Child advocates urge government to bring back online harms legislation

Children First Canada youth adviser Zachary Fathally, 11, speaks during a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

The dangers children face online constitute a national emergency, a coalition of child advocates and medical organizations said Thursday as they called for the federal government to take action.

“Unlike every other industry that affects children, from cars to pharmaceuticals to toys to food safety, the tech industry has been allowed to self-regulate with tragic consequences,” said Andrea Chrysanthou, chair of the board for Children First Canada, at a press conference on Parliament Hill.

The advocates say children are being exploited, extorted, bullied -- and in some cases, kids have died as a result of online harms.

Dr. Margot Burnell, president of the Canadian Medical Association, said doctors see the negative health impacts of social media use firsthand.

“Increasingly, online harms are contributing to a public health crisis among youth with devastating effects on their mental health, self-esteem, and even their physical safety,” she said.

In recent months, the growing availability of artificial intelligence chatbots has led to new concerns about their effect on children, including cases involving suicide. Children First Canada CEO Sara Austin said Thursday there has been a “rapid escalation of AI harms in particular.”

The coalition has called on the government to bring back the online harms bill that was introduced by former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s government but never became law.

The Online Harms Act would have required social media companies to explain how they plan to reduce the risks their platforms pose to users, and imposed on them a duty to protect children.

It would have also imposed a 24-hour takedown provision for content that sexually victimizes a child or revictimizes a survivor, or for intimate content shared without consent, including deepfakes.

The Liberals have signalled they will not bring the bill back in the same form, but will instead tackle aspects of online harms in other legislation.

Justice Minister Sean Fraser told reporters in early November that “components of that bill are finding their way into other pieces of legislation, but I wouldn’t expect it to be copied and pasted in substantially the same form.”

He noted Culture Minister Steven Guilbeault and Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon will also play a role on the file.

Solomon said in late October his upcoming privacy bill could include age restrictions on access to AI chatbots to protect children. A spokesperson for Solomon said Thursday that bill will be introduced in early December.

A spokesperson for Fraser said in an emailed statement the government will move forward with legislation that will include measures “to protect children from online sexual exploitation and extortion” and tighten child-luring laws.

“This is a priority for us, and the work is ongoing as we continue consultations to get it right.”

Advocates say things have already taken too long.

The previous Liberal government promised to introduce online harms legislation in the 2021 election.

“Back then I was only eight years old, and they said it would happen in their first 100 days,” said Zachary Fathally, Children First Canada youth adviser.

“Now I’m 12 and more than 1,460 days have gone by. That’s a third of my childhood so far, and we’re still waiting.”

Austin said the government shouldn’t be taking a fragmented approach.

“We can’t just carve out little pieces of this. We need comprehensive legislation that deals with all of the digital harms that our children are exposed to every single day,” she said.

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press