Thursday June 11, 2026 | VANCOUVER, BC [Posted at 1:31 pm]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
“For far too long we’ve seen real tragedies in BC and abroad,” said BC Attorney General Niki Sharma today, in her opening remarks to media about the new Safe Social Media Act (Bill C-34) that the federal government introduced yesterday in Ottawa.
As a result of the new legislation and regulations, Sharma feels that “many parents are going to figure out what to do with safety measures coming from their kids’ phones and the harms they can face on those platforms”.
BC has been calling for change, said Sharma. “The type of change that we’re seeing in this Bill can’t come fast enough,” she emphasized today.
Public engagement in BC on social media harms:
However, there has not been a formal public engagement process with parents, schools, educators or youth about the challenges of social media.
While much of the input about real harms as heard from youth and families is starkly motivating, it seems like a gap in civic engagement on something that is clearly changing the lives of children and teens, their families, and society overall.
Today AG Sharma said in response to a question from Island Social Trends that she would welcome public engagement with parents and schools, a sort of ‘summer conversation’ to hear from the general public about what still be needed in the federal bill.
Sharma said she would be reaching out to the families that have connected with her (to make sure their kids are safe). But she adss:
There is a conversation to be had about if we think this legislation goes far enough. Sharma would like to know “what tools do they feel that they need”, she said about parent wanting to keep their kids safe.
“Those conversations are vitally important and as we move toward hopefully passing this and developing regulations that parent voice is going to be key,” said Sharma.
Summer conversation:
“I’m open to meeting with any and all areas that invite me,” said Sharma. That woudl include classrooms and parents if people want to give her input or talk about their experiences.
When the cell phone ban in schools was under development the Attorney General had contact and input from schools. Part of that was digital literacy in classrooms across BC, which seems to also be appropriate to discuss as the Safe Social Media Act evolves quickly this summer and fall.
A statement from the Ministry of Education and Child Care is expected here later today on the idea of public engagement through schools.
Where BC will do more:
“What I see in the legislation introduced by the federal government is many elements that BC asked for,” said Sharma, including a few that she outlined today speaking with media in a press conference from the Vancouver International Airport:
- meeting real age-related restrictions (with bans);
- getting at the design of these platforms; and
- setting up a regulatory regime to hold them accountable.
“We’re really grateful fort those measures being including in what the federal government is proposing,” said Sharma, but she is concerned about how quickly the federal work will be done.
“The concern that I have is that this needs to move quickly,” said Sharma. “Whatever moves through the House should move quickly and when we set up the regulatory regime it seems like a lot is left to the regulation. Those have to move quickly along with the regulatory oversight in place.”
“There’s real harm happening right now,” said Sharma, adding that Kids and parents have been waiting long enough,
“BC has taken a leadership role when it comes to establishing really innovative solutions to help people be safe online,” said Sharma.
“We’re continuing to do that work and we’re asking for cooperation with the federal government so we can work together on setting up a really strong regulatory regime and making sure that it moves quickly so kids are not left waiting.”
Transparency measures and guidelines:
BC’s Attorney General wants to see that the regulator will set up clear transparency measures and guidelines. That would include details as to what type of reporting safety requirements should be there for all platforms, along with a transparency reporting requirement.
“It does fall short of what we asked for, and we’re waiting to see if it’s enough,” Sharma told media today.
“We want to make sure that the rules that are in place and the regulatory oversight that’s in place would be strong enough to prevent some of the tragedies that we’ve seen right here in our province but across the world,” the AG said today.
===== RELATED:
Safe Social Media Act to protect Canadian children online (June 10, 2026)
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