Canada's Online Harms Bill Includes Accessibility

- The amendment to the Canadian Human Rights Act within Bill C-63 defines the communication of hate speech online as a discriminatory practice. This protection explicitly includes disability as a prohibited ground of discrimination, alongside race, religion, and sexual orientation. - The new legislation will establish a Digital Safety Commission to enforce the act's provisions. This commission will have the authority to receive complaints from the public and order online services to make certain content, such as that which sexually victimizes a child or is shared non-consensually, permanently inaccessible in Canada. - Social media platforms will be required to provide users with clear and accessible tools to flag harmful content and block other users. This is part of a broader "duty to act responsibly" that also includes implementing measures to reduce exposure to seven specific categories of harmful content. - The bill is distinct from the Accessible Canada Act (ACA), which has a broader mandate to achieve a barrier-free Canada by 2040, specifically in areas like information and communication technologies. The ACA focuses on the proactive removal and prevention of barriers, while Bill C-63 is focused on regulating harmful content. - In comparison, the European Accessibility Act (EAA), which came into force in June 2025, sets out more direct and comprehensive requirements for the accessibility of digital products and services themselves, rather than focusing primarily on user-generated harmful content. - While the bill's primary focus is on harmful content, critics have pointed out that the consultation process for Bill C-63 itself had "accessibility barriers," which limited the participation of young people and potentially other groups. - The new hate crime offence proposed in the bill carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment for any crime found to be motivated by hatred.