CHPC Committee Report

Conservative Dissenting Report on Harms Caused to Children, Women, and Men by the Ease of Access to, and Online Viewing of, Illegal Sexually Explicit Material

The House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage

On behalf of the Conservative members of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, we submit this dissenting report on Harms Caused to Children, Women, and Men by the Ease of Access to, and Online Viewing of, Illegal Sexually Explicit Material. It is paramount that the current Liberal government properly address the online harms Canadians experience daily.

The study of online harms in committee was made possible through a Conservative motion that recognized a desperate need to understand the real harm experienced by many Canadians within virtual spaces and how it contributes to real world violence against women and girls and sex trafficking. This motion came prior to Bill C-63, the Online Harms Act, which continues to neglect the harms inflicted upon Canadians while adding undemocratic censorship.

As technology rapidly evolves, the government must urgently provide meaningful and real legislative protection against online harms.

The committee heard from various witnesses ranging from legal experts, law enforcement, advocates, and victims of online harms. Through witness testimony, it became overwhelmingly clear that legislation must be modernized to deal with online harms while taking on a victim-centric approach that protects those directly affected by online harms. While the committee’s main report highlights important aspects of online harms, it fails to address the following points raised in the committee: 1) Women are overwhelmingly the primary targets of online harms; 2) Current government legislation fails to include deepfakes, but Bill C-412 provides the overdue criminal code amendments to address deepfakes; 3) Existing legislation must be amended to address the criminal nature of online harms; 4) A victim-centered approach is needed, and 5) More effort is needed to prevent uploading of Illegal Sexually Explicit Material.

1. Women are overwhelmingly the primary targets of online harms

There is a clear and alarming gendered dynamic to online harms. While online harm affects everyone, most incidents are targeted against women. One witness, Ms. Dianne Lalonde, highlighted the overwhelming harm occurring against women:

NCIID (the non-consensual distribution of intimate images) does disproportionately target women. Out of the 295 Canadian cases of NCIID reported to police by adults in 2016, 92% were reported by women. Police-reported incidents, from 2015 to 2020, by youth 12 to 17, found girls, again, overrepresented as targets, at 86%, in comparison to boys at 11%.

Many witnesses at committee also expressed this concern, especially, in relation to the creation, distribution and viewing of deepfakes. Ms. Dianne Lalonde referenced a study illustrating the immensely disproportionate targeting of females online:

A study of 95,000 deepfake videos in 2023 found that 98% were sexually explicit, and of those, 99% targeted women.

This fact, along with its frightening consequences was similarly echoed by Ms. Shona Moreau and Ms. Chloe Rourke:

The non-consensual sharing of porn is already weaponized against women and is further exacerbated by deepfakes because anyone is able to create and distribute such content. Women will have limited options to protect themselves. It's already being used to target, harass and silence female journalists and politicians. If unchecked, deepfakes threaten to rewrite the terms of participation in the public sphere for women.

Women are overwhelmingly targets of online harms. This fact must be acknowledged and addressed in whatever legislative effort is put forward. 

2. Current legislation fails to include deepfakes

The evolving capabilities of technology create increasingly accessible avenues for harm, such as the creation, distribution, and viewing of deepfakes. Deepfakes can easily be made to target any Canadian, regardless of social status or any other demographic difference. Ms. Shona Moreau and Ms. Chloe illustrated this in committee:

Lifelike deepfakes can now be generated using just a single photo of a person. As a result, it's not just celebrities and public figures who are vulnerable. Everyone is vulnerable to this technology. And though there are other applications to deepfakes, by far the most common use is non-consensual porn.

Witnesses highlighted a glaring failure in current legislation to address the threat of deepfakes. Ms. Shona Moreau and Ms. Chloe Rourke stated this:

I think the Criminal Code provisions that currently exist applying to actual real recordings of intimate images or so-called revenge porn is an incomplete remedy as it exists, not even including the issue of deepfake.

The Liberals’ current attempt at legislating in this area, Bill C-63, fails to acknowledge and address the real danger of deepfakes and the tremendous harm they can do. Thus, the legislation is antiquated even before it comes into effect. 

In contrast, Conservative Bill C-412 has a framework to update the Criminal Code with a legal definition capturing deepfakes and criminalize distribution. A number of witnesses expressed the importance of this approach including Ms. Dianne Lalonde who stated:

We've certainly seen success in the U.K. in terms of their criminalization of distribution, so that does remain important.

To truly protect Canadians from online harms, deepfakes must be addressed in legislation.

3. Existing legislation must be amended to address the criminal nature of online harms

The harm caused by certain online behaviours is often severe and can even be fatal.  Such incidents are criminal by nature.

Legislation must be modernized by amending it to address the criminal nature of online harms.

Many witnesses heard from at committee, urged the government to amend the Criminal Code to include online harms. When asked about including deepfakes to the Criminal Code, Ms. Dianne Lalonde stated: “Yes, I think so. I think, more than anything, it signals this as a form of violence.”

Criminalizing online acts like the creation, distribution, and viewing of deepfakes would signal such actions as a form of violence.

4. A victim-centric approach is needed

When creating legislation, a victim-centered approach is needed to protect and support victims of online harms. Witnesses at the committee meetings made this abundantly clear by advocating for strengthening existing support for victims. One witness, Ms. Dianne Lalonde, reinforced this need by stating:

In terms of ways to address this harm, I think much of the focus on legislation has been on regulation and removal of content, and that is absolutely essential. We also need to recognize the people this is impacting, the survivors and who survivors are going to. They are going to gender-based violence services in order to cope and heal from these harms. An added dimension when we're talking about addressing online harms is making sure we're supporting the gender-based violence agencies that are doing the work to support survivors who already have robust sex education programs.

Protecting Canadians from online harms requires focusing on protecting, supporting, and strengthening victims of online harms.

5) More effort is needed to prevent uploading of Illegal Sexually Explicit Material

The mandate of this study included consideration of preventative legal frameworks. Witnesses and submitted briefs pointed to the harm caused by the uploading and re-uploading of illegal content such as CSAM and NCIID. Once illegal sexually explicit material has been uploaded, it is virtually impossible to eliminate and can be reuploaded endlessly.

In a submitted brief, Defend Dignity noted that:

Many of the survivors of sexual exploitation we work with have shared the nightmare of losing control over non-consensual intimate images of themselves. This is re-traumatizing and victimizing in a different way than other forms of abuse they endured. The platforms hosting the abuse are profiting from their pain, while users of the services view, comment, and sometimes further share the abusive content for their own pleasure. It’s an impossible fight to get the content permanently removed from the internet, and they never know when or where it will resurface. There is also the dread of not knowing who will view the abusive content – will they be recognized by a stranger? Will their children see it?

They and other organizations recommended the passage of Conservative Bill C-270 which would focus on prevention by requiring on companies to obtain the age and meaningful consent of everyone depicted before creating or distributing pornographic content.

Summary:

There is a growing need to protect Canadians from the threat of online harms. The study of online harms at committee confirmed that women are the overwhelming target of online harms, the problem of deepfakes has failed to be addressed, current legislation must be amended, a victim-centric approach is needed, and more effort is needed to prevent uploading of Illegal Sexually Explicit Material. Current methods of addressing online harms are insufficient. The Liberal government’s online harms legislation, Bill C-63, will not satisfy the need for protection and will only limit the freedoms of Canadians.

Conservatives contend that Canadians can be protected from online harms while still having their freedoms respected and preserved. Online harms must be included in the Criminal Code to signal the violent nature of the acts and protect Canadians from all virtual harms including deepfakes.