Online safety advocates urge Ottawa to fast-track child protection legislation as delays mount

Leading child safety advocates are testifying in Ottawa, urging lawmakers to pass a comprehensive online safety act.

Canada’s leading child safety advocates are pressing Parliament to move quickly on long-promised online protections, warning that every day of delay leaves children vulnerable to exploitation, bullying and emerging forms of digital abuse.

Children First Canada founder and CEO Sara Austin appeared before the House of Commons heritage committee Tuesday.

The Calgary woman is urging lawmakers to table and pass a comprehensive Online Safety Act as the federal government continues studying the effects of social media on children and adolescents.

“We don’t need more studies. We have mountains of evidence from grooming to cyber bullying, sextortion, we could go on and on,” Austin said.

“Children aren’t just harmed by social media, they’re harmed by AI, chatbots, they’re harmed by the technology they’re immersed in from the moment they wake up in the morning till the moment they go to sleep.”

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The committee heard testimony from youth advocates and mental health experts, as well as Carol Todd, founder of the Amanda Todd Legacy Society, highlighting the real-world consequences of online harms.

Other countries move ahead as Canada studies

The push in Ottawa comes as several countries accelerate efforts to regulate digital platforms and protect young users.

Governments in Australia and France have introduced age-based restrictions on social media, while legal action against major technology companies continues to grow in the United States.

Austin said Canada must move beyond studies and adopt stronger protections.

“We’re urging our government to go much further and actually raise the bar when it comes to protecting our children online,” she said.

Children First Canada is calling for legislation that would impose a duty of care on platforms, establish an independent regulator with enforcement powers, require age-appropriate design standards, expand access to data for public-interest research, and include AI systems used by children.

“This Liberal government pledged to introduce an online safety act within its first 100 days and we’re now at the 1,600 day mark and counting,” Austin added.

“Every day that this delay goes on, puts children’s lives on the line.”

Youth voices part of the solution

Austin testified alongside youth advocates who shared their own experiences navigating online spaces — voices she says must be central to any solution.

“It can’t just be adults imposing these heavy handed measures on children,” adding that young people who appeared before the committee made it clear they want to help shape safer digital spaces.

Josephine Maharaj is amongst the youth who testified Tuesday.

The 17-year-old says further protections are needed including limits on certain addictive features and safeguards for AI-enabled abuse.

“We should be able to go online without being manipulated by algorithms designed to keep us scrolling or exposed to content that hurts us. Kids deserve safety by design, and we deserve it now.”

Another advocate, 12-year-old Zachary, said kids shouldn’t have to worry about online threats.

“Adults keep talking about the internet like it’s just ‘screen time.’ For us, it’s where we learn, connect, and where we can also be targeted. We’re not asking for perfection. We’re asking for protection.”

Carol Todd also addressed the committee, sharing her perspective as a parent who lost a child to online harms.

“Too many parents like me have buried our children because systems failed and platforms weren’t held accountable,” Todd told MPs.

“Canada has the evidence. What we need now is action, strong laws, real oversight, and real consequences when companies don’t protect kids.”

Federal government promises swift action

In a statement to CTV News, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture Marc Miller said protecting children online remains a priority.

“We all want our children to be safe as they navigate the digital world, and platforms have an important role to play in meeting that challenge,” Miller said.

“Our government intends to act swiftly to better protect Canadians, especially children, from online harm, and will have more details to share in due course.”

Miller did not elaborate on what further protections would be put in place when asked or provide a timeline for the passing of legislation.

Austin said while government assurances are welcome, families need concrete timelines.

“Legislation is not going to be the silver bullet,” she said.

“We need parental education. We need education for children and youth, and we need to work at a multi pronged solution for children, but we can’t afford further delays.”

Online harms legislation stalled after multiple attempts

The federal government has tried twice before to pass online harms legislation.

The file was first introduced in 2021 before being shifted from heritage to justice following widespread criticism.

A revised Online Harms Act was tabled in 2024, narrowing earlier takedown requirements and adding provisions targeting child sexual exploitation and non-consensual intimate content, including deepfakes.

That bill also required social media companies to explain how they would reduce risks to users and imposed a duty to protect children.

However, controversial Criminal Code and human rights amendments targeting hate were bundled into the same legislation, raising concerns about free expression.

The government later signaled it would separate those provisions, but the bill died on the order paper when a federal election was called.

Justice Minister Sean Fraser has since said the government is taking a fresh look at online harms legislation, with the rapid growth of AI now shaping discussions.

The Liberals pledged to criminalize the distribution of non-consensual sexual deepfakes and introduce new measures targeting online sexploitation and extortion, while giving law enforcement additional tools.

Last fall, Fraser tabled the Protecting Victims Act, proposing sweeping Criminal Code changes aimed at addressing gender-based violence, coercive control and AI-enabled abuse.

The bill would expand existing offences around sharing intimate images without consent to include artificial intelligence–generated deepfakes, criminalize threats to distribute such material, and create new sexual offences tied to that conduct.

It would also increase penalties for several sexual offences, restore mandatory minimum sentences in a constitutionally compliant way and introduce a new offence targeting patterns of coercive or controlling behaviour in intimate relationships.

Legal experts have warned the proposed deepfake provisions may not capture many of the sexualized images that have recently circulated on X, particularly those generated by AI tools that alter photos without depicting full nudity or explicit sexual activity.

Some advocates say that gap highlights the limits of relying solely on criminal law and reinforces the need for a dedicated online regulator to address rapidly evolving forms of digital abuse.

‘David and Goliath’ battle with tech giants

Austin said families are up against powerful technology companies resisting regulation.

“We are in a battle of David and Goliath right now,” she said.

“Children and families are battling a multi billion dollar tech industry that is working tooth and nail to try and prevent legislation.”

She pointed to lawsuits in the United States involving major platforms — including cases involving Canadian families — but said Ottawa cannot wait for court decisions abroad.

“Here in Canada, you know, we can’t simply wait for these lawsuits to play out,” Austin said.

“We need government to step up and regulate.”

Austin also compared online platforms to other areas of children’s lives that already have safety standards.

“In all other aspects of children’s lives, the food they eat, the medicine they take, the playgrounds they play in, the vehicles they ride in, these are all regulated environments,” she said.

“This is not demonized tech. We know that kids live in a digital world. We’re not trying to remove technology from their lives, but it needs to be regulated so that it’s safe environment for them to live in.”