Pundits Say Governor General Should Remain Impartial After Hosting Event Linked by Minister to Online Harms Bill

Gov. Gen. Mary Simon delivers a keynote address at the Canadian Bar Association’s Aboriginal Law conference in Ottawa on May 11, 2023. The Canadian Press/Spencer Colby

A symposium on online abuse hosted by Governor General Mary Simon at Rideau Hall last week has been linked by a cabinet minister to the Liberal government’s efforts to champion its Online Harms Act legislation, raising questions from pundits about Ms. Simon’s “impartiality.”

While Rideau Hall drew no parallels between Bill C-63 and its April 11 symposium, Attorney General Arif Virani described the conference on social media as a time to discuss “our Online Harms Act to create a safe experience for everyone.”

“We know online harms have real world consequences,” Mr. Virani wrote in an April 11 post. “With industry experts at the governor general’s symposium we discussed this and our Online Harms Act.”

Mr. Virani and other supporters of Bill C-63 were on the governor general’s guest list but Opposition members and critics of the legislation were not, as first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter.

Better known as the Online Harms Act, Bill C-63 was introduced by the Liberal government in February in a bid to reduce Canadians’ exposure to “harmful content” on the internet. The legislation is currently at second reading in the House of Commons.

Rideau Hall declined to provide names of guests but told The Epoch Times in an email that attendees of the symposium included academics, journalists, government officials, gender equality advocates, mental health practitioners, tech industry representatives, and youth leaders from across the country as well as “independent and non-affiliated” Senators and Liberal, NDP, and Conservative MPs.

“When inviting participants, the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General (OSGG) worked to ensure that a diverse range of individuals and organizations with experience and expertise in dealing with online abuse were represented at the Symposium,” Public Affairs deputy director Lynne Santerre wrote in the email.

Other attendees of the event included journalists Le Devoir columnist Emilie Nicolas and ex-Global News reporter Rachel Gilmore, as well as Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam, LGBT activist Fae Johnstone, and Ottawa school trustee Nili Kaplan-Myrth, according to Blacklock’s.

Carleton University professor Philippe Lagassé, in an opinion piece for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, said Ms. Simons was undermining her “impartiality” by hosting the event.

“As well-intentioned as the governor general’s symposium was, she should never have hosted it in this context, a conclusion that’s reinforced by the Minister of Justice publicly tying the event to Bill C-63,” he wrote.

“As soon as the government tabled the bill, Her Excellency should have understood that the symposium was no longer appropriate and would present a risk to her office’s impartiality.”

Ryan O'Connor, a lawyer at a Toronto-based law firm, said Ms. Simon should step down following her decision to host the event, saying she “put herself in the middle of a parliamentary and public debate on legislation still before Parliament.”

“The governor general must be apolitical and non-partisan. After hosting the Justice Minister and supporters of ‘online abuse’ laws at a publicly-funded event at her official residence, she can never be seen as apolitical and non-partisan again,” he said on platform X.

‘Spotlight’ on Abuse Online

The role of the governor general is to be “non-partisan and apolitical,” according to the constitutional duties listed on the government website. Yet the official X account of the Governor General of Canada could appear to support the government’s legislation.

An April 15 post includes a picture of Ms. Simon with some of the attendees of her online symposium.

“I extend my deepest gratitude to everyone who participated in last week’s symposium. Your stories are a powerful reminder of the urgent need for more conversations on the critical issue of toxic online commentary,” the accompanying tweet reads.

A second April 15 post reads: “Acknowledging the impact of our words is vital. Everyone plays a part in shaping a positive digital world. Let’s treat each other with respect, even when we disagree, and together, we can create a safer online world.”

It is accompanied by the ‘WeDeserveBetter’ hashtag.

The hashtag can also be found on an April 11 video, which was pinned at the top of the governor general’s account as of April 16. The video includes a handful of attendees from the symposium saying “I deserve better” in their native tongue.

Featured in the video were former CTV National News host Lisa LaFlamme, professional tennis player Bianca Andreescu, Kids Help Phone CEO Kathy Hay, the CEO of the YWCA Aline Nizigama, Equal Voice executive director Chi Nguyen, and Peace by Chocolate founder Tareq Hadhad, as well as some online influencers and artists. Ms. Simon was the last person to appear in the video, uttering the words “I deserve better” in both English and French.

The video ended with the message “We all deserve better. join us in taking action against online abuse, because every individual deserves to feel safe and respected online.”

Shining a “spotlight” on online abuse and raising “awareness of its impacts” has been a priority of the Governor General since February 2023, Ms. Santerre said in the email.

“As part of this initiative, the Governor General used her convening power to hold a Symposium at Rideau Hall,” she said. “The symposium provided an opportunity to participants to make connections and collaborate on potential solutions.”

Online Harms Act

Mr. Virani has said the Online Harms Act would bring a new level of security to online communities and increase protection against the often inappropriate content appearing on children’s screens.

“Social media is everywhere,” Mr. Virani told the Commons justice committee March 21. “It brings unchecked dangers and horrific content. This frankly terrifies me. We need to make the internet safe.”

Bill C-63 seeks to establish special protections for children and make online services like Facebook and YouTube “accountable for and transparent about how they are reducing exposure to harmful content.” Compliance is to be monitored by a five-member Digital Safety Commission.

If the bill is passed, a new definition of “hatred” would be added to section 319 of the Criminal Code, which refers to the public incitement of hatred and the wilful promotion of hatred and anti-Semitism. Bill C-63 would also add a new standalone hate crime offence to the Criminal Code that would apply to existing offences.

The new bill would also amend the Canadian Human Rights Act, specifying that posting “hate speech” online counts as discrimination. The government has said this would apply to speech based on detestation or vilification centred on race, religion, sexual orientation, and other grounds.

Maximum punishments for hate propaganda offences in Sections 318 and 319 of the Criminal Code would also be raised to life imprisonment from the current five years. The government has said the maximum penalty would reflect the seriousness of the offence, and emphasized that in all cases courts would have the flexibility to give proportional sentences.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has been critical of the proposed legislation and has urged the government to make several “substantial” amendments. The agency said it has concerns about loss of free speech as well as the vague wording the bill uses to define offences, such as “incitement to genocide” and “offence motivated by hatred.”