At conference confronting antisemitism, justice minister promises online harms legislation

At a conference on confronting antisemitism on Monday, Justice Minister Arif Virani repeated a standing promise of the federal Liberal government to combat online harms with new legislation, but offered no timeline.

"We need a safe and secure digital environment as much as we need safe streets in our communities," Virani said before an audience gathered by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) in Ottawa.

The Liberals' initial attempt at tackling online hate came in June 2021, through a bill introduced in the dying days of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's previous government. Bill C-36 died on the order paper when he called an election in August.

Trudeau then promised to introduce new legislation within 100 days of forming a government following that election, but there have been further delays after two rounds of consultations.

The government initially proposed addressing online harm in five different categories: hate speech, terrorist content, incitement to violence, child sexual exploitation and the non-consensual sharing of intimate images.

CIJA is one of many community organizations that have called for government protection against online hate.

"The time to act is now," CIJA's vice-president of external affairs Richard Marceau wrote two years ago in an editorial. "We can have legislation that acts as a shield against the dangers of online hate while balancing the right to freedom of expression."

Virani said his government has found it a challenging balance to strike.

"We've got freedom of expression on one hand, which creates a vibrant democracy and allows us to differentiate ourselves from other parts of the world," he said. "And we've got the pressure to ensure that when people are communicating online, they're not actually targeting groups, they're not promoting or vilifying groups, promoting hatred or violence against them."

Asked if the government could introduce the bill before Christmas, Virani said he could not commit to a timeline.

"I'm trying to make sure we see it as soon as possible," he said.

Heritage Canada was in charge of the previous rounds of consultations. Heritage Minister Pascale Ste-Onge also has told journalists to be on the lookout for new legislation but has not offered a timeline.

Law would be 'adaptable': minister

Virani said the legislation would be adaptable and "not etched in stone."

The government's previous attempts at policing online hate have led to expressions of concern from tech giants such as Alphabet, Google's parent company, which is already in a face-off with Ottawa over C-18, the Online News Act.

Google has said such legislation could limit freedom of expression and create a legal framework that could be used to censor political speech in the future.

The social media platform X, known as Twitter at the time of initial consultations in September 2021, suggested in a letter to the federal government that Ottawa could use such legislation to block websites. It compared that prospect to the actions of authoritarian regimes in North Korea and China.

"People around the world have been blocked from accessing Twitter and other services in a similar manner ... under the false guise of 'online safety,' impeding peoples' rights to access information online," the company stated.

Virani said the government would be ready for another fight with tech giants over this bill.

Community groups have asked for online harms legislation in Canada for years, while online companies have expressed concerns about curtailing freedom of speech. (Shutterstock / Empirephotostock)

On the same day Virani made his remarks, CIJA released a report it co-authored with the Network Contagion Research Institute, an organization that analyzes online disinformation and misinformation.

The document compiled hate crime data from police in multiple Canadian cities, including, Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. It concluded that real-life antisemitic incidents followed a rise in hateful online rhetoric in May 2021, the last time there was conflict between Israel and Hamas prior to last week's events.

"Our findings highlight a significant uptick in antisemitic and anti-Israel conversations on social media platforms such as Reddit and Twitter, closely aligned with the May 2021 Israel-Gaza conflict," the report noted.

CIJA has asked for legislation and regulations to compel social media companies to address online hate by imposing penalties for non-compliance, and for the government to regulate both emerging platforms and established social media providers.

The National Council of Canadian Muslims and the Chinese-Canadian National Council for Justice are among the other groups that have called for online harms legislation.