Bill C-18: What's at Stake for Journalism and Canadian Democracy?
2023-09-20 13:00 UTC | Virtual event
The Canadian government passed Bill C-18, the Online News Act, on June 22, 2023. This bill “aims to enhance fairness in the economic relationship between news businesses and online platforms by enhancing the bargaining position of news businesses relative to that of large and dominant digital news intermediaries.” The legislation, which comes into effect in December 2023, will require tech giants Meta and Google to make agreements with news publishers to compensate them for revenue-generating news content that appears on their sites. In response, both tech companies have removed links from Canadian news sites from their platforms. This panel will discuss the potential implications of this legislation for journalists, news outlets, news consumers and Canadian democracy.
The virtual discussion took place on September 20, 2023 at 1:00 p.m. ET. It featured lawyer and law professor Dr. Michael Geist; Brian Myles, publisher, Le Devoir, Tai Huynh , founding editor-in-chief and publisher of The Local, Natalie Campbell, senior director North American Government and Regulatory Affairs, The Internet Society, and Paul Samyn, editor, The Winnipeg Free Press. Dr. Mary Lynn Young moderated.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
About the Panelists
Natalie Campbell
Natalie Campbell is the Senior Director, North American Government and Regulatory Affairs for the Internet Society. She is passionate about analyzing how government actions could impact the Internet and drive advocacy efforts to grow, protect, and defend an Internet for everyone.

Prior to joining the Internet Society, Natalie was founder and lead consultant of Campbell Communications, a strategic communications agency specializing in policy advocacy, political campaigns, and working with Indigenous communities to promote community-led Internet access solutions. She has also worked at the Canadian Internet Registration Authority, where she helped establish the first Canadian Internet Governance Forum.
Dr. Michael Geist
Dr. Michael Geist is a law professor at the University of Ottawa where he holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law and is a member of the Centre for Law, Technology and Society. He has obtained a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree from Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, Master of Laws (LL.M.) degrees from Cambridge University in the UK and Columbia Law School in New York, and a Doctorate in Law (J.S.D.) from Columbia Law School. Dr. Geist serves on many boards, including Internet Archive Canada and the EFF Advisory Board. He was appointed to the Order of Ontario in 2018 and has received numerous awards for his work including the Canadian Journalists for Freedom of Expression Vox Libera Award in 2018, the Kroeger Award for Policy Leadership and the Public Knowledge IP3 Award in 2010, the Les Fowlie Award for Intellectual Freedom from the Ontario Library Association in 2009, the EFF’s Pioneer Award in 2008, and Canarie’s IWAY Public Leadership Award for his contribution to the development of the Internet in Canada. More information can be obtained at http://www.michaelgeist.ca.
Tai Huynh
Tai Huynh is the founding editor-in-chief and publisher of The Local, an online magazine covering social issues in Toronto. Under Tai’s leadership, The Local’s distinctive approach to community journalism—in-depth, non-profit, from corners of Toronto too often overlooked—has won over a dozen national awards since its founding in 2019, including the National Magazine Awards and Digital Publishing Awards. Tai writes, occasionally, about urban health and inequality. (@taimhuynh)
Brian Myles
Brian Myles has served as publisher of Le Devoir since February 2016. From 1994 to 2015, he worked as a reporter for this daily paper of record. Le Devoir is a niche media outlet of national influence and recognition. Myles regularly writes in the editorial section on issues that are part of the public debate. His topics of interests are mostly (but not exclusively) related to public policies, national security, justice, police organization, education, culture, foreign affairs, and media.
Over the course of his career, Myles has also taught journalism for more than 15 years at UQAM (Université du Québec à Montréal). He held the position of president of the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec (the Quebec professional reporter’s federation) from 2009 to 2013, right at the beginning of the revenue crisis in the media industry. He holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in journalism.
Starting in 2016, Brian Myles was among a group of vocal and organized editors who were able to convince the governments, in Quebec and Canada, to support journalism with incentives such as fiscal exemptions. The measures provided financial relief to a broad range of media while keeping the state at arm’s length from the newsrooms. At last, Le Devoir is part of a short list of media who secured commercial deals and funding form Google, Meta, Apple and Microsoft while supporting at the same time the intent behind the Online News Act.
Paul Samyn
Paul Samyn has been part of the Free Press newsroom for over 30 years, working his way up after starting as a rookie reporter in 1988. And if you count the time he spent delivering the newspaper as a boy growing up in St. James, his connection to the Free Press goes back even further. As a reporter, Paul wrote for every section of the paper, covered elections, wars overseas and the funerals of a royal princess and a prime minister. The graduate of the University of Winnipeg and Red River College helped lead the Free Press’s political coverage for a decade as its Ottawa bureau chief before being named city editor in 2007. Paul was appointed to the Editor’s office in the summer of 2012.
About the Moderator
Dr. Mary Lynn Young is a journalism professor and co-founder of the Conversation Canada. Her research interests include how we know what we know in journalism, critical journalism studies (with a focus on gender and whiteness), newsroom sociology and journalism startups/digital born journalism organizations. Her commitments to social justice ground her scholarship, teaching and professional engagement.
