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From a man committing a mass shooting and streaming it live online to a man driving a vehicle through a crowd because of what he’d seen on the internet to people being radicalized online — Canada is joining governments around the world that are concerned and want to do something about extremism and hate online.
On Wednesday, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale announced two new initiatives: The Canadian government will commit up to $1 million to Tech Against Terrorism, and will collaborate on a Youth Summit Countering Violent Extremist Online.
“At the same time as the Internet has helped to build a more open, inclusive world, it has also increasingly become a tool for terrorism and violent extremism,” Goodale said during an announcement at his constituency office in Regina.
The money will go toward a database of extremist and hateful content which Goodale explained will allow smaller tech companies to identify and remove such content from their platforms faster and easier.
“Many of these smaller companies are often very willing, very anxious to do their part, but they lack the capacity or the knowledge or the financial resources to do so. Tech Against Terrorism helps to fill that gap,” said Goodale.
The youth summit is meant to help youth learn about violent and terrorist uses of the Internet and learn how to push back. Goodale said young people live the majority of their lives online these days, and can help transmit effective alternative narratives.
These initiatives are part of Canada’s commitments to the Christchurch Call to Action, which came out of the mass shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand in March.
Canada is one of 192 countries in the world and has a population of just 37 million people. Many of the sites which host extreme content are not based in Canada but in the U.S. which did not sign on to the Christchurch Call to Action.
Goodale said though Canada is clearly not the biggest player here, the government thinks that it can help build momentum by working with like-minded countries on this.
“We have to leverage our alliances to make the clout bigger than just our 37 million people,” said Goodale.
Addressing violent and terrorist uses of the Internet was among the federal government’s priorities under the National Strategy on Countering Radicalization to Violence. The government has given money for things like research and programs to combat the problem.
On Wednesday, the federal government also updated its list of terrorist entities, and for the first time, two right-wing extremist groups with a presence in Canada were added: Blood & Honour, and Combat 18.