Results from the latest Canadian surveys indicate that the most common form of bullying reported by almost 3 quarters of cyber bullying victims in the country involved receiving threatening or aggressive e-mails or instant messages. The second most common form of bullying, reported by 55% of those surveyed, was being the target of hateful comments. 8% of victims had had their identity assumed by someone sending threatening e-mails. The survey showed that the Canadian provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia experience the highest frequency of cyber bullying.

 

Canada has experienced several high-profile cases of teen suicide as a result of cyber bullying prompting lawmakers to adopt laws to reduce the frequency of such cases. The “Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act”, C-30, was introduced in the House of Commons in 2012 as a reaction to the growing cyber bullying problem. It was originally designed to give police and intelligence officials new powers to access digital communications, but received a publish backlash over concerns of privacy invasion because it was feared the bill would give government officials too much censoring control. C-30 was eventually shelved. However, in 2013 a new bill known as the “Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act, C-13, was drafted to again address the problem of cyber bullying. This bill would allow law enforcement to identify cyber criminals by obtaining information from cooperating social media sites and internet providers to then act swiftly in preventing further harassment to victims of cybercrime.