I will try to keep you interested after that.
My submission today relates to three aspects of Bill C-13 that I will address in the following order. I want to discuss the non-consensual distribution provision; the clauses relating to lawful access that have already been mentioned; and clause 12, the hate propaganda provision, which I support.
On the non-consensual distribution provision, Bill C-13 has been widely referred to publicly as legislation that is urgent and essential to reduce cyberbullying. It's been argued, as we've heard, that in the wake of tragic teen suicides, something has to be done to stop the non-consensual distribution of intimate and demeaning sexual images. These online activities amongst teens and university students have surfaced as the most insidious and harmful aspect of this phenomenon. Most often they target teenage girls and young women who are most vulnerable to offline sexual abuse, rape, and other forms of sexual violence, which are videotaped or photographed and distributed online without consent.
Clearly, in light of the suicides and the abuse, there needs to be regulations and consequences. But I have some significant concerns that this non-consensual distribution clause and Bill C-13, when taken together with the lawful access provisions, will miss their mark in reducing cyberbullying and sexting among teens, so I'll outline a number of points.
First of all, the provisions are largely focused on kids who receive contradictory messages from adult society. One thing that we seem to have forgotten when we think about legislating cyber-bulling is the fact that it is adult society that creates the norms of social communication. The norms of social communication have crept towards increased tolerance for sexism, misogyny, rape culture, and homophobia. Popular culture developed by adults, especially online marketing, comedy, and reality shows, place physical appearance, social conformity, objectification of women, sarcasm, and demeaning humour on the highest pedestals of socially accepted behaviour. So what do we expect our kids to do? And then we come down and blame them for copying what adults do in society.
I agree with UNICEF that we need to look at prosecution as a last resort. Even though the non-consensual distribution provision does take away from having to apply child pornography laws, which are designed to protect children against them, there are still questions about the sentencing, how the Youth Criminal Justice Act will be applied, and a range of other concerns.
Children receive confusing messages on the legal boundaries and rape culture, for example. Children confront difficult challenges at both ends. On the one hand, they must prove their strength in a digital and online social network where even friends can demean them publicly and excuse themselves by saying, “Just joking” when under peer pressure they might impulsively react or post comments and photographs they would ignore in different circumstances. Teenage girls are especially vulnerable when they decide to assert their sexuality like female celebrity idols, but end up being publicly humiliated through slut shaming when images sent in trust are distributed without consent. This is not going to be the panacea to addressing some of these issues because it's complex.
One of the areas that we found in our research is that young people confuse fun and have difficulty defining the lines between fun and criminal intent. Youth have difficulty defining the line at which their insults and comments become harmful and illegal, in terms of criminal threats, criminal harassment, sexual harassment, ownership of photographs, and public versus private spaces. It is often a competition about who can post the most absurd insults to entertain friends, and the person who's victimized is actually dehumanized. They totally forget about the person at the end of the vitriol, and thus establishing mens rea intent, criminal intent, under the non-consensual clause might be more complex than meets the eye, except in extreme cases.
We need to address the roots of discrimination. It is important to note that the posted content in the forms of abuse both on- and off-line have become more vitriolic, and it is these roots that the law needs to address, not the symptomatic online behaviours by young people. The hate propaganda provisions begin to address this.
There are blurred lines between public and private spaces and content ownership for young people. They told us they have difficulty recognizing the difference between public and private online spaces, the ownership of photographs and videos, because they have grown up immersed in online environments where these lines are blurred. This again could hamper effective application of the non-consensual provisions. These findings suggest that rather than blaming kids for their apparently odd behaviours, we should look at the influence of adult society and adult role models and give them stability and clear boundaries that can guide their moral and social compasses, not harsh laws.
This raises a concern about the current lack of public legal education, because that will have an impact on the implementation of the non-consensual provisions. As far back as the 1980s, Chief Justice Bora Laskin of the Supreme Court of Canada observed an urgent need at that time for public legal education. We are not much further ahead. Implementing this new legislation without adequate public legal knowledge is risky because ignorance often results in reactive and harsher responses.
Our research indicates that there remains significant public ignorance about the differences between positivist laws like the Criminal Code and substantive human rights and constitutional frameworks that provide the balance between free expression, safety, privacy, protection, and regulation. This is the balance the government must strive to aim for. The balance, is repeat, is between free expression, safety, privacy, protection, and regulation.
Without sufficient knowledge about human rights and fundamental constitutional principles of our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, school administrators, teachers, counsellors, and parents may overreact and be too quick to lay charges or call for charges under these provisions.
We've heard that we need to engage youth in contributing to policy. I'm not sure whether this committee has heard from young people, but it is essential that we give them ownership and agency in contributing to law and policy, as research shows a drop in violence when kids take ownership. The non-consensual distribution clause might be quite confusing for young people who are grappling with defining the lines between flirty fun on Snapchat and harm from non-consensual distribution.
They should have a say in the new law that will affect them so strongly. Without legal literacy they are not likely to understand the ramifications of non-consensual provisions. So we really need to pay attention to the fact that there needs to be legal literacy among adults, among the public, and also among children.
Perpetrators are often victims and, therefore, the non-consensual clause might have the opposite effect if young people who were victims of cyberbullying and react as perpetrators are charged under this law.
As I explained to the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights a couple of years ago, I am concerned about the impact of reactive legislation on children and youth who are simply testing social boundaries and that includes the perpetrators.
Am I done? I've got one minute, okay. I'm sorry.
On the lawful access provisions—I'm not going to repeat—I have the similar concerns that were raised earlier and I agree with many who testified here that the lawful access provisions should be rejected, or at minimum separated from the remainder of the bill.
If I may suggest, there are many unanswered questions but the committee should pause and ask themselves questions about how well the social online norms and perspectives of young people are understood by prosecutors, judges, law enforcement officers, teachers, and principals. What assumptions about youth will law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges bring to their application of the foregoing sections if they are not well informed about research or about the nuances and complexities of the evolving social norms and societal influences on children and teens? So, along with this legislation, we need to bring in the supports that bring in legal literacy and knowledge for the legal community about how the children are challenged in communicating online.
Thank you.