PEN Canada today commended the Government of Canada for removing more controversial parts of Bill C-63, particularly the heavy-handed hate speech penalties.
The government heeded concerns expressed by a wide cross section of civil liberties groups, including PEN Canada. Its decision to limit the Bill to Part 1, the proposed Online Harms Act, and related amendments in Part 4, and set parts 2 and 3 on a separate track, will help ensure passage of this much-needed legislation.
The proposed Online Harms Act, seeks to promote the online safety of persons in Canada, to mitigate the risk that they will be exposed to harmful content. A particularly strong focus is protecting the physical and mental health of children and providing remedies for the non-consensual communication of intimate images.
We have long believed that these important objectives could and should be met without endangering freedom of speech. The government’s changes will meet that standard.
For more on PEN’s view of Bill C-63 see our early review of the Bill here.
