Justice Minister Arif Virani says controversial online harms bill to be split in two

Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Arif Virani arrives to a cabinet meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press)

Justice Minister Arif Virani said the Liberal government will split up its contentious online harms bill, putting a priority on passing measures to fight child sex predators.

Virani told reporters Wednesday the move will create an opening for a swath of the bill's measures to swiftly pass through the House of Commons before the next election.

The online harms bill will be cleaved into two new packages, the first dealing with keeping children safe online, combating sex predators and issues related to revenge pornography.

"We are putting our emphasis and prioritization and our time and efforts on the first portion of the bill," Virani said.

That includes establishing a new Digital Safety Commission of Canada. The new regulator would compel social media companies to outline how they plan to reduce the risks their platforms pose to users, particularly minors. It would have the power to levy fines and evaluate companies' digital safety plans.

Virani said the first portion will also include new tools for prosecuting child sex predators. Those measures deal with the mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse material by internet service providers and some online services.

The bill targets seven categories of online behaviour, from the non-consensual sharing of intimate images to content that can be used to bully a child.

The House has been gridlocked for months over a parliamentary privilege debate raging between the Liberals and Conservatives that has prevented most legislation from moving forward.

Virani said that means there has been only one day of debate on the bill since September, a situation he described as "frustrating."

"That obstruction has caused us to rethink how we can better use the precious time that we have left in this Parliament," he said.

Critics have long called on the government to split up the bill to have the most controversial matters debated separately.

The second package of measures will deal with Criminal Code and Human Rights Act amendments targeting hate, which include stiffer penalties for hate-related offences. Advocates and some legal experts have said the changes risk chilling free speech.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association welcomed the move to split the legislation Wednesday. "It is crucial that this new Act, which proposes to regulate online content, now be the subject of a broad public and parliamentary conversation," Anais Bussieres McNicoll, the organization's director of the Fundamental Freedoms Program, said in a statement.

Michael Geist, the Canada Research Chair in internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa, called the move to split the bill in two "long overdue." He said in a post on X that the inclusion of Criminal Code and Human Rights Act provisions "undermined public support and placed (the) entire bill at risk."

In response to a question about whether the government is wiling to make changes to the second part of the bill to address concerns by civil liberties activists, Virani said he is willing to consider amendments proposed by witnesses at committee. He made the announcement a day before a parliamentary committee begins hearing testimony from witnesses on the bill.

Virani said the "goal is to work to find consensus amongst parliamentarians on the things that we can agree to immediately."

Emily Laidlaw, a Canada Research Chair in cybersecurity law at the University of Calgary, and who was part of the government's expert advisory group in developing the legislation, said the first part of the bill should be "should be bipartisan."

She said in a post on X the first part of the bill "aligns with global standards, some of which were developed" by Conservative governments.

But Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has previously vowed to repeal the legislation entirely should it become law.

Asked whether Conservative MPs would support the government's move to split the bill in two, the party shared a statement from Conservative justice critic Larry Brock that indicated a future Conservative government would repeal online regulation bills passed by the Liberal government.

He said Virani is "desperately trying to salvage his deeply flawed legislation. He should give up on creating his massive, $200 million censorship bureaucracy and instead adopt our superior common sense Bill C-412 that has been widely well received."

Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner introduced the private members' bill in September. It would modernize the existing law against criminal harassment so a victim can ask a judge to force social media companies to identify someone who has repeatedly harassed them online.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 4, 2024.