The current bill is a softer version of the 2019 proposal because the government doesn’t want to be accused of stifling free speech. According to Arif Virani, the awful stuff will still be lawful. But now people will have to think twice before telling me to hang myself.

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on March 4, 2024.

OTTAWA—Gatineau’s first woman mayor stepped down on Feb. 22, joining 800 other municipal politicians in Quebec who’ve quit, citing death threats and a hostile political climate.

In a tearful press conference, France Bélisle said she had thought long and hard on before making the decision to terminate her two-and-a-half-year term.

Bélisle did not specify the nature of the threats that prompted her departure, but social media is currently a hotbed for vicious attacks.

As a woman, she probably got more than her share of misogyny.

She is not alone. The following is a verbatim message I received last week following one of my posts on Twitter regarding the use of toilets by transgendered individuals. “Sheila, you’re a disgusting, old, ugly, dyke-looking, treasonous piece of shit who should be thrown into the sea with Trudeau. Fuck you, Fuck Trudeau & the LGBT+ pride freaks. Rap the sick LGBT flag around your neck, tie it to a tree branch, and do humanity a favor. Can’t wait for Freedom/Justice Convoy.”

The federal government finally stepped in last week to introduce legislation governing online harms. Justice Minister Arif Virani specifically targeted three obligations, including “a duty to protect children, a duty to act responsibly and the duty to remove the most egregious content.”

Virani was surrounded by supporters of the proposed legislation, including mothers of teenagers on both coasts whose daughters were bullied online to the point where they committed suicide.

The proposed legislation is far narrower than an earlier version tabled in 2019.

The original bill died when the election was called.

The updated version includes the creation of a digital safety commission, a five-person panel with the power to enforce the rules. The commission would also provide a venue for investigation of complaints about online violations targeted at bullying children and/or posting private images without consent.

Carol Todd, the mother of Amanda Todd, a British Columbia teenager who committed suicide because of online threats, said the legislation was a long time coming.

She was joined at the press conference by the mother of Nova Scotia teen Rehtaeh Parsons. According to Leah Parsons, her daughter was driven to her death after being gang-raped and having the images posted online.

The proposed law requires social media platforms to have mechanisms in place to remove two kinds of offensive material: that which sexually victimizes children, and the posting of intimate images without consent.

Platforms have 24 hours to remove offending posts or face financial punishments. Fines are to be linked to the size and profitability of the platforms.

Virani insists the legislation would not affect free speech on the internet, however awful it might be. So social media attacks on politicians like the former mayor of Gatineau will not likely be stopped.

However, the newly-created commission will have the power to oversee the legislation, which will also mean that hate speech on the internet will be facing legal scrutiny and review.

The former Facebook data scientist who went public on its refusal to delete nefarious content endangering children lauded the proposed legislation.

Interviewed on CTV, Frances Haugen said it was among the best pieces of legislation on the matter she has seen.

But that didn’t stop Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre from opposing the legislation before he had even read it.

Poilievre immediately labelled it “Justin Trudeau’s latest attack on free speech,” and characterized the legislation as “woke authoritarian agenda.”

Social media opponents moved quickly online to post pictures of the Liberal Party covered in a Nazi flag, claiming the legislation is a first step toward a takeover of the whole country.

Poilievre attacked the prime minister personally, saying because Trudeau partied in “blackface” he had no right to speak on the issue of hate speech.

He vowed to kill the bill before it was introduced, but was silent following Virani’s press conference.

Poilievre himself has spoken out in support of a Senate bill that would require online age verification to access pornography, so he obviously sees some benefit in protecting minors on the internet.

It is impossible to see how his party would benefit from opposing this bill, but apparently his hatred of the prime minister appears to be more politically motivating than hate speech on the internet.

The current bill is a softer version of the 2019 proposal precisely because the government does not want to fall prey to accusations of stifling free speech.

According to Virani, the awful stuff will still be lawful.

But now people will have to think twice before telling me to hang myself.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.

When Jean Chrétien had a physical kerfuffle with a protester, the first official Flag Day certainly made history. 

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on February 13, 2023.

OTTAWA—Canada’s national Flag Day will once again take place on Feb. 15.

But none will likely be as wild as the very first one.

That was the day when Canada’s prime minister made international headlines by taking down a protester with his bare hands.

The incident became famously known as the “Shawinigan Handshake.”

To this day, it is still infamous. In the birthplace of prime minister Jean Chrétien—Shawinigan, Que.—a local brewery makes a beer named after the takedown.

Apparently, it is a hot seller for tourists coming to visit.

Who would have thought the incident would be so famous?

The day it happened, a blustery cold one back in February 1996, the political temperature was quite different.

The government was just coming out of a referendum where the country teetered on the edge of dissolution.

The prime minister had deliberately played a low profile in the referendum because Quebec organizers for the side that supported a Non separation vote asked him to stay away.

His political instincts said otherwise but he heeded the advice until, within two weeks of the vote, internal polling numbers showed the Yes vote was positioned to win.

The national Liberal caucus swung into high gear and, ignoring pleas from Non organizers, Members of Parliament from across the country gathered in Montreal for the famous rally in Canada Square.

That event, and the prime minister’s speech in Verdun, Que., turned the tide, but the country was still in a state of shock.

With such a razor-thin victory, the prime minister decided it was about time someone stood up for Canada.

I was appointed Canada’s heritage minister on Jan. 26 with a mandate to announce a dramatic measure for Canada’s first official Flag Day on Feb. 15.

Thus was born the million-flag giveaway by the Canadian government. Free flags were distributed to anyone who wanted to fly one at their home.

On a percentage basis, the majority of flags actually went into Quebec.

For too many years, the government had taken the existence of Canada for granted, and it was generally considered gauche to fly a flag in front of your house.

The flag program enraged the separatists and caused a fair bit of anxiety within the bureaucracy at Canadian Heritage.

As part of a program review, the department had just suffered a 25 per cent cut in budgets across the board, so many were miffed that we would spend millions on what they considered a frivolous giveaway.

The designation of flag day was equally hasty.

For some reason, the location chosen to hoist the first national flag was on Quebec soil, and the event was to happen at Gatineau’s Jacques Cartier Park.

I had literally been in the job for less than three weeks, and for the departmental chief of protocol, the first Flag Day was her first day on the job.

In preparation, we gathered in a small onsite meeting room about an hour before the event to discuss the program.

At the time, there was a large number of men already gathered at the venue.

I had an uneasy feeling about their presence, and asked the departmental official if the security was well in place. She replied in the affirmative and said it was being handled by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Meanwhile, we had children from Grades 1 and 2 in the local school gathered to wave little paper flags in honour of the event.

When the prime minister arrived, he jumped out of his chauffeur-driven limousine sporting a pair of back sunglasses. I ran up to him, planning to suggest he take the glasses off, but he was moving so fast I could not catch up in my high heels.

When we both landed on stage, I introduced him, but as soon as he started to speak, air horns went off from all the men in the audience intent on drowning out his message.

Chrétien jumped off the stage and ploughed through a crowd of protesters. One of them shoved his airhorn into Chrétien’s neck. The prime minister thought it was a gun, grabbed the protester by the throat and took him down.

That image flashed around the world. His worried spouse, Aline, called him after the event, suggesting he should tender his resignation because of the incident.

His communications director Peter Donolo was closely monitoring the fallout. The next day Donolo was happy to report that the leader had jumped 10 points in the polls.

No resignation required. But the first official Flag Day certainly made history.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.