Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is now advocating for the end of free speech online through the Online Harms Act (Bill C-63). If enacted, this could allow provincial judges to sentence people to life in jail when advocating for genocide online, like the pro-Palestinian protestors. According to Fox News, these judges could put a defendant under house arrest and fine them if they think the person might commit a crime.
Justice Minister Arif Virani introduced the bill. He said he believes it is his job to push this bill to keep his kids safe online. He sees safeguards in place for toys and other things, so Canada needs them on the internet.
According to the Government of Canada’s webpage, the bill was introduced at the end of February. If passed, it will establish a “baseline standard for online platforms to keep Canadians safe—to hold online platforms accountable for the content they host. Bill C-63 will create stronger protections for kids online and better safeguard everyone in Canada from online hate. The bill sets out a new vision for safer and more inclusive participation online.”
Specifically, it targets seven different crimes:
- Content that sexually victimizes a child or revictimizes a survivor;
- Intimate content communicated without consent;
- Content used to bully a child;
- Content that induces a child to harm themselves;
- Content that foments hatred;
- Content that incites violence; and
- Content that incites violent extremism or terrorism.
A Leger poll of Canadians found that half aren’t confident in the government’s ability to protect free speech. Yet over half said they support stiffer penalties for hate speech crimes. This is a very sad way to see the subject. The ugly truth is that to have free speech, you have to take it all. Good, bad, or indifferent, it needs to be protected.
While the idea of protecting children is a crucial one, especially from sexual content or harm, there is also something to be said about parenting and keeping kids off social media.
