441-01814 (Health)

The Government would like to thank the petitioners for expressing their concerns regarding the protection of young people online, especially with regard to the consumption of sexually explicit material. This is a very important issue, and the Government is currently developing its approach to protecting children to ensure they can engage safely online.

As stated in the 2021 mandate letters to the Minister of Canadian Heritage and the Minister of Justice, the Government is committed to developing and introducing legislation to combat serious forms of harmful online content to protect Canadians, and hold online platforms accountable for the content they host. The Government is working hard to meet these commitments and aims to introduce legislation as soon as possible. 

The Government has conducted extensive consultations with experts, citizens, civil society, and other stakeholders to this end. It has heard from a diverse set of views and intends to draw on those insights when drafting legislation. It has heard a strong consensus for protecting children and youth from harm online– and that this needs to be balanced against other priorities, like protections for freedom of expression and privacy rights. The Government has also heard support for a risk-based approach to online safety; the need to hold online platforms accountable to a standard for responsible action; the need for more transparency; and the need for better tools to empower users on these platforms. Finally, it has heard that there is a need to confront child sexual abuse material content, and to mitigate the risks associated with exposing children and youth to such content.                                                                                                                                               

The Government has also been looking at efforts in other jurisdictions to protect children from explicit sexual content and other harmful content online. It has reviewed the United Kingdom’s 'Age-Appropriate Design Code' that requires regulated services to develop age assurance tools and other measures to mitigate the risk of exposure to harmful content by children. And it has watched with interest as Australia has indicated it will prioritize industry codes over mandatory age verification to address children’s access to online pornography.

Lessons learned from other jurisdictions as well as the advice received from each stream of engagement are contributing to the development online safety legislation in Canada. Summaries for consultations can be found online https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/harmful-online-content.html 

Overall, the Government is committed to putting in place a legislative and regulatory framework that will hold large online platforms accountable for protecting their users, including children and youth, from the risk of exposure to a range of harmful content. People in Canada, especially children and youth, deserve safer and more inclusive online experiences.