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IGC Letter regarding online safety bill

To: Pierre-Marc.Perreault@pch.gc.ca

Cc: hon.pablo.rodriguez@pch.gc.ca

 

Dear Mr. Pierre-Marc Perreault,

I am writing on behalf of the Institute for Research of Genocide Canada (IGC), a public scientific institution engaged in the analysis of crimes against peace, the crime of genocide, and other grave breaches of international law. As part of the effort of the Government of Canada to address online safety, IGC has previously contacted the Office of Hon. Minister Pablo Rodriguez to offer its support in specific collaboration on the inclusion of genocide denial in its transparent and accountable regulatory framework for online safety in Canada. The Hon. Minister Rodriguez has kindly forwarded your contact information for the IGC to collaborate on this important effort with your Office.

 

In the times of rapid growth of right-wing extremism, social media and online platforms have become fostering environments for the dissemination of hate speech and harmful and extremist content, misinformation and disinformation across the world, including in Canada. Social media and high-tech companies are experiencing challenges as they persistently continue to update their hash-sharing databases to monitor and remove harmful content on their platforms. Genocide denial is one of the manifestations of this challenge – a form of harmful content fuelling hate speech, radicalizing vulnerable populations, and threatening and intimidating Canadians in promoting views that target particular communities and put the safety of Canadians at risk while undermining Canada’s social cohesion and democracy. 

 

Examples of genocide denial content disseminated in online spaces that the IGC aims to prevent in collaboration with the Government of Canada and your Office include Holocaust denial, Armenian genocide denial, and Bosnian genocide denial, among others. Genocide denial is the attempt to deny or minimize the scale and severity of an instance of genocide and is an integral part of genocide. Genocide Watch President, Gregory H. Stanton, created the 10 stages of genocide, which describes the many steps that lead to genocide, the last of which is genocide denial. Genocide denial online includes secret planning of genocide, propaganda, and destruction of evidence of the mass killings. 

 

In closing, our experts would kindly request to meet with the Digital Citizen Initiative to provide support and expertise in our mutual efforts to keep Canadians away from online harms that place them at risk, thus potentially undermining their safety, social cohesion and Canadian democracy. 

 

 

Respectfully,

 

Dr. Emir Rami?

Director of the Institute for the Research of Genocide Canada,

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