The Liberals are “committed” to policing internet content with their internet censor board called the Digital Safety Commission, with no deadline for the legislation.. Internet Sign .Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called uncensored speech “destabilizing.”.“The Government of Canada is considering the creation of a new Digital Safety Commission,” the cabinet wrote in a letter to the Commons Foreign Affairs committee. .The agency would monitor internet content deemed hurtful though legal. .“The Government of Canada is committed to developing new rules for platforms that are backed up by strong enforcement mechanisms,” the cabinet wrote..“The introduction date for this legislation has not been determined,” said the letter. .“The department of Canadian Heritage is working with other government departments to deliver on this important initiative.”.The Criminal Code and provincial libel laws already prohibit hate speech, uttering threats, incitement to violence, obscenity, slander, and other objectionable internet content. .Censorship was “a risk-based approach to platform regulation whereby online services would be compelled to identify, assess, and mitigate risks on their platforms,” said the letter. .“The risks to be identified, assessed, and measured would be set out in legislation.”.Trudeau, in an interview on September 9 with legal counsel at the Public Order Emergency Commission, said he was committed to internet regulation. .“The prime minister emphasized the need for governments to take online rhetoric seriously,” said an Interview Summary by lawyers with the Freedom Convoy inquiry..“He noted we are living in a very difficult time right now,” said the Summary. .“The problem arises when disagreements are built on falsehoods or wrong facts because then it becomes difficult to have a real debate and genuine exchange of ideas.”.“The government believes in free speech,” said Trudeau. . Internet Tech .“But with social media, there is a new way to foment anger and hate that is different from anything we have seen before, difficult to counter, and it is destabilizing our democracy.”.According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the cabinet to date has not reintroduced a censorship bill that lapsed in the pre-election 2021 Parliament. .Bill C-36 An Act to Amend the Criminal Code proposed $70,000 fines for internet users responsible for legal content deemed “likely to foment detestation or vilification.”.Cabinet, in a July 29, 2021, Technical Paper and Discussion Paper, urged the appointment of a Digital Safety Commissioner to monitor legal content. .The Commissioner would have powers to investigate anonymous complaints, conduct closed-door hearings, and block websites..The proposal drew protests from a majority of 9,218 petitioners to the department of Canadian Heritage. .Academics, libertarians, lawyers, legislators, and free speech advocates said regulation of legal speech was unwieldy and unconstitutional..The University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab said federal regulation was so sweeping it would quash political dissent. .“The proposals fail to account for the importance of protecting the kinds of expression that are most central to a free and democratic society, including journalism, academic scholarship, and public interest research, debate, artistic creation, criticism, and political dissent,” Citizen Lab wrote in its submission to the Heritage department.
