Adopt Bill S-210
Petitioners ask the House of Commons to adopt Bill S-210, requiring online age‑verification for commercially distributed sexually explicit material to prevent access by young persons. The government responds that it is examining the bill, agrees children should be protected, and is working with parliamentarians and stakeholders to develop the best solutions.
Why we would sign this petition
- Would require commercial sites to prevent youth access, directly addressing easy online availability of sexually explicit material.
- Relies on progressively sophisticated age‑verification technology that petitioners say can verify age without violating privacy.
- Creates legal responsibility for publishers, incentivizing industry to adopt safeguards and reducing exposure risk.
Why we wouldn’t sign this petition
- Age‑verification systems may still risk privacy breaches or data misuse despite claims of privacy‑preserving methods.
- Enforcement is technically difficult; young people may circumvent checks and offshore or non‑commercial sources would remain accessible.
- Mandating verification could lead to overblocking, harm adult privacy or freedom of access, and raise costly compliance burdens.
The summary and both sets of reasons are AI-generated from the petition and given equal weight. Claims are the petitioners’ own; consult the official record for the full text.
Official petition
Petition to the House of Commons in Parliament Assembled WE, THE UNDERSIGNED RESIDENTS OF CANADA, draw the attention of the House to the following: Whereas sexually explicit material - including demeaning material and material depicting sexual violence - can be easily accessed on the Internet by young persons; Whereas a significant proportion of the sexually explicit material accessed online is made available on the Internet for commercial purposes and is not protected by any effective age-verification method; Whereas the consumption of sexually explicit material by young persons is associated with a range of serious harms, including the development of pornography addiction, the reinforcement of gender stereotypes and the development of attitudes favourable to harassment and violence - including sexual harassment and sexual violence - particularly against women; Whereas Parliament recognizes that the harmful effect of the increasing accessibility of sexually explicit material online for young persons is an important public health and public safety concern; Whereas online age-verification technology is increasingly sophisticated and can now effectively ascertain the age of users without breaching their privacy rights; Whereas anyone making sexually explicit material available on the Internet for commercial purposes has a responsibility to ensure that it is not accessed by young persons; and Whereas online age-verification was the primary recommendation made by stakeholders during a 2017 study by the Standing Committee on Health. THEREFORE your petitioners call upon the House of Commons to adopt Bill S-210, Protecting Young Persons from Exposure to Pornography Act.
Government response
Response by the Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario Signed by The Honourable Evan Solomon The Government is carefully examining Bill S-209 in relation to its proposed objectives, as well as assessing the approaches taken in other jurisdictions. The Government agrees that children should be protected against exposure to pornographic material and wants to ensure the best solution is put forward to keep all Canadians safe online. The Government is committed to working with parliamentarians, stakeholders and Canadians to develop the best possible solutions to protect children online.