Ottawa: The Democracy Fund is concerned that the government intends to re-introduce the previously abandoned Online Harms Bill in the same or modified form.
In 2024, the government proposed regulating online speech under Bill C-63. While addressing legitimate concerns surrounding child exploitation and terrorism, the Bill added provisions to the Criminal Code for various speech crimes, making it a criminal offence to publish ill-defined "harmful content." It required social media companies to remove potentially harmful content or face punitive fines. Many defenders of civil liberty, including TDF, worried that the application of this badly defined concept would lead to mass surveillance and censorship.
However, when Parliament was prorogued on January 6, 2025, Bill C-63 died on the order paper. Now, the government is once again considering new or similar legislation to regulate online speech, with the Minister of Justice claiming he would take another look at the matter.
TDF Litigation Director, Mark Joseph, said: "There are laws in place that the government can, and does, use to address most of the bad conduct that the Bill ostensibly targeted. To the extent that there are gaps in the Criminal Code, amendments should be carefully drafted to fix this. However, the previous Bill C-63 sought to implement a regime of mass censorship. TDF is concerned that the government will try once more to give itself the power to criminalize and punish online speech and debate. TDF will oppose that."
About The Democracy Fund:
Founded in 2021, The Democracy Fund (TDF) is a Canadian charity dedicated to constitutional rights, advancing education, and relieving poverty. TDF promotes constitutional rights through litigation and public education and supports an access to justice initiative for Canadians whose civil liberties have been infringed by government lockdowns and other public policy responses to the pandemic.