Electronic Petitions
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The e-petitions system, introduced in 2015, is a direct continuation of the ancient right of petitioning Parliament. E-petitions are governed by the same principles as paper petitions. However, the digital nature of these petitions has necessitated the adoption of a series of distinct rules, which are presented below.
Submitting an E-petition
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Prior to submitting an e-petition, a petitioner must first create an account on the House of Commons website. A petition form must then be filled in (see Figure 22.4, “Form of an E-petition”).
The Standing Orders require that the petition must not exceed 250 words and must not contain uniform resource locators (URLs), or other links or web-based references. The petitioner must also provide the name and email address of at least five individuals who are Canadian citizens or residents of Canada whose support is required to continue the process. Lastly, petitioners choose the period during which their e-petition will remain open for signature (30, 60, 90 or 120 days). The open period cannot be changed once the e-petition has been submitted.
Authorization by a Member
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For an e-petition to be published on the House of Commons petitions website, a member of Parliament must authorize its online publication. By agreeing to authorize its online publication, the member does not necessarily endorse the views or information contained in the petition. As with paper petitions, the role of a member is to act as an intermediary between signatories and Parliament.
The member asked to authorize the online publication of the petition has the option of agreeing to do so or not. If the member declines or does not respond within 30 days, the petitioner is notified and given the opportunity to ask a second member to fulfill this role. This process can be repeated up to and until a fifth member declines to authorize the online publication or does not respond within 30 days, which puts an end to the process. There is no limit to the number of e-petitions that a member can authorize for online publication. Once its online publication is authorized, the petition is automatically sent to the clerk of petitions for examination.
If the member who authorized the online publication of an e-petition ceases to be a member prior to the petition being published on the website, the petitioner must select another member. If the member who authorized the online publication ceases to be a member once the petition has been opened for signature, the petitioner has the option to find another member. Should the petition be certified, House Administration staff will contact the petitioner so that they may select another member to whom the certificate can be given for presentation to the House. A petition can always be presented to the House by another member. Once the online publication of a petition has been authorized, this authorization cannot be revoked.
Publication and Signing Period
22.19
The clerk of petitions is responsible for examining all draft e-petitions against the guidelines, standards and rules applied to paper petitions, insofar as they apply. In addition, an e-petition must not be substantially the same as one already published and open for signature on the House of Commons website. A petition is considered substantially the same as another if the grievances expressed and the actions requested are essentially the same.
Furthermore, a petitioner cannot have more than one petition open for signature at the same time. If need be, any additional petition will be set aside until the signing period for the petition already online has closed.
Once certified, the e-petition is published in English and in French. The petition remains open for signature for the period determined when it was submitted.
Any individual wishing to sign an e-petition must provide their contact information, confirm that they are a resident of Canada or a Canadian citizen (whether domiciled in Canada or living abroad), and confirm through self-declaration that they meet the terms of use (for example, that they have not previously signed the same e-petition). None of this information is made public, not even to the member who authorized the petition’s online publication. Signatories then receive a verification email asking them to confirm their signature. In addition, as with paper petitions, if a signature is not authentic or not permissible, it may be disallowed. IP addresses associated with the Parliament of Canada or the Government of Canada cannot be used to create an account or to create, support or sign an e-petition.
Following the expiration of the deadline determined when the petition was submitted, certification is granted to an e-petition only if it has received a minimum of 500 valid signatures. A certificate is then sent to the member who authorized the petition’s online publication for presentation to the House of Commons. The certificate is accompanied by the text of the petition and the number of valid signatures collected, but not the signatures themselves. The process for presentation to the House is the same as for paper petitions.
Footnotes
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The first e-petition was presented in the House on April 11, 2016 (Journals, p. 304, Debates, p. 2002).
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These rules are established by the 33rd Report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, presented to the House on February 26, 2015 (Journals, p. 2188), and concurred in on March 11, 2015 (Journals, p. 2216). Some rules were amended by the 75th Report of the committee, presented to the House on November 8, 2018 (Journals, p. 4268), and concurred in on November 29, 2018 (Journals, p. 4375).
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Standing Order 36(2.1)(c). In practice, only the words contained in the grievance and the prayer are counted. Additionally, the 250-word limit only applies to the official language in which the petition is submitted, and not to its translated version.
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38
33rd Report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, p. 9, presented to the House on February 26, 2015 (Journals, p. 2188), and concurred in on March 11, 2015 (Journals, p. 2216).
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39
See, for example, petition e-1589, initially authorized by Kennedy Stewart (Burnaby South) but presented to the House by Randall Garrison (Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke) (Debates, December 10, 2018, p. 24624).
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40
33rd Report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, p. 9, presented to the House on February 26, 2015 (Journals, p. 2188), and concurred in on March 11, 2015 (Journals, p. 2216).
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33rd Report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, p. 10, presented to the House on February 26, 2015 (Journals, p. 2188), and concurred in on March 11, 2015 (Journals, p. 2216).
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