Pam Damoff

[Situation in Lebanon and Israel, October 1st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I will begin by thanking the New Democratic Party for bringing this topic forward for the emergency debate this evening.

There must be no war in Lebanon, full stop. This most recent outbreak of conflict is part of a long-standing cycle of violence in the Middle East. History has taught us that civilians always bear the heaviest price of senseless violence. The continued attacks on Israel by Hamas, a terrorist organization, are unacceptable. Hezbollah, another terrorist organization, has been launching rockets at Israel for nearly a year. Moreover, today's attack on Israel by Iran, a state sponsor of terror, is devastating.

We have reports of hundreds of long-range ballistic missiles from Iran, some of which have hit Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. We unequivocally condemn this unprecedented escalation, which has forced millions of Israelis to take shelter. We reaffirm Israel's right to defend itself. These attacks only serve to destabilize the region further. Canada will continue to do everything in its power to hold Iran accountable for its role in funding terrorist organizations. We urge all parties involved to respect international humanitarian law, protect civilians and humanitarian workers, and avoid any actions that could ignite a regional war.

We are gravely concerned for civilians in Lebanon, including thousands of Canadians. The safety and security of our citizens at home and abroad is our top priority. Thus far, we have been devastated by the deaths of two Canadians, Hussein and Daad Tabaja, who were killed by an IDF air strike while fleeing Beirut. All they sought was to live in security, peace and dignity. The Minister of Foreign Affairs has spoken to the sons of Hussein and Daad. While extending her deepest condolences on the passing of their parents, the minister also made clear that she would do all in her power to ensure that Canadians in Lebanon are kept safe. The potential for wider conflict across the Middle East has not been more imminent for decades. The costs of inaction are far too great.

I will be sharing my time with the member for Mississauga—Erin Mills.

We owe it to the people of Lebanon, Israel and the region to make tangible progress towards peace and stability. Canada is exploring every possible avenue to ensure a diplomatic solution to the crisis between Hezbollah and Israel. Immediate action to stop the violence is urgently needed.

Canada is committed to continuing its work with the international community to help advance peace in the region. Alongside our allies, we have endorsed a diplomatic settlement and call for an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israeli border to provide space for diplomacy. We are also pushing for full compliance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which calls for the cessation of all hostilities in Lebanon.

The Prime Minister has engaged leaders from across the region in search of a diplomatic resolution to the conflict. In the past days alone, the Prime Minister has had the opportunity to discuss the situation between Hezbollah and Israel with the Prime Minister of Lebanon and the King of Jordan.

Last week, the Minister of Foreign Affairs was in New York to attend the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly. While there, she called on all parties, including the governments of Israel and Lebanon, to endorse the temporary ceasefire immediately. In the past days, the foreign minister has also met with the Prime Minister of Lebanon, the foreign minister of Lebanon, G7 foreign ministers and Arab foreign ministers; she has also been in contact with the Israeli foreign minister. The message is consistent and clear: We must see a de-escalation of tensions at the border between Lebanon and Israel.

In response to the worsening conditions in Lebanon, Canada is stepping up its humanitarian efforts. On Saturday, the government announced an additional $10 million in humanitarian assistance to address the urgent needs of civilians affected by the conflict. This funding will provide food, water, emergency health care, protection services and other life-saving aid to the more than one million people believed to be newly displaced. This contribution is in addition to the $10 million already allocated by the United Nations central emergency response fund, bringing Canada's total humanitarian assistance for Lebanon in 2024 to $37 million.

Since October 2023, we have been advising Canadians in Lebanon to leave. As the security situation along the border between Israel and Lebanon has been deteriorating, we have been clear with Canadians that now is not the time to travel to Lebanon. The Beirut international airport remains open to commercial flights.

We have already helped secure the departure of hundreds of Canadians through commercial means. Today, we announced that we will increase the capacity for commercial flights out of Lebanon by securing an additional 800 seats for Canadians, permanent residents and their immediate family over the course of the next three days. There is a flight scheduled to depart today.

It is critical that Canadians in Lebanon leave now. If they have not registered with the registration of Canadians abroad, or ROCA, they should do so now. Canadian consular officials and embassy staff will use this system to communicate and transmit instructions to those in danger. If they are offered a seat on a commercial flight by ROCA, they should take it as soon as possible. Canadians looking to leave Lebanon should also make sure that their travel documents and those of their spouse and dependent children are up to date and secure.

We will continue to work with industry, international partners and like-minded countries to coordinate contingency planning efforts to respond, should the situation deteriorate further. In the past months, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has visited the region several times to secure agreements with like-minded countries for use in the event that a large-scale evacuation of Canadians in Lebanon is necessary. We have also increased our diplomatic, consular and security capabilities in the region, such that we can respond more quickly and effectively as the situation continues to worsen.

We will exercise every tool at our disposal to ensure that Canadians, permanent residents and their immediate families in Lebanon are safe. We call on all parties to accept the temporary ceasefire.

Should any members of the House require support in providing consular services to their constituents, they should encourage them to reach out to the emergency watch and response centre. Furthermore, they should not hesitate to contact me or Global Affairs Canada.

The situation in the Middle East is an unspeakable tragedy. Civilians in Lebanon and Israel, as well as across the region, must be protected and cannot bear the cost of this conflict.

Canada is committed not only to ensuring the safety and security of its citizens but also to reaching a diplomatic settlement in this conflict. Canada has joined allies in calling for an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israel border. All parties, including the governments of Israel and Lebanon, must endorse the temporary ceasefire immediately. Of course, at the same time, we continue to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Canada is committed to the pursuit of peace. We will continue to work with our international partners to advance stability in the Middle East, and we will do everything in our power to protect civilians, hold bad actors to account and push for a peaceful resolution to this conflict.

Now is the time to give a real chance for diplomacy and for peace.

[Foreign Affairs, September 23rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, Canada is following closely the situation between Israel and Lebanon, both because of the danger of escalation in the region and because of the high number of Canadians in Lebanon. As we have said since October, Canadians should avoid all travel to Lebanon, and Canadians in Lebanon should book a commercial flight to leave the country. No country or nation stands to gain from any further escalation.

[Online Harms Act, September 23rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I heard testimony from the families of both Amanda Todd and Rehtaeh Parsons when I was on the status of women committee. Those young women continue to be victimized online because their images continue to circulate. It was many years ago that these young women were horrifically victimized online, forcing both of them to die by suicide. It is incredibly important these types of images get removed from the Internet immediately so the victims, and in some cases their families, do not continue to be victimized years after the images were posted.

[Online Harms Act, September 23rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his tremendous work when it comes to mental health and the mental health of young people here in Canada. We did a study at the ethics committee, one of the few studies we actually were able to do some work on, about the influence of exactly the type of addictive behaviour that the hon. member has spoken about and its impact on young people. It will not be as easy as I initially thought it would be to regulate that.

The addictive nature of social media and the algorithms that are built into it are something important we do need to be looking at. I would be happy to work with the hon. member on that.

[Online Harms Act, September 23rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the government spent four years consulting on the bill, and I think it is important that we look at the entire bill together. I know it is going to be going to committee, and hon. members can discuss those kinds of things there. However, given that it has had four years of consultation, I believe the government has listened to that consultation and put what needs to be put into the bill.

[Online Harms Act, September 23rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, today I am going to speak about one of the online harms act's core purposes, and that is the protection of children. Our government will stop at nothing to ensure that kids in this country are safe, and this includes their online safety.

Our children spend many hours of their day watching online videos, chatting with their friends and posting snippets of their lives. Being online is integral to their lives and offers many benefits. It is a way for them to connect, learn and find entertainment. However, the online space is not always safe for children. We have rigorous toy standards to ensure that Canadian kids do not get hurt while playing. The Internet is the most complex and riskiest toy ever invented. It must have its own safety standards to protect kids from the harms embedded within social media platforms.

For too long, we have tolerated a system where social media platforms have off-loaded their responsibilities onto parents, expecting them to protect their kids from harms that platforms create and amplify. Until now, there have been no safety regulations for online platforms. Parents and kids do not know where to turn to get help when things go wrong online.

The bill would create a baseline standard for online platforms to keep Canadians safe. It would hold platforms accountable for the content they host.

Over the last several years, we have conducted extensive public consultations. A common theme that was heard was the vulnerability of children online and the pressing need to take steps to protect them. At the same time, the consultations highlighted a desire for a flexible, risk-based approach to online regulation. Bill C-63 would balance these two objectives.

I am disappointed to see the Conservatives discredit the hard work of the organizers, victims and survivors across the country who were consulted on the legislation. By refusing to support the bill, they are rejecting this experience and the reality of today's world that children are not currently safe online. The bill was meticulously created to keep Canadians safe while ensuring that their rights are maintained.

The online harms act introduces a new duty to protect children. It requires platforms to integrate design features that protect children on their platforms and report on the measures they are taking to protect children. The specific design features will be identified following open regulatory processes where all interested parties have a chance to be heard. This would ensure that the measures are fit for purpose and consider the latest research and evidence, as well as that they are workable for the social media services that need to implement them. We believe this approach to protecting children respects the government's position of supporting a safe and inclusive digital space in Canada.

The online harms act would require operators of social media services to integrate design features that protect children, such as age-appropriate design. Bill C-63 does not opt for a prescriptive approach requiring the use of a specific technology, such as age verification; instead, it opts for a principle-based approach that can evolve with technology. The goal of age-appropriate design is to make the online user experience of children safer by decreasing the risk that they will encounter harmful content. This might include design features such as parental controls, default settings related to warning labels on content and safe search settings.

Age-appropriate design is useful because it is not a one-size-fits-all approach. It recognizes that a five-year-old and a 16-year-old interact with the online world differently, so they likely require different design features to improve the safety of their online experience. The digital safety commission would articulate these features through regulations after examining industry practices and available technology, as well as engaging with stakeholders and Canadians. This process would ensure that the subsequent regulations on design features that protect children are well-informed and in line with Canadians' expectations of privacy and digital expression.

Bill C-63 was crafted with special attention to freedom of speech, a charter right that the government will always protect. At each step, we made design choices with freedom of expression top of mind. Under the online harms act, the risk-based approach is anchored in a duty to act responsibly that requires platforms to create safer spaces online so that users are less likely to encounter harmful content. The duty to act seeks to ensure that we have in place adequate systems by services that limit the likelihood of users viewing harmful content.

Bill C-63 would also enhance the protection of children online by amending an act respecting the mandatory reporting of Internet child pornography by persons who provide an Internet service, the mandatory reporting act. The bill would amend the mandatory reporting act to strengthen reporting obligations under the act to help facilitate child pornography investigations. The bill would allow for the centralization of reporting to a single law enforcement body, a response to a long-time ask from law enforcement and child advocates.

The duty to report would be triggered when the service provider has reasonable grounds to believe that their network is being or has been used to commit a child pornography offence. The reporting requirement would also be enhanced to require the provision of transmission data in any report where the service provider believes that the material is manifestly child pornography.

We recognize that children are spending more and more of their time on the Internet. Our goal is not to prevent children from having access to valuable information and a social experience online. Our goal is the opposite: to make the online environment as safe as possible for them to explore. The duties set out in the online harms act would be critical to accomplishing this goal.

[Petitions, September 18th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition that has been signed by 1,844 Canadians regarding crisis pregnancy centres.

Over 150 anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centres in Canada work to dissuade those who are pregnant from having abortions via medical misinformation and emotional manipulation. This petition calls on the government to take action on these crisis pregnancy centres and to review their charitable status.

[44th Annual Terry Fox Run, September 17th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, on Sunday, millions of Canadians participated in the 44th annual Terry Fox Run. In Oakville, we were joined by retired police officer Blair Vintinner, who was driving the police car in the iconic black and white photo of Terry running into Oakville taken by Peter Martin in 1980. We celebrated 44 years of hope in Oakville by welcoming almost 2,000 people and raising over $180,000 so far.

Kim Shikaze participated in his 44th Terry Fox Run. Now an adult, Lisa Moody walked on her artificial leg, having survived the same cancer Terry had when she was just a young girl. For 15 years, Team Darrell has been our top fundraising team, raising over $22,000 again this year, and Unifor Local 707 came out in force for its first Oakville Terry Fox Run.

I thank all the volunteers, donors and participants for keeping Terry's legacy alive and ensuring that we continue to realize Terry's dream of a world without cancer.

[Recent Deaths of First Nations People During Police Interventions, September 16th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend and colleague for her moving words, for recognizing the individuals who have been killed and for bringing their voice to Parliament.

At the beginning of her speech, she mentioned the role that the media plays in normalizing violence. I wonder if she could speak a little more about how that impacts what is happening. Also, does she see any role for government to play in the role the media has in normalizing that violence?

[Recent Deaths of First Nations People During Police Interventions, September 16th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I know that the hon. member has done a lot of work on the status of women committee, and one of the studies we did there was on indigenous women in the criminal justice system. That was quite a few years ago. I just wonder whether the hon. member could talk about the impact of colonial policies on indigenous women and girls, and the impact they are having on their interactions with the police. I believe that the member for Winnipeg Centre was saying that today the red dress alert study was tabled in the House, and perhaps the hon. member could talk a bit about that as well.