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Youth advocates are calling on the federal government to treat online safety as a human-rights issue, saying current systems are “not supporting them.”
In a news conference on Parliament Hill on Wednesday, advocates with the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights outlined their hopes and expectations for future legislation and action from Ottawa.
The government’s most recent attempt to tackle harmful online behaviour was Bill C-63, which died on the order paper after Parliament was prorogued last year. The advocates say they want to see meaningful consultation with youth before an online harms bill is reintroduced.
“With Bill C-63 failing to move through Parliament, there is no meaningful policy that adequately addresses the concerns and needs of young people,” said advocate Kamalavasani Karunakaran.
“Harm online doesn’t disappear when we log off. It follows us into school, work. It affects our relationships, our mental health.”
The centre’s Youth Digital Rights Blueprint says that young people across Canada felt excluded from the drafting of Bill C-63 — consulted only after decisions were made, confronted with inaccessible language and tokenized instead of empowered.
The report outlines some of the risks facing young people online and proposes a digital safety framework that reflects international standards and Canada’s obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Meta recently announced that Instagram users under the age of 18 will only be able to see PG-13 posts and videos unless their parents turn off the content restrictions. CBC Kids News went out and asked kids and teens how they feel about having age-based restrictions on social media.
According to the report, youth experience gender- and identity-based violence and discrimination on gaming platforms and generally face sexual, data and privacy exploitation and various mental health risks in loosely regulated online spaces.
“The absence of a national digital safety statute magnifies these harms,” the report notes.
Through various calls to action, the report outlines four pillars: participation, protection, remedy and support.
“Youth are calling for clear federal action,” said youth advocate Blue Vetsch. “These are practical, achievable steps that, if given enough support, can be implemented.”
Justice Minister Sean Fraser said last summer that the federal government would take a “fresh” look at its online harms legislation.
Youth-led research
The report’s calls to action include creating a national youth digital safety advisory council and permanent youth liaison roles across federal departments to reflect the “diversity of youth experiences across regions, identities and arenas of expertise.”
The report also calls for stronger investment in youth-led research and labs focused on digital rights, AI ethics, platform accountability and online harm prevention.
“Meaningful participation can take many forms, including youth scholars, community leaders and young people with lived experience working alongside policymakers to provide insight, data and perspective,” the report said.
The group emphasized that engaging youth in policy consultations leads to more sustainable policies.
This report follows recent legislation in Australia and France that banned social media for children under a certain age, with similar legislation being considered in Spain, Denmark and Malaysia.
Those governments argue social media is addictive and particularly harmful for kids and young teens.
“As we’re thinking up new legislation, this is the moment to genuinely partner with young people early in the process. Not at the end and not just symbolically,” said advocate Fea Jerulen Gelvezon at the news conference.
