OTTAWA — Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon will be among the ministers that parents and children rallying for federal government action to better protect kids online will meet Monday, after concerns were expressed that the minister did not have the time.
Delegation of Children and Parents on Parliament Hill
The group of around 20 children and parents came to Parliament Hill as part of an initiative led by Children First Canada, a national charity calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government to present new legislation aimed at online safety.
Sara Austin, founder and CEO of the charity, called online safety one of the “leading challenges” children in the country face, saying they came to Parliament Hill to declare that “time is up,” adding that compared to jurisdictions like Australia and the United Kingdom, which have online safety laws in place, “Canada has nothing on the books.”
Meetings on Monday
After meeting Monday with staff in Carney’s office where they brought “children, youth and parents” to share that message, Austin says they were set to meet with Canadian Heritage Minister Marc Miller, who is tasked with shepherding through a new online harms bill. They were also set to meet Opposition Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and appeared in the House of Commons as recognized guests.
After speaking to the media, Austin expressed disappointment that the same could not be said for meeting with Solomon, whom she said had “declined to meet.”
“That’s disappointing,” she told National Post. “He’s about to launch an AI strategy that, of course, is going to affect the business community, but it will certainly affect the education and the safety of our children.”
AI Strategy and Children's Safety
Austin pointed to the recent shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., where OpenAI later confirmed that the shooter had interacted with ChatGPT months earlier, exchanges which warranted a suspension of their account, but did not result in the company giving a warning to police — a move that its CEO recently apologized for in a public letter.
She underscored how the government’s forthcoming AI strategy needed to consider the rights of children, as it was a technology that was shaping how they learn to do their future jobs.
“I could go on and on about the examples of how AI is endangering children’s safety and well-being,” she said.
“(Solomon) needs to hear from children. He needs to hear from parents, and so he can meet with industry leaders, but he needs to be hearing from kids and parents, and we hope that he’ll reconsider and meet with our delegation either today on a future date.”
Parent's Perspective
Jason Sokolowski was one of the parents in the delegation and whose daughter, Penelope was “groomed” and “extorted” by an online extremist group into self-harm. She died by suicide in 2025.
He called it “upsetting” that parents and victims would not have a meeting with Solomon on “something that should be a priority for him.”
