This Open Letter to MPs was co-developed by individuals and organizations interested in seeing Bill C-63 moved to Committee for debate and discussion.
Dear Members of Parliament:
Earlier this year, the Government of Canada introduced Bill C-63: The Online Harms Act, legislation that has been in development for nearly four years. Since then, similar laws have been drafted, debated, and passed in the European Union, United Kingdom, and Australia.
In our view, Bill C-63, with amendments, provides Canada with a much-needed framework to hold social media companies accountable to make online platforms safe, empowering, and accessible for all. Unfortunately, its study in Committee has been delayed such that its merits and opportunities for improvement cannot be debated and discussed. This delay must end. We, the undersigned, call on all parties to set aside partisanship and expeditiously move Bill C-63 to
Committee.
Bill C-63 offers Canada’s Parliament an opportunity to establish world-leading protections for children and youth online. Many of us are prepared to offer recommendations to strengthen this legislation, making it imperative that its study in Committee proceed immediately. It would be a greatly missed opportunity if parliamentary dysfunction were to get in the way of what many experts,
civil society organizations, and young Canadians themselves have asked for.
We, the undersigned, all agree that social media companies must do more to ensure their services centre the rights and safety of our kids.
We know that Parliamentarians feel the same way, too.
We urge you to work together to move this Bill to Committee where it can be openly studied so that Canada may hold accountable social media companies and keep our children safe online.
It’s time to move.
Sincerely,
Amanda Todd Legacy Society
Karim Bardeesy, Executive Director, The Dais at Toronto Metropolitan University
BGC Canada (formerly Boys & Girls Clubs)
Canadian Association of School System Administrators
Canadian Centre for Child Protection
Canadian Paediatric Society
Children’s Healthcare Canada
Canadian Medical Association
The Centre for Media, Technology, and Democracy at McGill University
Check My Ads
Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development
Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario
Empowered Kids Ontario
Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group, CHEO Research Institute
The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids)
Human Early Learning Partnership, University of British Columbia
Inspiring Healthy Futures
Fairplay
Friends of Canadian Media
GoodBot Society
Dr. Richard Larouche, Associate Professor of Public Health, University of Lethbridge
Dr. Kelly Arbour-Nicitopoulos, Professor, Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education, University of Toronto
NoSo November
Open Media
Pediatric Chairs Canada
Reset.Tech
Sedentary Behaviour Research Network
Waltons Trust
Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund
5Rights Foundation
▶︎ Read the related article in The Globe and Mail.