Evidence of meeting #18 for Status of Women in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was young.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Connie Cody Conservative Cambridge, ON
That's correct. The experts have not been able to agree on a definition. Since there's a lot of confusion around the definition, could that contribute to a lot of the confusion and frustration that lead to anger and violence?
Full Professor, UNESCO Chair in the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Extremism, Université de Sherbrooke, as an individual
Certainly, having a definition of phenomena can help to deal with them more effectively. This is the case with other phenomena, such as terrorism or radicalization, which are of interest to the UNESCO chair.
When discussing these issues in the political or media sphere, we must face a degree of complexity and difficulty, because there's no consensus on how to define them. This sometimes leads to debate about whether or not we're actually dealing with these phenomena.
Having a clear definition of antifeminism could help to better define the problem and deal with it more effectively. It's a complex issue.
Conservative
Connie Cody Conservative Cambridge, ON
In our study, we are required to come up with some recommendations based on witness testimony. However, without datasets and definitions, how do we measure whether interventions reduce anti-feminist attitudes or create more resistance?
Full Professor, UNESCO Chair in the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Extremism, Université de Sherbrooke, as an individual
The UNESCO chair has set up a project called PREV-IMPACT Canada. I suggest you take a look at it. It has allowed us to show how indicators can be put in place upstream of prevention projects to see how effective they are when deployed.
Although these are prevention initiatives, which are more difficult to measure, there are all kinds of indicators that allow us to see their effect and demonstrate that prevention is effective and extremely important.
Conservative
Connie Cody Conservative Cambridge, ON
I'll move on to a question for Dr. Lorenzetti.
From your perspective, how should fairness be applied when sex-based rights and gender identity rights conflict, particularly in relation to concerns about risk and women's safety in public spaces?
Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary, As an Individual
That issue is in discussion right now. I'm from Alberta. Definitely, I've seen quite a bit. In fact, in my view, some harmful legislation has been put in place, which I find problematic.
The overarching thing I see here is the divisiveness in the politic—the divisiveness in the politic of win-lose instead of having a conversation that looks after everyone and addresses the harms that are being done. I think there are ways of doing that. What's happening is that the polarization we see in our political forums is the polarization we see, say, at a university. It's the same thing, and our young people are accepting that. They're on either one side or another, instead of looking after one another.
There are some wonderful approaches that can be found in community that centre on a holistic approach instead of a win-lose one. I think it's up to us as adults and leaders to help uncover approaches that are not win-lose and that don't leave marginalized communities in particular feeling like nobody cares about them.
Conservative
Connie Cody Conservative Cambridge, ON
As violence towards women is increasing and there's a lot of fear and discomfort, we also have a lot of cultural expectations in our country. How should we ensure that women raising these safety concerns in their private or public spaces are not being mis-characterized or dismissed and that their concerns are actually heard?
Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary, As an Individual
I'm a woman who's concerned about safety as well. I think many of us are. At the same time, if we're talking specifically about trans communities, two-spirit communities and gender nonconforming, there is much more violence against those communities than even women are going through. As to the extent of violence against members of those communities, especially youth, it's quite high. I think that—
Conservative
Connie Cody Conservative Cambridge, ON
I want to redirect us to women's safety in public spaces, because that's where the concerns are being heard.
I get a lot of letters from those in my community. They're very concerned about universal change rooms and the lack of requirements as to who can enter. Situations have been brought to my attention.
When it comes to the conflict between sex-based rights and gender identity rights, which will prevail in that situation?
Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary, As an Individual
I'm not going to give a win-lose answer. What I will say is that it's not members of the trans community who are creating the lack of safety for women. If we look at the data, it's not those communities that are perpetuating violence. That needs to be quite clear.
Conservative
Liberal
Juanita Nathan Liberal Pickering—Brooklin, ON
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you to you both for being here and answering our questions.
My question is for Ms. Carignan.
From a communications perspective, what responsibility should political leaders bear in preventing the spread of narratives that undermine women's rights? Can you talk a bit about political leaders, maybe more so in terms of hate speech and defending it as freedom of speech?
Full Professor, UNESCO Chair in the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Extremism, Université de Sherbrooke, as an individual
Thank you for the question.
Ms. Ménard said earlier that politicians sometimes make somewhat crude comments about women. I believe that one of the roles of politicians is to set an example. Indeed, if we adopt or trivialize violent or hateful speech toward gender minorities, women or ethnic groups, we also trivialize a societal issue. Politicians must use respectful language and must not trivialize violence and aggression.
Politicians must also denounce hateful and violent content because, obviously, they themselves are exposed to it. Several of my colleagues have worked on cyber-bullying against elected officials, an extremely worrying phenomenon. We can see that this type of harassment is also gendered. We must denounce the fact that there is highly gendered content directed at politicians on social media.
This content is also directed at scientists. Unfortunately, I receive comments that are very different from those received by my male colleagues. We must therefore denounce this to make society aware that institutions do not accept this kind of discourse.
Liberal
Juanita Nathan Liberal Pickering—Brooklin, ON
It should be allowed. Okay.
We have political leaders going around speaking with young people. In their speeches, there's more of an anti-DEI type of narrative.
Can you talk a bit about how that would shape a young person's beliefs and, going forward, how this may affect society? We see it a lot in the U.S., and we are getting to see it here more now as well.
Full Professor, UNESCO Chair in the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Extremism, Université de Sherbrooke, as an individual
The narratives adopted by politicians become examples to follow, particularly on social media. In our studies and online monitoring, we see that unapologetic speeches that marginalize certain communities and are adopted by political figures, whether Canadian or from another country, are then taken up by leaders who endorse them. They use political arguments to show that they're right and to spread even more hate speech.
These narratives are really being repeated online. It's very clear in our ecosystem that what is happening in other countries is being replicated here and used as an argument to justify violent and hateful content, and disinformation online.
We really need to be concerned about what's being done elsewhere that has an impact on us.
Liberal
Juanita Nathan Liberal Pickering—Brooklin, ON
I want to speak a bit about criminalizing hate speech. Bill C-9 is going through Parliament right now. It's needed, and that's why the bill is there, but can you talk about it in the context of youth and how they may be negatively affected by this? They are being shaped by listening to all this on social platforms, and I think they are going to be negatively affected, but I want to hear your opinion on that.
Full Professor, UNESCO Chair in the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Extremism, Université de Sherbrooke, as an individual
Earlier, I mentioned a study conducted by Sidaction in France in November. This study shows that young people under the age of 18 are widely exposed to online influencers who adopt antifeminist views. They follow many of them, and they're very clearly affected by these narratives.
Our data also shows that young people are heavy users of digital social networks. In addition, several studies in Canada show that young people follow online influencers and that influencers target young people.
There are therefore communities of influencers that target young people and subject them to cyber-bullying. They can lead them to commit violent crimes, commit violent acts against animals, self-harm or, sometimes, commit suicide. There are movements targeting young people online. One example is the 764 network, which really targets young people. If we don't take action against hateful and violent content online, we're putting our youth at risk. We're seeing an increase in the activities of these groups. There have been arrests recently, particularly in Halifax.
There's definitely content that targets young people. That's why violent and hateful content online is a concern for society as a whole, but especially for young people, who are vulnerable and don't always have the critical thinking skills or resources to know how to respond to threats. These groups have a very good understanding of how to threaten, intimidate and scare young people into taking action and committing acts of violence against themselves or their loved ones.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
Thank you so much.
That concludes our first panel. I want to thank our witnesses for your contributions today. I understand that one of you is testifying at another committee in about five minutes.
I'm going to suspend while we get our second panel ready.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
We're back for our second panel.
Could I get everyone to come back to the table? Thank you so much.
Let's get to our witnesses for the second panel.
We have Dr. Michael Kehler, research chair for masculinities studies in education at the Werklund School of Education of the University of Calgary. Welcome to you, sir.
From the Be the Peace Institute, we also have Sue Bookchin, executive director, by video conference.
This is a reminder to address your remarks through the chair and wait until I call you by name.
Each of you will have five minutes for your opening remarks. I will be ever so helpful. When you have one minute left, you get the yellow card. When you have 30 seconds left, you get the red card, and then I will ever so gently say, “That's your time”.
We'll start with you, Dr. Kehler, for five minutes.
Michael Kehler Research Chair, Masculinities Studies in Education, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, As an Individual
Thank you to the committee for this invitation to provide testimony and respond to anti-feminist ideology.
I'm honoured to speak with you about a topic that has deeply impacted my life and motivated my research, namely the intersection of masculinities and anti-feminist ideology. I speak to you today as a masculinities scholar whose research has spanned 25 years. At the same time, I speak to you as a father, a son and a brother who has experienced first-hand the devastating effect of gender pressures that impact boys and men in our gendered relationships.
My dad died when I was six years old. My mother raised four boys. When I was 18, my older brother was in second year at Queen's University in commerce. He took his life at age 20. My dad took his life too. I've witnessed masculinity and the damaging impact that narrow, restrictive versions of masculinity can have and are having at this critical point as we consider anti-feminist ideology.
My research centres on masculinities, on power and on the gendered interaction of youth, teachers and the curriculum we teach, both in schools and in our faculties of education. In short, my research focuses on boys, men and issues that include but are not limited to homophobia, gender-based violence, allyship, mental health, teacher education and men as change agents. The research I've conducted examines the socio-cultural context within which boys and men “do” boy—the ways boys and men perform and express masculinities not because of their biology but because of their choice.
In 2018, the American Psychological Association updated its guidelines to reflect a growing body of research showing that masculinity is not biologically fixed but socially constructed, meaning boys and men are shaped by the environments and pressures around them. It's not simply boys being boys.
Boys and men navigate and negotiate power arrangements within and among men, determining which forms of masculinity are heralded, valorized and validated and which attitudes and behaviours about being men are discounted, marginalized and ostracized.
Men and boys are compelled to be among “the boys”. They want to be accepted, and men and boys are driven by the fear of being perceived as less than a man. This is about men's insecurities and their inabilities to navigate restrictive versions of masculinity.
Anti-feminist ideology is not new. What is new are the levels at which and the spaces and places in which we increasingly witness anti-feminist views being expressed openly, publicly and indeed with a degree of entitlement not seen in quite some time. There is an upsurge in boys and men whose views, attitudes and beliefs about being men are taking hold and spreading in our classrooms, on playgrounds, in locker rooms, in sports arenas and, yes, on the Internet and in the manosphere.
The recent Netflix show Adolescence offers a snapshot of the intersecting issues we witness when we consider anti-feminist ideology. The manosphere, a series of online spaces that promote and distribute anti-feminist beliefs and attitudes, is yet another digital space where anti-feminist ideology goes unchecked, driven by far right-leaning politics claiming that men and boys need to take back power and assert dominance and control.
We need to disrupt, challenge and interrogate these pressures to endorse, conform to and perform dominant masculinity. In doing so, we also need to acknowledge that men and boys have agency to be unlike the rest of the boys.
The “manfluencers” of the Internet are promoting hate, dominance and violence that suggest men reclaim and reassert dominant narrative masculinity. Far right, anti-feminist messaging that suggests men are being left behind because of women and because of minorities further widens an ideological gap between the sexes and blames women and gender equality as the source of all evil.
What we need to be mindful of in this crucial conversation about anti-feminist ideology is the damaging and damaged ways hate and discrimination are being seeded within and among boys and men. We need to be aware of the power of these attitudes and behaviours among men and boys that attempt to reclaim what appears to be entitled male privilege.
Thank you.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
Thank you very much.
Now we'll go to Ms. Bookchin for five minutes.
Sue Bookchin Executive Director, Be the Peace Institute
Hi, and thank you so very much.
The organization I'm executive director of is a non-profit based in rural Nova Scotia wholly committed to ending gender-based violence and dismantling the systemic and social forces that keep it in place.
I'd like to speak about the convergence of some of the forces that I think are making young people particularly vulnerable in these polarizing times: sexualized violence and exploitation; the availability of online pornography; extremist ideologies that are highly misogynistic and linked inextricably to gender-based violence and mass casualties; and the online sphere as the primary vehicle for these dynamics. A gendered lens is needed because girls and gender-diverse youth are most at risk of harm, and the harm is not exclusively but primarily being committed by males who are being conditioned into a normalization of misogynistic violence.
In its final report, the Mass Casualty Commission in Nova Scotia talked about a strong connection between stereotypical views of masculinity and perceived threats to masculinity, and gender-based violence and mass violence committed by males. Misogyny is a common trait among perpetrators of mass violence, among other causative factors. Anti-feminist and extremist views appear in their writings, manifestos or online activity, and the hallmarks of the incel movement, which people have talked about, include the overt hatred of women and the belief that they don't deserve respect, security or equality. It's founded on male supremacy, and the UN identifies misogyny as a gateway to other forms of extremism.
The manosphere—people have talked about this as well in online spaces—is a vehicle for grooming young men into these ideologies. We hear about an epidemic of loneliness and isolation, particularly for boys, and as gender roles shift toward greater equality and representation of women, boys and young men are searching for their place. This can propel them into online spaces looking for a sense of community and belonging, where they find social media influencers like Andrew Tate and his extreme misogynistic, hypermasculine views; hateful speech; sexual violence and exploitation; and far right ideologies. He has millions of followers, primarily young men and boys. From a recent CSIS news release, it is increasingly true that children and youth are being pulled into violence motivated by extreme ideologies and world views, and this is accelerated by technology and online platforms.
In White Ribbon's recent report “Boys are at Risk”, they found that 75% to 95% of educators and youth professionals have seen radical ideologies expressed by boys and men. They are concerned about harmful online content that is targeting young boys, and they've witnessed misogynistic behaviours in the classroom.
In Nova Scotia, the auditor general put out a report about violence in Nova Scotia schools and found an increase of 60% over the past seven years, which has severe and lasting consequences. It did not have a gender lens as far as I could see, but violence in the form of bullying, cyber-bullying and discriminatory behaviour is influencing a dramatic increase in absenteeism and school avoidance across Canada. Again, this compounds isolation and anxiety, and young people may turn to online spaces and gaming for a sense of community, where the algorithms pull them deeply into these kinds of extremist ideologies.
In the book The Anxious Generation, author Jonathan Haidt talks about how the mental health of adolescents has plunged, primarily through the arrival of phone-based childhoods. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicide have risen sharply in the last decade in this era of smart phones, social media and big tech, which are influencing the social and neurological development of our children.
Online pornography is not being talked about much. It is hijacking children's brains. What used to be called hard core is now normalized. It's inherently misogynistic and shockingly violent toward females, and males and females are learning to accept the normalized misbehaviour. It changes their brains. It wires together sexual activity and violence and grooms young people to be desensitized to sexualized violence. On these sites, predators also lurk. This has been called a public health emergency.
The pornography industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. In a pediatric grand round that was hosted by the IWK hospital, I was horrified at the alarming statistics about child-on-child sexualized violence. The addiction of teens—
December 3rd, 2025 / 5:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
Thank you. I'm sorry, but that's your five minutes. We'll get to the content, I'm sure, in the questions.
Otherwise, if either of you have things you would have liked to say that you didn't get time to say, please feel free to send those bits of information to the clerk.
We'll start our first round of questions with Madame Vien for six minutes.
Conservative
Dominique Vien Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC
I'd like to thank both witnesses very much for being with us.
Mr. Kehler, antifeminism has been around for quite some time.
How is it that antifeminism has gained such momentum over the past 10 or 15 years?
As the Quebec expression goes, “the bread has risen”. This brand of antifeminism has taken shape among boys and young men.
Can this be explained solely by greater access to the Internet and the proliferation of platforms?
Are there other explanations for this phenomenon?
Research Chair, Masculinities Studies in Education, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, As an Individual
I'm waiting for the interpretation.
Am I mistaken? I'm sorry.