Métis Nation British Columbia (MNBC) is proud to support B.C.'s recent announcement on keeping kids safe online and in school.
On January 26, 2024, the Province announced that they are moving forward on three important actions to keep kids and young people safe from online threats, restrict cellphones in school and hold social media companies accountable.
The Province has outlined concrete actions including:
Restricting the use of cell phones in schools/classrooms.
- As Rachna Singh, Minister of Education and Child Care states, “There is a time and place for cell phones. Having cell phones in the classroom can be a distraction from the kind of focused learning we want kids to experience at school.” The province will collaborate with school districts to ensure that all schools have policies in place by the start of the 2024/25 school year.
- The province will also ensure the availability of more digital literacy training for students so that they have the knowledge and tools to stay safe, be a good digital citizen, and develop a healthy relationship with technology.
Launching services to remove images from the internet and pursue predators.
- Two new services have been launched to help prevent the distribution of explicit images, provide access to justice, and a clear path to pursue legal actions and damages from perpetrators.
Legislation to hold social media companies accountable for the harm they have caused.
- This will enable the government to recover costs from social media companies that have caused harm to children and adults associated with their platforms and algorithms.
- These funds could be used to provide treatment and counselling supports and put in place monitoring systems and educational programs.
Research shows that frequent cell phone interruptions in the classroom, social media platforms with addictive algorithms, and predators who seek to exploit young people all present significant risks to the mental health and physical safety of our children. These important actions are part of the effort to keep kids safe and healthy in school and online.
Read the original announcement from the Government of B.C. using the link below.
B.C. launches concrete actions to keep kids safe, healthy | BC Gov News