take.
On another issue related to the one I just raised, we’ve learned that, after promising it six months ago, Minister Lametti is preparing to table his much-touted bill tomorrow, the one requiring the removal of any online hate speech and child pornography within 24 hours. However, I’m having some difficulty understanding the government’s logic as it is too late to study this bill. Is the government introducing this bill solely to have an extra ace up its sleeve in the event of an election, as some are suggesting?
Thank you for the question. The government understands the skepticism or even the cynicism of many people, and I’m not including those who ask questions for political or partisan reasons. I have to say that in a pandemic, in the context of a minority government, things don’t move along as quickly as anticipated. However, I can assure this chamber that the government takes its legislation quite seriously.
