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Results: 1 - 15 of 58
View Arnold Viersen Profile
CPC (AB)
View Arnold Viersen Profile
2021-06-22 10:36 [p.8940]
Madam Speaker, the next petition I have to present is from Canadians across the country who are concerned about the impacts of violent and degrading sexually explicit material online and the impacts on public health, especially on the well-being of women and girls. They recognize that we cannot say we believe in preventing in sexual violence toward women while allowing pornography companies to freely expose children to violent, sexually explicit imagery every day. As such, they are calling on the Government of Canada to adopt meaningful age verification on all adult websites.
View Arnold Viersen Profile
CPC (AB)
View Arnold Viersen Profile
2021-06-18 12:39 [p.8782]
Mr. Speaker, the first petition I have to present today comes from Canadians across the country, who were very concerned about allegations that came out in a New York Times article, entitled “The Children of Pornhub”. One story reported that a 15-year-old girl, who had been missing for over a year, had been found when 58 videos of her rape and sexual assault were discovered on Pornhub.
The petitioners note that Pornhub has no reliable system to verify that the people in the videos are not being trafficked or are minors who are being sexually exploited; that over 100 survivors and 500 NGOs have written a letter calling for a “criminal investigation” into MindGeek; and that the justice committee heard shocking testimony from Pornhub executives.
The petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to investigate and prosecute companies in Canada that host content featuring sex trafficking and child sexual abuse to the fullest extent of the law. They also call for a review of the legislative and regulatory framework to ensure that Canada's laws fully prohibit online, sexually explicit content featuring minors, torture, violence, cruelty and coercion.
Finally, they ask for the introduction of legislation that would require companies to possess reliable systems to verify that people in sexually explicit images are of age and are not being trafficked.
View Chris Warkentin Profile
CPC (AB)
Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present today, in both official languages, the third report of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, in relation to its study on the protection of privacy and reputation on platforms such as Pornhub.
I would like to thank the analysts and the clerk for their diligence and support to our committee during this horrific testimony and challenging report.
Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to this report.
View Arnold Viersen Profile
CPC (AB)
View Arnold Viersen Profile
2021-06-10 18:34 [p.8259]
Mr. Speaker, two weeks ago, I asked the Minister of Canadian Heritage what he was doing to prevent child sexual abuse material, CSAM, and videos of rape and sex trafficking from being uploaded and distributed on the Internet. I also asked the same question of the minister at the ethics committee just this week. The minister's response was that he would be tabling, someday, an online harms bill that would include a 24-hour takedown requirement of the exploitation images. He also claimed that the government did not have a magic wand to prevent exploitation from being uploaded.
I do not think the minister quite understands the gravity of this situation. I was surprised that after months of hearing from survivors like Victoria Galy, who shared their horrific experiences of online exploitation, the minister still had not seen any of the testimony. Many of them talked about how CSAM and non-consensual videos of them were put up and overnight there were millions of views and they had been downloaded thousands of times, creating an endless nightmare for these victims. They call for the companies to be required to verify age and consent of every individual depicted in the videos before they are uploaded. Preventing this exploitive content from ever reaching the Internet must be a priority for the government.
On Monday, in response to an Order Paper question that I submitted, the RCMP revealed that CSAM reported from Canadian entities to the National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre had increased from just over 2,000 reports in 2015 to over 66,000 in 2020, which is a 2,700% increase in just five years. Reports from outside of Canada are also increasing drastically, to over 35,000 in 2019, for a total of 100,000 reports to the RCMP in 2019. To be clear, these are just reports of child sexual abuse and do not include videos of rape or non-consent.
I want to highlight the report released just yesterday from the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, or CCCP. It reveals the urgent need for concrete action from the Canadian government to prevent videos of exploitation from ever reaching the Internet. I also want to commend CCCP for its incredible work through Project Arachnid, which is the global leader in the fight to scour the Internet for CSAM and help victims get their abuse removed from the Internet. There are a few key findings from the project's analysis of over 5.4 million verified CSAM issues.
First, 48% of the content triggered for removal notification to an electronic service provider had been previously flagged, and some ESPs had image recidivism rates of over 80%. Clearly, a 24-hour takedown provision would only provide temporary respite for the many victims.
Second, young victims are being left behind. It is much more difficult for them to remove their images, and it appears that teenagers are unable to get their images removed.
Third, contrary to the assumption, most CSAM is not on the dark web. The vast majority of it is on the clear web, on platforms offered by MindGeek. That is why CCCP makes a clear number of recommendations focusing on the tech industry to prevent CSAM and exploitive content from being uploaded in the first place, such as impose a duty of care that is proportionate to a level of harm, generate proactive content detection for platforms with user-generated content and require platforms to establish age and consent before pornographic material is uploaded.
I know the minister will want to talk about the 24-hour takedown and the funding for education, but this will not prevent the videos of CSAM and rape from being uploaded in the first place. Where is the plan to prevent the upload of this content in the first place?
View Arif Virani Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Arif Virani Profile
2021-06-10 18:38 [p.8259]
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member opposite for his commitment to this issue and for contributing to this important discussion.
I am happy to speak to private member's bill, Bill C-302, the stopping Internet sexual exploitation act, which was introduced by the member for Peace River—Westlock.
Bill C-302 proposes to amend the Criminal Code to create two new summary conviction offences that will criminalize making, distributing or advertising pornographic material for commercial purposes without first ascertaining that each person whose image is depicted in the material is 18 years of age or older and has given their written consent to their image being depicted. The bill would further authorize the court to make an order preventing an offender from using the Internet or other digital network, requiring the offender to ensure that the pornographic material at issue would no longer be stored on or made available through the offender's computer system and requiring the offender to remove the material at issue from the Internet or other digital network.
As its short title suggests, Bill C‑302 seeks to stop Internet sexual exploitation.
I know that we all agree that the Criminal Code must effectively criminalize all forms of sexual exploitation, especially when the offence involves producing sexualized images of children and distributing them on the Internet.
I am reassured to know that the Criminal Code already fully criminalizes such conduct through its provisions on child pornography, which define these terms rather broadly in order to include all forms of child sexual exploitation material.
Specifically, in the code, section 163.1 already prohibits making, distributing and advertising child pornography and prevents the accused from advancing a defence of honest but mistaken belief that the victim was 18 years or older, unless they can point to some evidence indicating that they took reasonable steps to ascertain that the person depicted in the material is 18 years of age or older.
Such offences are punishable by significant penalties, in fact penalties that are in excess of those proposed in the private member's bill, Bill C-302.
Also, section 162.1 of the code already prohibits the non-consensual distribution of images and authorizes courts to impose prohibition orders and warrants of seizure under sections 162.2 and 164 to stop the dissemination of child pornography and non-consensual intimate images, including on the Internet.
Again, I thank the member opposite for his commitment to this issue. I appreciate that he was indicating that regulating the Internet and spaces online is important, as are takedown provisions, but what I am speaking about today is actually the Criminal Code provisions as they currently exist.
We do look forward to, however, examining Bill C-302's proposed reforms in the context of the existing criminal law framework to examine its potential impact on an already robust existing legal regime.
View Arnold Viersen Profile
CPC (AB)
View Arnold Viersen Profile
2021-06-10 18:41 [p.8260]
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice for his presentation on Bill C-302. He has a robust understanding of it.
The one issue that I am addressing tonight is around the 24-hour takedown for CSAM. That is the frustration, and I am hoping that Bill C-302 will be the counter to that. I think a 24-hour takedown is important, but we need to prevent these images from showing up in the first place.
The bill would establish the requirement for companies to maintain records. It is basically a record keeping, and people would be found guilty if they were not keeping those records. It reverses the burden of proof from the police force, from having to prove that the person is underage. It reverses that onus and places that onus on the host or the creator of that content to have to prove that they have a document that shows that the individuals depicted in the videos are of age and have given their consent.
Offering a 24-hour takedown is like handing out a fire extinguisher to a neighbourhood that has a bunch of arsonists running freely around.
View Arif Virani Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Arif Virani Profile
2021-06-10 18:42 [p.8260]
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the objectives that the member opposite is pursuing in his reference to the takedown component, as well as Bill C-302.
Again, we agree that the objective is laudable, specifically in the digital age when we have seen a proliferation of sexually exploitative conduct effected through the Internet. We know that sexual exploitation, particularly when it implicates children, can destroy lives. It is precisely why the code's existing child pornography provisions prohibit a broad range of conduct, including the making, distributing and advertising of child sexual abuse material, and courts can order the removal of such material from the Internet.
I look forward to further debate in the House and conversations with the member to help achieve the very important objective that he is targeting.
View Arnold Viersen Profile
CPC (AB)
View Arnold Viersen Profile
2021-05-31 15:28 [p.7631]
Mr. Speaker, the second petition I have the honour to present today is from constituents across Canada.
The petitioners are concerned about the accessibility and impacts of violent and degrading sexually explicit material online and the impacts on public health, especially on the well-being of women and girls. They recognize that we cannot say we believe in preventing sexual violence toward women, while allowing pornography companies to freely expose our children to violent explicit material every day. This is a form of child abuse. As such, they note the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child requires Canada to develop the means to protect children from forms of media that are injurious to their well-being.
The petitioners therefore call on the House of Commons to require meaningful age verification on all adult websites.
View Arnold Viersen Profile
CPC (AB)
View Arnold Viersen Profile
2021-05-28 12:01 [p.7562]
Madam Speaker, for years, companies such as MindGeek have published videos of sex trafficking, child exploitation and sexual assault. Removing these videos after 24 hours, as the government is proposing, is not good enough. Within that time, a video could be viewed and downloaded millions of times, creating an endless nightmare for victims.
Yesterday, I introduced the SISE act, which would require pornographic platforms to verify the age and consent of every individual in a video before it is published. Does the government support this approach of putting the burden of responsibility on companies, instead of on victims?
View Arif Virani Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Arif Virani Profile
2021-05-28 12:01 [p.7562]
Madam Speaker, we take the issue of exploitation and trafficking extremely seriously, and we have worked diligently to address this through provisions that currently exist in the Criminal Code and through funding investments included in our most recent budget.
That funding would assist in the prosecution of those who exploit people, including through trafficking. We are dedicated to promoting that funding so we can ensure people are kept safe, particularly children who are being sexually exploited.
View Arnold Viersen Profile
CPC (AB)
View Arnold Viersen Profile
2021-05-27 10:54 [p.7463]
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-302, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (pornographic material).
He said: Mr. Speaker, on December 4, 2020, a New York Time's article by Nicholas Kristof, entitled “The Children of Pornhub”, shook the world.
This bill hopes to address that issue by requiring that the age and consent of the individuals depicted in videos be verified before these videos are put up. At the ethics committee, we heard from Serena Fleites, a 14-year-old girl who had her image shared on Pornhub. She has spent years trying to get that image taken down.
This bill, the stop Internet sexual exploitation bill, the SISE act as I call it, would hope to address that by introducing two pieces to the Criminal Code: first, that the creation of pornographic material for a commercial purpose be required to prove that the age and the consent of the individuals depicted in it would be verified; second, that the distribution of pornographic material for commercial purposes would have the age and consent verified; and, if the consent had been revoked, it would no longer be shared.
We hope the situation faced by Serena Fleites will never again happen in Canada. As we see, some of these platforms are based in Canada.
It is my privilege to introduce the SISE act today.
View Charlie Angus Profile
NDP (ON)
View Charlie Angus Profile
2021-05-06 15:04 [p.6805]
Mr. Speaker, Chuck Rifici, the former CFO of the Liberal Party of Canada, made a fortune when the Attorney General changed the pot laws. Now it is rumoured that Rifici is going to buy the troubled porn empire MindGeek/Pornhub. It is a company at the centre of international allegations of hosting child abuse and non-consensual sexual assault videos, yet the Attorney General has given it a complete free pass on its mandatory reporting obligations.
Why is the government ignoring its obligation to make these sites safe for survivors, rather than just a safe investment for its powerful Liberal cronies?
View Arif Virani Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Arif Virani Profile
2021-05-06 15:05 [p.6805]
Mr. Speaker, we have taken significant steps with respect to the issue of exploitation of a sexual nature online. With respect to Pornhub, we have strong and comprehensive laws in place to ensure that those who exploit children face punishment to the fullest extent of the law. While the overwhelming majority of prosecutions of child pornography are conducted by the provinces, we know that in 2017-18, 3,380 charges were laid for child pornography offences, resulting in 674 prosecutions.
View Arnold Viersen Profile
CPC (AB)
View Arnold Viersen Profile
2021-04-20 10:13 [p.5826]
Mr. Speaker, the next petition I am presenting today is from petitioners across Canada who are calling on the government to recognize sexual explicit material online is many times depicting sexual violence and could be easily accessed by young people. The consumption of sexually explicit material by young persons is associated with a wide range of harms, including pornography addiction, the reinforcing of gender stereotypes, and the development of attitudes favourable to harassment and violence, including sexual harassment and sexual violence particularly against women.
Petitioners are calling on the government to recognize the harmful impacts of the increasing accessibility of sexually explicit material online for young persons. They are calling on the quick passage of Bill S-203 in the other place and for the government to recognize it. They are calling for the government to rapidly pass this bill.
View Charlie Angus Profile
NDP (ON)
View Charlie Angus Profile
2021-04-13 11:59 [p.5488]
Madam Speaker, I share my colleague's point that we should have a justice system that reflects Canadian values.
In 2011, legislation was brought in about mandatory reporting of child pornography online, yet yesterday, we learned that the Attorney General had no intention of applying those laws in Canada. The Liberal government believes in voluntary compliance. It comes down to the issue of Pornhub, MindGeek, which is in the city of the Attorney General, yet he does not know if it is a Canadian company.
A massive court case is going on in California right now for survivors of rape and non-consensual sexual assault because of Pornhub. When we look at the filings in the court, they identify that Pornhub, MindGeek is based in Montreal, just down the road from the Attorney General.
I hear the Liberals talking about Canadian values, but they are not willing to stand up for the survivors, telling them to go find it someplace else, that they are on their own. That is not acceptable in our country.
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