Canada’s last Parliament never finished the Online Harms Act package. Bill C-63 (44th Parliament, 1st session) reached only second reading and died when the session ended (session ran to 6 January 2025). Canadian Heritage still frames the government’s online-harms commitment on its programme page — but commitment is not statute.

C-63 is not law. C-34 is the live vehicle — read its text, not the ghost of the old bill.
Citizen impact: Until C-34 is enacted, no new Digital Safety Commission can fine platforms under that Act. Parents and speakers should track committee amendments — especially any Criminal Code or Canadian Human Rights Act hitchhikers — rather than viral claims that “Online Harms is already in force.”

What died: C-63

LEGISinfo records Bill C-63 as an Online Harms Act package that stopped at second reading. Critics focused on bundled hate-speech expansions (Criminal Code / CHRA) alongside platform duties. Those clauses are not automatically in C-34; treat them as history unless the new bill reproduces them.

What is live: C-34 Safe Social Media Act

Bill C-34 (45th Parliament, 1st session) received first reading on 10 June 2026 and, as of research date 21 Sep 2026, sat at second reading with no recorded votes. Short title: Safe Social Media Act. It would enact a Digital Safety Act and create a Digital Safety Commission, covering regulated social media, chatbots, and other online services with child-safety and transparency duties. Primary texts: LEGISinfo status page and the first-reading DocumentViewer text.

Contested: Government framing centres child safety and platform accountability. Civil-liberties and free-speech critics warn that prior C-63 bundled speech-criminalisation tools with platform duties — and that any new Commission could chill lawful speech. Honesty rule: judge C-34 on its clauses, not on memes about the dead bill.

How this differs from the independent-press hub

Accreditation fights (Press Gallery, QCJO, Online News Act payments) live on the independent-press desk. This beat is about what platforms must do under harms/safety statutes — and foreign enforcement comparators such as the EU DSA fine on X.

Bottom line

Do not say “Online Harms is law.” Say: C-63 died; C-34 is the successor vehicle at early reading stage. Watch committee text before claiming hate-tribunal clones or platform bans.