A controversial bill proposing that porn sites should have an age verification requirement is coming up for study from the House of Commons amid concerns about its effectiveness in protecting minors and other privacy concerns.
Bill S-210, An Act to restrict young persons’ online access to sexually explicit material, is a Senate bill currently making its way in reverse through the parliamentary process. That means it started in the Senate, passed that chamber in April 2023 and is now in the House of Commons for consideration.
It passed second reading in the House of Commons in December 2023 and is set to be studied by the standing committee of public safety and national security this spring.
It was brought forward by Independent Sen. Julie Miville-Dechêne in 2021.
“This is the bill that I’ve been defending for three years, which is, in essence, modest because what it says is that distributing porn is an infraction when it’s distributed to kids and organizations have to take precautions and have to do age verification,” she told Global News in an interview Tuesday.
“I believe that it’s the wise thing to do now because it can affect generations of children.”
1:44 Family Matters: Parents’ growing concerns surrounding teens and porn
Miville-Dechêne said it’s “inconceivable” that a company like Pornhub “would choose to exit a market instead of doing age verification to protect children.”
Bill S-210 calls for websites offering pornographic content to verify the age of the users before they can access adult content or face fines of up to $250,000 per violation. This is to try to restrict users under the age of 18 years from watching porn.
Websites that do not comply with this proposed legislation could be blocked and face a number of consequences.
Why was Bill S-210 introduced?
The purpose of the bill is to “protect the mental health of young persons” and to protect them from what it describes as the “harmful effects” of exposure to sexually explicit material.
Miville-Dechêne said porn “gives a twisted vision of sexuality to kids” and can have “a negative impact on their development because their mind doesn’t see the difference between reality and performance.”
The bill also wants to deter organizations that make sexually explicit material available on the internet for commercial purposes from allowing young persons to access that material.
Miville-Dechêne said currently there are no age-specific requirements for who can access free porn in Canada, other than a page asking if you are 18 or not.
“For the last 15 years, there has been absolutely no barrier to all the kids who want to go on porn sites and look at whatever there is there,” she said.
“Personally, I find it quite obvious that this material is not aimed at children.
“Porn is an adult entertainment and this has been our society consensus for years and years.”
How will the proposed law work?
Bill S-210 covers only websites and online platforms that offer sexually explicit material, as defined by the Criminal Code. These include sites that specialize in pornographic content.
Websites that offer pornographic and non-pornographic content may also be required to verify the age of their users before they can access the pornographic portions.
However, the age-verification requirement will only apply to the pornographic material, not the sites and platforms themselves.
The bill does not propose any specific methods for age verification.
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What are the concerns against Bill S-210?
Since free pornographic content is easily accessible online and cross-posted on different platforms, the bill’s intended purpose is facing scrutiny and questions.
“I think it’s a foolish move,” said Ann Cavoukian, executive director of the Global Privacy and Security by Design Centre and former Ontario privacy commissioner.
“The ease with which people can gain access to porn sites these days and there’s hundreds, thousands of them — just by preventing one site, by requiring, some kind of age verification, I think is such a mistake,” she said in an interview with Global News.
How exactly the age verification will be done has also raised some privacy concerns.
Creating a digital ID system would be an “outrageous mistake” leaving zero privacy and giving access to a host of third parties, Cavoukian said.
If your personal information gets in the “wrong hands” through the websites failing to protect it or being compromised, that could cause a lot of problems, she added.
1:03 Public safety minister says he reached out to RCMP to offer support in response to Pornhub accusations
Bill S-210 proposes that before authorizing an age verification method, government regulations must consider whether the method is reliable, maintains user privacy and protects user personal information, and collects and uses personal information solely for age verification purposes, except to the extent required by law.
Regulations must also consider whether the method destroys any personal information collected for age verification purposes once the verification is completed.
Cavoukian said that is not a sufficient measure as the data collected can be copied fairly quickly and with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) can be extracted from databases.
“Once you collect this information, then you just consider it going out the door.”
Data encryption is a strong form of protecting personal identification, but it’s not easy to implement.
On top of that, “brilliant hackers” can also break into weaker encryption models, Cavoukian said.
“I think it’s a dead end to consider going down this route.”
Instead, she recommended that porn sites put up statements saying anyone under the age of 18 is not permitted to use the site.
EDMONTON – The legendary k.d. lang got the band back together at the Canadian Country Music Association awards show.
Lang teamed up with the Reclines for the first time in 35 years to belt out “Big Boned Gal” from their last album together in 1989.
Clad in a blue and green western-style dress, lang strut across the stage in Edmonton to embody the “big boned gal from southern Alberta.”
The awards show saw Alberta’s MacKenzie Porter and Ontario’s Josh Ross take home hardware for being best female and male artists of the year.
Ross also won entertainer of the year and single of the year for “Trouble.”
Ontario artist Jade Eagleson won album of the year for “Do It Anyway.”
The James Barker Band from Woodville, Ont., won fans’ choice and group of the year.
During their acceptance speech, frontman Barker hinted at new music and a possible tour in 2025.
Ross says he and his band play roughly 150 shows every year and are never home, but says taking home entertainer of the year made the hard work worth it.
Porter won for female artist of the year and top video for “Chasing Tornadoes.”
The female artist win ends the five-year streak of Tenille Townes being awarded the coveted hardware.
Porter had been nominated seven times previously for the award in the past decade but hadn’t won until now.
The artist from Medicine Hat, Alta., says it takes a lot of hard work and hustle to succeed as a female in the country music industry and gave a shout out to her fellow singers and her newborn daughter.
Joining the two artists in the winners’ circle was Ontario singer-songwriter Owen Riegling, who won for breakthrough artist of the year.
The show began with American artist and co-host Thomas Rhett being dubbed an honorary Canadian by Edmonton Oilers players Corey Perry and Leon Draisaitl.
Rhett donned an Oilers jersey that was gifted to him by the pair.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.
EDMONTON – Ontario country artist Jade Eagleson has won album of the year at the 2024 Canadian Country Music Association Awards in Edmonton.
The singer from Bailieboro, Ont., was up for six awards alongside Alberta’s MacKenzie Porter.
Eagleson took home album of the year for “Do It Anyway” and says he’s thankful to his wife and management team for helping him reach the level he’s at.
The James Barker Band from Woodville, Ont., also won fans’ choice and group of the year at the award show, held in Edmonton.
During their acceptance speech, frontman Barker hinted at new music and a possible tour in 2025.
Another Ontario crooner, Josh Ross, has taken home a trio of awards, receiving entertainer of the year, male artist of the year and single of the year.
He says he and his band play roughly 150 shows every year and are never home, but says taking home entertainer of the year makes the hard work worth it.
Porter took home female artist of the year, ending the five-year streak of Tenille Townes being awarded the coveted hardware.
Porter had been nominated seven times previously for the award in the past decade but hadn’t won until tonight.
The artist from Medicine Hat, Alta., says it takes a lot of hard work and hustle to succeed as a female in the country music industry and gave a shout out to her fellow singers and her newborn daughter.
Joining the two artists in the winners’ circle was Ontario singer-songwriter Owen Riegling, who won for breakthrough artist of the year.
The show began with American artist and co-host Thomas Rhett being dubbed an honorary Canadian by Edmonton Oilers players Corey Perry and Leon Draisaitl.
Rhett donned an Oilers jersey that was gifted to him by the pair.
The return of k.d. lang and the Reclines was expected to be a highlight of the show.
The appearance will mark the first time the Alberta songstress has teamed up with the band in 35 years and is tied to lang’s induction into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.
The awards show is back in Alberta’s capital for the first time since 2014. It was held in Hamilton last year and in Calgary in 2022.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.
VANDERHOOF, B.C. – British Columbia Conservatives are promising changes they say will bring more stability to the province’s struggling forest industry.
Leader John Rustad announced his plan for the sector a week before the official launch of the provincial election campaign, saying a Conservative government would do away with stumpage fees paid when timber is harvested and instead put a tax on the final products that are produced.
Rustad said Saturday that under a provincial Conservative government, a small fee may be charged upfront, but the bulk would come at the end of the process, depending on what type of product is created.
He also promised to review how wildfires are managed, as well as streamline the permit process and review what he calls the province’s “uncompetitive cost structure.”
“British Columbia is by far the highest cost producers of any jurisdiction in North America. We need to be able to drive down those costs, so that our forest sector can actually be able to do the reinvestment, to be able to create the jobs and make sure that they’re still there to be able to support our communities,” he said.
The governing New Democrats meanwhile, say eliminating stumpage fees would inflame the softwood lumber dispute with the United States and hurt forestry workers.
In a statement issued by the NDP, Andrew Mercier, the party’s candidate in Langley-Willowbrook, said Rustad failed to support the industry when he was in government under the former BC Liberals.
“Not only will Rustad’s old thinking and recycled ideas fail to deliver, his proposal to eliminate stumpage would inflame the softwood lumber dispute — punishing forestry workers and communities,” Mercier said, accusing Rustad of ignoring the complexity of the challenges facing the industry.
The softwood lumber dispute between the U.S. and Canada stretches back decades. In August, the U.S. Department of Commerce nearly doubled duties on softwood lumber.
International Trade Minister Mary Ng has said Canada has taken steps to launch two legal challenges under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement.
Rustad said a provincial Conservative government would push hard to get a deal with the United States over the ongoing dispute “whether it’s with the rest of Canada or by itself.”
He said his party’s proposed changes are in the name of bringing “stability” and “hope” to the industry that has seen multiple closures of mills in rural communities over the last several years.
Most recently, Canfor Corp. decided to shutter two northern British Columbia sawmills earlier this month, leaving hundreds of workers unemployed by the end of the year.
According to the United Steelworkers union, Canfor has closed 10 mills in the province since November 2011, including nine in northern B.C.
Jeff Bromley, chair of the United Steelworkers wood council, said Saturday the idea of changes in favour of taxing the final product has been floated in the past.
He said the finer details of the Conservative plan will be important, but that the system needs to be improved and “new ideas are certainly something I’d be willing to entertain.”
“Something needs to happen, or the industry is just going to bleed and wither away and be a shadow of its former self,” Bromley said.
“Politics aside, if (Rustad) can come up with a policy that enables my members to work, then I would be supportive of that. But then I’m supportive of any government that would come up with policies and fibre for our mills to run. Period.”
When Canfor announced its latest closures, Forests Minister Bruce Ralston said the sector was a “foundational part” of the province and the current NDP government would work to support both local jobs and wood manufacturing operations.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024
