Response to Parliamentary Committees and External Audits
Response to Parliamentary Committees
The Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights (RIDR) tabled their report, Ninth Report - Cyberbullying Hurts: Respect for Rights in the Digital Age, in the Senate on December 12, 2012.
The report called for Canada to meet its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, by taking necessary actions to protect children from all forms of physical and mental violence, including cyberbullying. The report recommended that the federal government work with provinces and territories to:
- Establish a coordinated strategy to address cyberbullying;
- Promote human rights education, digital citizenship and restorative justice initiatives;
- Collaborate with relevant industry stakeholders;
- Create a task force to define and monitor cyberbullying; and
- Support long-term research initiatives.
The Government Response, led by Public Safety Canada, supported a more integrated and coordinated federal approach to address cyberbullying and bullying, as well as better collaboration with the provinces, territories and other key stakeholders. The Government Response was provided to RIDR on May 1, 2013.
Since then, Public Safety Canada has taken action on its commitments, and in 2013-14, engaged in the following initiatives:
- Coordinated and led an interdepartmental working group to map out federal government activities, shared information and developed a coordinated approach to tackle bullying and cyberbullying issues;
- Created and led a Sub-Working Group on Cyberbullying, within the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Working Group on Crime Prevention, to take stock of provincial and territorial cyberbullying prevention efforts and explore opportunities to partner with industry;
- Developed a fact sheet on cyberbullying and bullying that incorporates international and domestic research, to better inform policy and programs;
- Developed several anti-bullying projects under Public Safety Canada's National Crime Prevention Strategy, to support community-based prevention efforts;
- Led a Government of Canada public awareness campaign on cyberbullying, “Stop Hating Online,” to raise awareness of the consequences of cyberbullying and the non-consensual distribution of intimate images;
- Led the National Strategy for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation on the Internet and through this Strategy, supported the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, which operates the Cybertip.ca and NeedHelpNow.ca websites that focus on the online sexual exploitation of children and self/peer exploitation (this Agreement was renewed on March 31, 2014, committing $9.5 million over 5 years from 2014-2019);
- Joined the Global Alliance Against Child Sexual Abuse Online, to contribute to international efforts and determination to fight Internet predators and child abuse images online;
- Supported Bill C-13, the Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act, which proposes to create a new offence of distributing an intimate image of a person without that person's consent, and modernize investigative powers;
- Supported Health Canada's “Healthy Canadians” and “Canadiens en santé” public outreach activities on bullying and cyberbullying via social media and website platforms; and
- Supported workshops, led by Status of Women Canada, on cyberbullying, online exploitation and the online sexual exploitation of girls and young women.
Cyberbullying and the non-consensual distribution of intimate images continue to be serious concerns for many Canadian families and communities. As such, many of the Department's efforts to combat bullying and cyberbullying are ongoing and will continue into 2014-15.
External audits conducted by the Public Service Commission of Canada or the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
The Public Service Commission of Canada began an audit of Public Safety Canada’s staffing system in September 2013. The final report will be presented to Parliament in the Fall of 2014.
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