The Government of Canada has made a commitment to introduce a regulatory framework for online safety. Access to and safety of online environments are key dimensions of gender equity. Through research with young women and gender diverse youth across Canada, YWCA Canada has outlined critical proposals to take into consideration during the development of legal and regulatory regimes around online hate and related harms. These efforts are necessary to ensure free expression and full participation of young women and gender diverse youth in online platforms and public life.

This report centres the voices, lived experiences, and strategies shared by young women and gender diverse youth aged 16-30 years. YWCA Canada commissioned national surveys and convened 10 focus groups to discuss individual and collective experiences of online hate across Canada and develop community-generated, survivor-centric solutions to curb the circulation of digital hate and mitigate its harms.

Emerging from community-based dialogue and data collection, the recommendations included in this report provide ethical guidelines and equitable benchmarks for systems-level changes (including federal action, platform liability, public education, and community responses) to ensure online safety across Canada.