Youth advocates call on Ottawa to listen to them before tabling new online harms bill

early days advocates ar calling on the union soldier regime to handle 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.

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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.

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.

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.

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