Senators cite need for national cyber-bullying strategy
Committee issues guidelines for parents and teens
“There should be education, there should be prevention and in extreme cases there should be (punishment).”
SENATOR MOBINA JAFFER
OTTAWA — Canada needs a national strategy to combat cyber-bullying, a Senate committee says, and the federal government must take the lead to correct a hodgepodge of initiatives, definitions and programs that don’t effectively address the problem nationwide.
The report from the Senate’s human rights committee details how provinces, schools and communities tend to “reinvent the wheel” every time they try to combat cyber-bullying, but comes out against adding cyber-bullying to the Criminal Code. It also suggests the government revisit an idea that has been rejected or ignored for years: create a federal children’s commissioner that would be a watchdog for young people’s rights.
The Senate committee writes that by doing little to deal with bullying in cyberspace, Canada could fall short of its obligations under an international treaty designed to protect children from physical, mental and emotional harm.
The committee released two special guides for parents and youth: one on what cyber-bullying looks like; and a second on how to respond to it. These additions to the report are a first for the Senate, and meant to provide something concrete for parents, teens and schools even if the federal government takes no action.
The guides are also included because the committee concluded neither parents nor young Canadians truly understand cyber-bullying, or how to deal with it.
“We had a lot of young people that were looking for some sort of guidance,” said Conservative Sen. Salma Ataullahjan of Ontario, who first proposed the study.
“Parents wouldn’t buy their child a car and hand over the keys without making sure they had driver training first. Unfortunately, many people will buy their child a smartphone without preparing them for the risks that come along with the opportunities.”
The committee concluded laws won’t end cyber-bullying, nor will they be a deter- rent. Instead, the committee argued, the government should promote “restorative justice,” which can involve programs such as mediation between the victim and offender.
“There needs to be a whole-of-community approach,” said Liberal Sen. Mobina Jaffer of B.C., the committee’s chairwoman.
“These are young people. There should be education, there should be prevention and in extreme cases, there should be (punishment).”
Some witnesses argued the government should enact laws to intervene more in Internet regulation because current industry standards make it difficult for bullied teens to get inappropriate content removed from websites. Facebook and the Canadian Internet Registration Authority supported what the committee termed a “handsoff or light-touch” approach to regulating the Internet.
The committee didn’t recommend new regulations, but argued Internet and telecommunications companies “have an important responsibility for ensuring that their products and services are not facilitating the type of negative behaviour that leads to cyber-bullying.”
The report comes out after a year in which bullying and cyber-bullying became embedded in the public’s mind, specifically the high-profile suicide of B.C. teen Amanda Todd, whose death came weeks after she posted an online video detailing the online bullying and harassment she suffered. The black and white video has been viewed almost 6.5 million times on YouTube since it was posted on Sept. 7, just as the committee wrote its report after hearing from more than 60 witnesses, including many children.
Although research has not found a direct link between cyber-bullying and suicide, experts told the committee that it can contribute to someone’s decision to take their own life.
Amanda’s death prompted federal and provincial justice ministers to form an ad hoc committee to review cyber-bullying laws. Several provinces have taken antibullying actions. But in late November, the Commons voted 149-134 to defeat an NDP proposal to strike an all-party committee to study and craft a national strategy.
These actions are mirrored by what the committee wrote was a mixed approach to defining and dealing with cyber-bullying. Academics have no universally accepted definition of cyber-bullying, for example, leading to differing results and recommendations. Multiple community and provincial programs set up to help cyber-bullying victims have had the unintended effect of confusing teens who sometimes don’t know where to go for help, the Senate committee said.
The committee called on schools and provincial education ministries to rethink how they teach and use technology in the classroom because many teens, while adept at using technology, don’t have the knowledge needed to “navigate safely through cyberspace.” Rather than banning cellphones and restricting access to social media platforms as some schools have done, schools should use those technologies in classroom lessons to help foster what the committee called “digital citizenship.”