Subject: Bill C-63 – The Online Harms Act

 

Dear Members of Parliament and the Senate:

 

I am writing as a Canadian citizen opposed to Bill C-63 tabled by Justice Minister Arif Virani. Although this bill has been submitted to protect children from potential online harm by making the reporting of Internet child pornography mandatory, the total scope of the bill is severely invasive, overreaching, vague and excessively punitive.

 

I am asking that this bill be immediately terminated for the following reasons:

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1. This bill sets out to establish an unelected body (the Digital Safety Commission of Canada) led by a newly created unelected leader (the Digital Safety Ombudsperson of Canada) to administer and enforce the act which will be a group of individuals chosen to define risks and exposure to online content according to what they deem harmful. This group of individuals likely would be biased due to political selectivity and undue pressures which could therefore implement hate crime definitions that serve their personal ideologies, political affiliations or special interests. Granting this body of individuals the power to punish Canadians based on their definitions without the benefit of a court of law is the very definition of tyranny.

2. This act would remove privacy by enabling assigned inspectors to have access to inventories of electronic and social media data or any other record it requests without a warrant – a severe breach of the Canadian Privacy Act and Canadians' rights against unlawful search and seizure as defined in the Canada Act

3. This act will effectively make all the provisions currently only allocated within the Emergency Act permanent

4. Anonymous complaints may be made about something believed to be hateful or potentially hateful in the future. This could destroy many people's careers, finances, and community standing without the benefit of a court of law to adjudicate the accusation. This allowance for anonymity is likely to result in numerous vengeful complaints and potentially destroy many lives.

5. If Internet providers do not meet the rules and regulations the appointed commission defines, they will face severe financial fines that will likely lead to them pulling their services from Canada just as they removed all news media from their platforms after Bill C-11 and C-18 were passed. The loss of these internet providers in Canada will result in the loss of international communications and a loss of business revenue and knowledge.

 

In every possible way, Bill C-63 is an affront to the freedoms and quality of life that Canadians have enjoyed, and it doesn’t even effectively provide a concise and clear plan to end child sexual abuse materials online. Internet service providers must be held responsible for ensuring the content they allow to be uploaded and monetized is not child sexual abuse material and that the people depicted are not minors. It is not sufficient to require Internet providers to make content inaccessible, it should not be allowed to be uploaded without age verification and consent from all who are featured in the content. Please ensure that this bill does not go any further into becoming a law.

 

Thank you,

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Concerned Citizen

Anytown, Any Province

X0X 0X0

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