QUESTION PERIOD — Justice
Online Harm
February 26, 2024
Senator Gold, a year ago, during the study of Bill C-11, you said this about my age verification amendment:
. . . The Government of Canada is looking to introduce legislation to address potential online harms with the goal of keeping all Canadians safe online, including being safe from the kind of harm that this amendment would propose. In the government’s view, this would be the most appropriate forum, in the context of that legislation, to discuss this important issue. . . .
In other words, the government said, “We’ll take care of the issue in our online safety bill.”
Today, the government finally introduced its long-awaited bill, and there’s no age verification to prevent children from accessing online porn. So my question is this: What happened to that clear commitment?
Thank you for the question. Canadians of all ages and certainly children deserve a safe place and a safer online place. The government’s commitment last year remains true today, namely, to put into place a regulatory framework that ensures that there is a protection for Canadians while respecting other important constitutional values, like privacy and freedom of expression.
The bill that was tabled today, the Online Harms Bill, is something which will be debated in the House and will be debated here. I know the major points, and it is clear that it does not include an age verification measure, but it does — if I understand correctly — contain other measures that, in the government’s view, are designed to protect children and to make the internet a safer place. We look forward to the study of that bill.
The United Kingdom, France, Germany and the European Union have adopted age verification laws to access online porn. They have safeguards to ensure privacy of data, like Bill S-210. Why not look at these examples instead of deciding to allow children to freely access the porn sites?
Again, senator, there’s no question that the experiences of other jurisdictions have been taken into account by policy-makers in the drafting of this bill. I look forward to these questions being asked in the other place when it becomes a subject of debate on the floor, in committee and certainly when it comes here. I think the ministers and the officials will be in a better position to answer the questions than I am — at least on this first day that the bill was tabled.
