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432-00133 (Media and telecommunications)

Paper petition

Original language of petition: English

PETITION TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED

We, the undersigned residents of Canada, draw the attention of the House of Commons to the following:

Whereas, statistics supplied by Thorn in the United States illustrate that child sexual exploitation has increased by 10,000% globally, which can be attributed to the Internet and increased communications online;

Whereas, our children are being exposed to pornography online, their health can be threatened - some addicted to pornography; some producing and distributing pornography; some performing sexual assaults on other children; some having erectile dysfunction as male teens caused by porn addiction; some planning suicides online; some bullying peers online; some planning gang attacks online; some planning violent acts to public safety online;

Whereas, our parents, caregivers, and professionals require increased education to build toward Digital Supervision so as to be proactive against online threats to our children and families.

Therefore, we, the undersigned, request that the Canadian Parliament and government:

Support the efforts of the federal Canadian Charity, Internet Sense First | Premier Sens Internet, and their Anti Internet Child Exploitation Team (AICET). Their goal is the education of Canadians, regarding the Theory of Digital Supervision, for proactive online child protection, to avoid the situations as stated herein.

Response by the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

Signed by (Minister or Parliamentary Secretary): Joël Lightbound, M.P

The Government of Canada recognizes that online child sexual exploitation (CSE) is one of the digital age’s most pressing safety issues that continues to increase in terms of scope, reach and impacts. The sexual exploitation of children is a heinous crime and is a serious concern for the Government, law enforcement agencies and partners in other orders of government and internationally.

In 2004, the Government of Canada created the National Strategy for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation on the Internet (National Strategy). The National Strategy focuses on law enforcement, prevention and education, and support for Cybertip.ca, Canada’s national tip-line for reporting online sexual exploitation and abuse. In 2019, the Government of Canada announced an additional $22.24 million over three years to combat this horrendous crime.

As the lead department on the National Strategy, Public Safety Canada works closely with the RCMP, Justice Canada and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P). The RCMP’s National Child Exploitation Crime Centre is the national law enforcement arm of the National Strategy and the central point of contact for CSE investigations across the country, and internationally when the victim or offender is Canadian. Justice Canada develops legislation and provides training, legal advice, and support to National Strategy partners and others. C3P is a non-governmental organization that operates Cybertip.ca, which forwards CSE leads to the appropriate authorities. C3P also provides public education and awareness materials, as well as support and referral services. In addition, C3P operates Project Arachnid, an automated web crawler that detects and processes tens of thousands of images per second and sends take down notices to online service providers to remove child sexual abuse material globally.

The Government of Canada also collaborates with international partners such as the Five Eyes (Canada, USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand) in addressing this global issue. The Five Country Ministerial meeting in July 2019 in London included a joint session with digital industry representatives (Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Roblox, Snap, and Twitter) to discuss the role digital industry plays in combating online CSE on their platforms. One of the outcomes of the meeting was an agreement among the Five Eyes that government officials would work with digital industry to develop a set of voluntary principles to guide private sector efforts in this regard.

The Voluntary Principles document was officially announced by the Five Eyes at an event in Washington, DC on March 5, 2020. In parallel, digital industry partners involved in the development of the Voluntary Principles, as well as additional industry stakeholders, issued statements of support for the Voluntary Principles. The intent is that these principles will be adopted by a wide spectrum of companies, provide a shared framework to combat online child sexual exploitation, drive collective action, establish a baseline standard for safety, and complement initiatives specific to each partner country.

Please be assured that the Government of Canada is dedicated to continuing to work diligently to ensure the well-being of our children and protect them from online sexual exploitation and abuse. The Government of Canada commends the work of charitable organizations such as Internet Sense First who understand the importance of protecting children from this terrible crime, and are undertaking concerted efforts to address this issue.

Presented to the House of Commons
Kate Young (London West)
October 20, 2020 (Petition No. 432-00133)
Government response tabled
December 3, 2020
Photo - Kate Young
London West
Liberal Caucus
Ontario

Only validated signatures are counted towards the total number of signatures.