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OTTAWA, Ontario, June 16, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — Minister of Canadian Heritage Steven Guilbeault has said he will soon be introducing new internet “content moderation” legislation to “address categories of online harms” in Canada.

Guilbeault’s new “online harm” bill would be his second piece of legislation dealing with regulating the internet in Canada. If passed, it would join his controversial Bill C-10, or “Act to amend the Broadcasting Act,” which has drawn fire for its targeting of user-generated content on social media platforms. on social media platforms.

On June 15, the Speaker of the House of Commons ruled that the proposed amendments to Bill C-10 were “null and void,” according to Dr. Michael Geist, law professor at University of Ottawa and Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law.

“The government will presumably try to have the full House vote on the amendments to get Bill C-10 back on track. But their plans for a rapid vote with limited debate seemingly won’t happen with no shortage of Parliamentary procedure questions on the way,” tweeted Geist.

Bill C-10 would force companies such as YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to remove content deemed “harmful” within 24 hours. In essence, it would let the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) regulate the internet and social media in line with their regulations for broadcasting services. The CRTC has kept a hands-off approach to regulating the internet thus far.

Canada’s Criminal Code has banned hate speech since 1970. Guilbeault’s says that his new “content moderation” bill looks to tackle “online” hate.

“The legislation will address categories of online harms which are already criminal according to Canadian law,” said Guilbeault, speaking to a House of Commons ethics committee a week ago, according to a Blacklock’s Reporter article.

Guilbeault also said that his new bill would deal with “online harms in a way we can’t right now.”

Jay Cameron, a lawyer for the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, told LifeSiteNews last year that the Criminal Code prohibition against hate speech “has rigorous defenses built into it and prosecution requires consent from the Attorney General.”

“The Heritage Minister knows that the speech he wants to go after is legal and cannot be prosecuted under section 319 of the Criminal Code. So he wants to create a new tool to prevent speech that is otherwise legal.”

Guilbeault said that his new bill “now deals with the moderation of content” but at this point in time the exact details of the bill are scarce.

“There are some people out there, a minority clearly, who would advocate that we shouldn’t intervene, there should be no laws whatsoever regarding the Internet, and anyways what happens on the Internet stays on the Internet. Well, it’s clearly not the case,” Guilbeault said.

Cameron told LifeSiteNews last fall that it is “clear from recent statements by the PM and the Heritage Minister that the federal government wants to increase control and penalties for speech and content that is not approved of by the ideologues in the Liberal Party.”

Guilbeault also told the ethics committee that the government will be creating a new federal regulatory oversight body which will oversee internet content moderation, including tackling child pornography.

Last year, Guilbeault had to walk back comments after saying the Trudeau government was considering making all news websites and social media platforms have a government license if they wanted to operate in Canada.

Guilbeault clarified that there was “no intention to impose licensing requirements on news organizations.”

But the yet unnamed “content moderation” bill might not be introduced before Canada’s parliament breaks for the summer, which will be on June 23. If the bill is not introduced by that time, then the earliest it could be introduced to parliament is the fall of this year.

Contact information

The Honourable Steven Guilbeault – Minister of Canadian Heritage
15 Eddy Street, 12th Floor
Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0M5
Telephone: 819-997-7788
Email: [email protected]

MP Michelle Rempel Garner
Conservative shadow minister for industry and economic development
Suite 115, 70 Country Hills Landing NW
Calgary, AB T3K 2L2
Telephone: 403-216-7777
Email: [email protected]

Justin Trudeau – Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2
Fax: 613-941-6900
[email protected]
https://pm.gc.ca/en/connect/contact