Thank you so much. This is a question I've thought a lot about. I've been in the online space doing advocacy. Online the amount of disinformation and misinformation is tremendous. I think we have to start really considering the weaponization of disinformation as a threat to Canadian lives. Many people have died of COVID because of disinformation about COVID and the vaccines. Many people have not done what they could to protect themselves due to disinformation that was spread.
Disinformation on vaccines goes back well before COVID, when intentional actors chose to spread disinformation for either personal gain, political disruption or anti-authoritarianism and those types of things. The threat is to people who are marginalized and who don't have the ability to know what all of the latest science shows. Disinformation online can be very compelling. I think the government has a strong obligation to fight disinformation.
I'm part of a group called ScienceUpFirst, which is led by Tim Caulfield at the University of Alberta and Senator Stan Kutcher. We work really hard to distribute information that counters disinformation. I think the government does have to take seriously—knowing that we have freedom of expression and not freedom of speech—the threats associated with disinformation. As far as misinformation goes, you know, people will think things. I'm used to myths. It's okay to battle myths. Disinformation is intentional. It's subversive and it's extremely alluring to people for very important psychological reasons.