Evidence of meeting #141 for Canadian Heritage in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was rights.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
Do you think the Liberal government is going too far?
Full Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Ottawa, As an Individual
Maybe the question should be put to the Liberal government.
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
Father de Souza, do you think this Liberal government has gone too far in censoring speech here in Canada?
As an Individual
The first of the three examples I used was a case in which I think it was in error in limiting freedom of expression.
The third example I mentioned was a prospective recommendation from a committee that it set up that seemed to meet with approval, but it hasn't acted on that. If it did, it would be improper, in my view.
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
I really appreciate the ability to have a diversity of views. We've had a variety of people with a variety of different views, yet we've managed to have a civil conversation at this meeting for the most part. There have been some slightly less civil comments made, but I think this just goes to show that we don't need the government to set the regulations and limit what people can and can't say. That can be left to different mechanisms.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Thank you very much.
I'm going to go to Anju Dhillon for the Liberals.
You have two and a half minutes.
Liberal
Anju Dhillon Liberal Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I'm going to share my time with MP Louis.
My question is for Mr. Bardeesy.
You spoke about the growing demand from Canadians to work on regulating online harms and how it's the responsibility of the platforms to make sure that no one is harmed.
Can you talk to us about the legislation very quickly—because the next question has to go to my colleague—and about foreign interference?
I know it's huge, but please answer as quickly as you can.
November 25th, 2024 / 5:40 p.m.
Executive Director, the Dais, Toronto Metropolitan University, As an Individual
Bill C-63 has provisions for the tabling of a digital safety plan by the major platforms. We think that's an appropriate measure that helps them share their plan in a manner that we can understand for dealing with some of the online harms.
Foreign interference is a large issue, which is definitely something that threatens freedom of expression here in Canada. If we have foreign interference in elections and people are fearful of using their voices in Canada, that's a real problem.
Liberal
Tim Louis Liberal Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
Thank you.
I'll continue with Professor Bardeesy.
You mentioned that you just came back from a conference in the States. What are the responsibilities of the social media companies? What specific measures should the social media companies take to prevent hate speech without infringing on free speech? You mentioned that people are getting their news more and more from social media. We control what we write on social media, but we don't control what we read on social media.
Executive Director, the Dais, Toronto Metropolitan University, As an Individual
Yes. Part of that is having strong trust and safety teams with humans on those teams who are complementing whatever technology they're using to help screen for inappropriate content, or in the case of Canada, content that would be in defiance of the proposed online harms act.
There are lots of measures that can be taken by platforms to be more transparent around the way their algorithms work and to help individuals shape those algorithms more themselves, rather than just being presented with, “This is the way your feed is going to work.”
There are some platforms that are now experimenting with measures and approaches that put more of the ability to curate what you see in the hands of the user rather than the hands of either an algorithm or the company itself, and we think that's definitely progress.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Thank you very much. That brings our meeting to a close.
I would like to thank the witnesses for coming and sharing some very interesting and complex answers to our questions, because none of this is black or white, as Ms. Johnstone said. It's all complex.
Thank you very much. Thank you for your patience while we voted.
I will now adjourn the meeting.