Canada has a long history of protecting its cultural identity. From broadcasting quotas to Canadian content rules, we’ve built a regulatory tradition that treats media as part of our national fabric. But when it comes to explicit content, that same protectionist streak has a downside: we regulate with a broad brush, folding adult material into the same cultural and broadcasting frameworks as everything else.
This approach might have made sense in the analog era. Today, it’s out of step with reality. Adolescents are already exposed to explicit material online, often years before the legal age of access. Blanket restrictions don’t stop that — they just push it into unregulated spaces, where the real dangers live.
The Alert Fatigue Problem
Think of it like clicking “Continue” on an untrusted TLS certificate or getting Amber Alerts for incidents two townships away. When warnings are constant, low‑precision, and rarely relevant, people stop paying attention. The same thing happens with online safety rules: over‑broad restrictions desensitize young people to genuine threats.
When everything is treated as equally dangerous, nothing feels dangerous.
A Three‑Tier Solution
Instead of overcompensating with fear‑driven gatekeeping, we need a precision‑based model that keeps sensitivity sharp:
- Noise Reduction – Narrow harmful‑content definitions to focus on demonstrable risks, not moral discomfort.
- High‑Credibility Alerts – Make warnings rare, relevant, and actionable so they’re taken seriously.
- Competence & Calibration – Teach adolescents how to assess and respond to threats, so they can self‑protect when filters fail.
Why This Matters
Countries that separate harm prevention from cultural preservation move faster toward balanced, rights‑respecting regulation. Canada’s broad‑brush approach slows that progress and risks eroding trust in the very systems meant to protect us.
If we want real safety, we need to stop crying wolf and start building a framework that treats Canadians as capable participants in their own protection.