Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Arif Virani rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023. (Screenshot from ParlVu)
By Noé Chartier
The Liberal government today is tabling its new bill seeking to address the issues of “online harms” and it goes beyond protecting children by targeting other categories of content.
The bill seeks to add a new form of hate crime to the Criminal Code, punishable up to life in jail, and victims of online “hate speech” could be compensated up to $20,000.
Preliminary details of the Liberal government’s latest piece of internet legislation were released in a technical briefing from Heritage Canada and the Justice Department on Feb. 26.
It says that Bill C-63 identifies seven different categories of harmful content online.
Three of the categories relates to protecting children from sexual exploitation, bullying, or self-harm. One relates to the sharing of intimate content without consent, including deepfakes. Three other categories relate to matters of expression.
Those categories are content that “incites violent extremism or terrorism,” or “incites violence,” or which “foments hatred.” The briefing does not expand on the definitions of those phenomena.
However the bill seeks to add a definition of hatred to section 319 of the Criminal Code. This will be consistent with decisions of the Supreme Court to “help people understand what hatred means and what it does not mean,” says the briefing.
Along with adding a definition of hatred, Bill C-63 also aims to add a new standalone hate crime offence to the Criminal Code, which would apply to existing offences.
Penalties for this new crime would be up to life imprisonment as a means to “deter this hateful conduct as a crime in itself, rather than as an aggravating factor to help determine and appropriate sentence.”
The maximum punishments for hate propaganda offences in Sections 318 and 319 would also be raised from five years to life imprisonment for advocating genocide and two to five years for the other categories when prosecuted by way of indictment.
The new bill, along with enacting the Online Harms Act and amending the Criminal Code, also seeks to modify the Canadian Human Rights Act. It would specify that posting “hate speech” online is discrimination, according to the government briefing.
People who believe they are victims of hate speech would be able to file a complaint before the Canadian Human Rights Commission. The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal would be allowed to adjudicate cases and order the poster of online “hate speech” to delete the material.
The identified victims could also be compensated up to $20,000.
Bill C-63 also seeks to establish a Digital Safety Commission to make sure digital platforms are following the new rules. A Digital Safety Ombudsperson would also be created to be able to receive complaints from internet users. Both entities would be appointed by the government and not by Parliament.