Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics - Protection of Privacy and Reputation on Platforms such as Pornhub - April 12, 2021

Tab 1 Minister's Opening Remarks

April 12, 2021

Thank you for the invitation today. I would like to make a few general remarks regarding some of the issues raised in previous sessions of this Committee on this study.

I would like to underline that the Government is committed to the safety and security of our children, including online. Canada’s criminal laws in this area are amongst the most comprehensive in the world.

The Criminal Code prohibits all forms of making, distributing, transmitting, making available, accessing, selling, advertising, exporting, and possessing child pornography – which the Criminal Code broadly defines as material involving the depiction of the sexual exploitation of persons under the age of 18 years.

The Criminal Code also prohibits luring - that is, communicating with a young person using a computer, including online, for the purpose of facilitating the commission of a sexual offence against that young person. It prohibits agreeing to or making arrangements with another person to commit a sexual offence against a child and it prohibits providing sexually explicit material to a young person for the purpose of facilitating the commission of a sexual offence against that young person.

Further, the Criminal Code also prohibits voyeurism and the non-consensual distribution of intimate images, which are both particularly germane to the online world and the discussion we are having today.

Offences of general application may also apply to criminal conduct that takes place online  or that is facilitated by the use of the internet. For example, criminal harassment and human trafficking offences may apply, depending upon the facts of the case.

Courts are also authorized to order the removal of child sexual exploitation material and other criminal content, such as intimate images, voyeuristic material or hate propaganda where it is being made available to the public from a server in Canada.

In addition to the Criminal Code, as Minister of Justice I am also responsible for An Act respecting the mandatory reporting of Internet child pornography by persons who provide an Internet service. While this Act has no short title, practitioners refer to it as the Mandatory Reporting Act.

Under the Mandatory Reporting Act, service providers in Canada have two primary duties: the first is to report to the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, otherwise known as C3P, when the service provider receives child pornography complaints from its subscribers. C3P is the non-governmental organization that runs Cybertip.ca, Canada’s national tipline for online child sexual exploitation.

The second duty for internet service providers is to report to police of jurisdiction when a service provider has reasonable grounds for believing that their Internet service has been used to commit a child pornography offence.

While Canada’s laws are comprehensive, it is my understanding that there has been some concern as to how they are being interpreted and implemented, especially in relation to the troubling media reports about MindGeek and its Pornhub site.

As Minister of Justice, it would not be appropriate for me to comment on any ongoing or potential investigation or prosecution. I would also note that the responsibility for the administration of criminal justice, including the investigation and prosecution, including for child sexual exploitation offences, largely falls to my provincial colleagues and counterparts.

However, as the Prime Minister stated during Question Period on February 3, “cracking down on illegal online content is something we are taking very, very seriously. Whether it is hate speech, terrorism, child exploitation or any other illegal acts…”

In fact, the Government takes these issues so seriously that the Prime Minister has given four Ministers the mandate to address different aspects of online harms. Minister Blair and I are two of these Ministers.

While the Internet has provided many benefits to Canada and the world, it has also provided criminals with a medium that extends their reach and thus their victim base, and a medium that elevates the level of complexity of investigations. One complicating factor is that telecommunications networks and services transcend international borders while the enforcement authority of police, such as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, is generally limited to their domestic jurisdiction.

Further, under international law, court orders are generally enforceable only within the jurisdiction of a state, and with limited exceptions, their enforcement requires the consent of the other state in which they are sought to be enforced.

However, Canada is not alone in facing these issues. That is why Canada continues to work with our international partners to facilitate international cooperation in the investigation and prosecution of these crimes, including through enhanced bilateral cooperation, as well as the negotiation of new international instruments to address these issues.

Although mutual legal assistance treaties are a universally accepted method for seeking and providing international assistance, even in emergency situations, they were not designed for the Internet age, where digital evidence is now a common component of almost all criminal investigations and speed is of the essence in its collection because of its volatility. And this is an area where Canada continues to work with our international partners to address this. For example, we are participating in the current negotiation of a second Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime to enhance international cooperation in relation to transborder access to data.

Thank you very much.

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