Committee
Consult the user guide
For assistance, please contact us
Consult the user guide
For assistance, please contact us
Add search criteria
Results: 541 - 546 of 546
View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
Thank you very much, Mr. Housefather.
The question interests me greatly. I was very pleased to see that it was one of the points in my mandate letter. I was saying earlier, in my speech, that my last book dealt with the impacts of digital, both positive and negative. I have studied this issue a lot, and what other governments around the world have done to regulate digital platforms.
Some have the idea that we are going to create a new area of law and apply it to digital, whereas what we are looking to do is use the law that we already have and find tools to apply it online.
There are things that we do not tolerate in real life, but that we tolerate on the Web. We do not yet have the means and the tools we need to respond on the Web as we would in real life.
I hope sincerely that the committee will accept your proposal. We look very favourably on being able to take sustenance from your thoughts on the matter. I do not see why we should permit digital platforms to continue keeping illegal content online, such as hate speech, radicalization, incitement to violence, child exploitation or the creation of terrorist propaganda. It is unacceptable and, in Canada, we must give ourselves the tools we need to solve those problems.
View Anthony Housefather Profile
Lib. (QC)
I completely agree with you because, in Canada, there are limits to freedom of expression, and the courts have already established that those provisions in the Criminal Code are justifiable in Canada. Those things may go beyond the freedom of expression according to the Charter and the reasonable limits mentioned in its section 1.
I am very happy with your openness, Mr. Minister. I would like to ask another question.
On a number of committees, we do studies. When we do them, we want them to be independent and we also want them to be considered by the minister responsible when we have measures to propose. Some ministers are very good and some ministers are not so good.
When the committee does studies on online hate and other matters, will you be reasonable and really read what they contain? Will you try to consider the points that the committee has raised?
View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
Let me say two things.
First, it is important to recall what we are trying to do with digital platforms. You talked about the whole matter of freedom of expression. Our courts have very well defined the fact that freedom of expression has reasonable limits in certain cases. What is true for freedom of expression here is just as true on digital platforms. Canada is not going to take over the controls of the Web, not at all, but the reasonable limits that apply in life must also apply on digital platforms. We believe in freedom of expression just as much as we believe in net neutrality.
Second, I can tell you already that the report on the review of the Copyright Act, which the committee submitted in the last parliament, is providing my department and my team with much food for thought.
I solemnly commit before you to give the recommendations that you provide to me all the consideration they deserve, on the regulation of platforms, or on any other subject that may appear important to you.
Kennes Lin
View Kennes Lin Profile
Kennes Lin
2020-02-05 16:45
I would like to thank you for the opportunity to address the Standing Committee on Health regarding Canada's response to the outbreak of the coronavirus. My name is Kennes Lin, and I represent the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice. I am also co-chair of the Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto Chapter. With me is Avvy Go, the clinic director of the Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic.
Since the formation of the Chinese Canadian National Council, or CCNC, exactly 40 years ago, the organization has spoken out against racial discrimination against Chinese in Canada. Among other things, CCNC took the leadership role in the campaign to redress the Chinese head tax and exclusion act, which led to a parliamentary apology for the head tax payers and their families. Building on the legacy of CCNC, the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice was launched in 2019 to educate, engage and advocate for equity and justice for all in Canada. Specifically for the Toronto chapter that I speak for, we are currently an organization of Chinese Canadians in the city of Toronto that promotes equity, social justice, inclusive civic participation and respect for diversity.
CCNC-SJ's mission for equity and justice has been especially important to me in the past week as co-chair of CCNCTO and personally as a Chinese Canadian living in Toronto. Since the announcement of the hospitalization of two individuals with the coronavirus in Toronto, for Chinese Canadians it not only meant the arrival of an outbreak of fear, which all Canadians have, of catching the new virus. This fear was also immediately layered on with the pandemic of fear of being singled out, blamed for, and suspected of transmitting the virus, all for simply being Chinese.
What makes the recent upswing of racism and xenophobia toward members of the Chinese Canadian community especially triggering is that it invokes our collective memory of similar mistreatment and discrimination we faced during the SARS pandemic in 2003: “The SARS epidemic in 2003 had serious health consequences for many in Canada, with 438 suspected cases and 44 deaths. But for Chinese and Southeast Asian communities in Canada, it was compounded by serious social and economic implications.”
Mainstream media constructed a media event out of SARS and fuelled public fear and panic, contributing to the racialization of SARS. When anti-Chinese presumptions circulated, Chinese and Southeast Asians already working in precarious working conditions lost their jobs and were left with no livelihood. When customers stayed away from Chinese businesses and restaurants, this led to an estimated 40% to 80% financial loss in Toronto's Chinatown. When many were assumed to be Chinese, they faced daily incidents of verbal harassment and physical violence.
Today, 17 years on from the SARS pandemic, I witness the unfolding of a similar rerun of anti-Chinese racism with the novel coronavirus outbreak. This past week, my organization received angry phone calls, messages and emails placing blame on the Chinese community for the coronavirus pandemic. This time, however, anti-Chinese racism is fuelled by the powerful and dangerous tool of social media. In the past week, a CTV journalist was fired for posting an Instagram selfie with a Chinese hairdresser wearing a mask, stating in the caption, “Hopefully ALL I got today was a haircut #CoronaOutbreak #Coronavirustoronto”. Still, in the past week, a video post was shared multiple times showing a customer walking into a Chinese restaurant named Wuhan Noodle with a caption reading, “The Wuhan virus has spread to Markham”, a city just north of Toronto with a large Chinese Canadian population. As the World Health Organization has declared the coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency, we can only expect more racist incidents.
I will now turn to Avvy Go to talk about her clinic's involvement during the SARS outbreak and our recommendations for the committee on how to address the rising xenophobia and racism.
View Sonia Sidhu Profile
Lib. (ON)
Thank you.
How can we avoid misinformation spreading on social media?
Theresa Tam
View Theresa Tam Profile
Theresa Tam
2020-01-29 17:22
I think that is the challenge of our day. Our approach is to try to provide consistent, credible information through different channels. That's sort of escalating, of course, as we speak, with the website we have, providing regular technical briefings, and having that 1-800 number. It is quite a challenge. We have to try to improve, very broadly, Canadians' literacy in terms of health and what they can do to protect themselves but also almost their social media literacy. You cannot believe every rumour and everything you see. There are, of course, some elements of the social media environment.... I've been working in the vaccine confidence sphere, where you do have to actively look for misinformation and address it.
I think that's part of the strategy as well. It is of considerable significance. As I have always said, the epidemic of fear could be more difficult to control than the epidemic itself. I think everybody needs to do their part to try to address that.
Results: 541 - 546 of 546 | Page: 37 of 37

|<
<
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
Export As: XML CSV RSS

For more data options, please see Open Data