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Hamilton-Wentworth Family Action Council Dedicated to Preserving Family Values P.O. Box 66714, 38 King Street East, Stoney Creek, ON CANADA L8G 5E6 A Chapter of Canada Family Action Coalition |
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| Presentation by Canadians For Positive Community Standards to Social & Public Health Services Standing Committee of Hamilton City Council - March 9, 2004 |
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| CPCS started this campaign with the City of Hamilton some two years ago, and finally, the City has complied. (However, not without an attempt to opt out, in the form of a 10-page "Report" authored by their legal department and Public Health, for the most part). Is it a miracle? We think so! Here is the CPCS's presentation: | ||
| Canadians For Positive Community Standards (CPCS) thanks Hamilton Council and Staff for the consideration, time and money spent on the Age of Consent report, prepared in response to our presentation to Council on March 27th of 2002. Although we take issue with the Report, its preparation shows that Council wishes to address the concerns that Hamiltonians have for their children, and for that we are most appreciative. | ||
| We note in its report that Staff has admirably described Canadian child pornography legislation, and given opinion on Age of Consent as it applies to the law. Thence the report discusses how a change in Age of Consent might affect the delivery of sexual health services to young people in our area. Finally it mentions current amendments proposed to Canada's child pornography law. | ||
| We remind Council the CPCS deals primarily with the blight of pornography as it impacts the community and its families. Our concern is that the Age of Consent (14 years in Canada) enables the production of pornography involving young teens, and grants a "defence" in the courts to individuals who would exploit the vulnerabilities (including bad decision-making) of such children. | ||
| It is our position, then, that a change in the Age of Consent from 14 years to 18 years would greatly enhance, rather than detract from, the enforcement of Canada's pornography laws. In addition, since the authors of the City's report have seen fit in to tie in teen behaviour as it is serviced by Public Health, CPCS is of the opinion that raising the Age of Consent would also improve sexual health services delivery. | ||
To explain our position, we will attempt to describe briefly:
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Child Pornography and Sexual Assault in Canada |
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| A vital, Toronto-based organization, Canadians Addressing Sexual Exploitation (C.A.S.E.) is quoted in much of the following material. Under the title: A Human Tragedy: (CASE - Vol. 2, 2002) "The trafficking and sexual exploitation of children is a growing human tragedy. A tragedy affecting children as they are sexually abused by adults. This had been considered a third world problem, but we know it is a problem in every city and town in Canada. Sex with children has become a sexual fetish." And under the title: A Canadian Tragedy: (Ibid) "The age of consent for sexual activity in Canada is 14 - one of the lowest in the world. This law gives legal permission for adults to exploit and abuse children as young as 14 if they claim that the child said "yes". The pimps, johns, pornographers and those who lure children over the Internet use the age of consent law to justify their actions, using legal protection to exploit the child." To bring a scenario home to Hamilton, mention is made, at this point, of the 239 Ontario-registered sex offenders, who reside in our city. Susan Clairmont, in her Spectator article dated January 15, 2004 said, "They have been convicted of a range of offences that include sexual interference (touching a person under the age of 14), invitation to sexual touching, sexual exploitation, incest, bestiality, possession or creation of child pornography, parent or guardian procuring sexual activity (selling your child for sex), exposure (to a person under the age of 14), sexual assault, sexual assault with a weapon, ...{and so forth}." (Hamilton Spectator, Jan. 15, 2004). On February 28, 2004 in the Hamilton Spectator gave an account of a pedophile arrested retrieving a child from its Day Care, a child he had befriended and was "grooming". (See article attached). CASE states, "From a Statistics Canada report released in March 1999, we learned that 62% or about 19,000 of the sexual assault victims reported in 1997 were under age 18. Those 19,000 child victims were divided into to groups: 9,200 were children 11 or under and 9,800 were 12 to 17. ...The report stated that up to 90% of sexual assaults still go unreported because the victims feel they are guilty and are reluctant to go to court. (C.A.S.E. - Vol. 2, 2002) This immature mind-set is exactly what perpetrators exploit in their luring and use of children. In other words, those 19,000 child victims were possibly 10% of the actual number of child sexual assaults! As an example of the confusion and yet desperation of a possible young victim comes the following e-mail from "worried in canada - forbesdonnie@hotmail.com", dated January 27, 2004, and sent to C.A.S.E. (A copy is available for councillors.) Spelling is as in the original e-mail: "I would just like to know if you would know if there is anything legelly that could be done about a relationship where to people love each other very much. But the ages are 15 and 32. Is there anything legally anyone could do?" It is difficult to discern the situation of this child, but his or her concern was so great that the e-mail was sent to Canadians Addressing Sexual Exploitation. Sadly, CASE sent back a reply, the last sentence of which was "...Canadian Law, likely, cannot help you" (at least as it presently stands). C.A.S.E. goes on to say, "The Progress of Canada's Children in the Millennium Report, January 2000 states that the child sex trade exists everywhere in Canada from large to small communities. It is estimated that there are 100 child sex trade offences every day in Vancouver. RCMP Sergeant John Ward, commenting on the report said that information about Vancouver's "Kiddie Stroll" is now in the Internet, complete with prices, making Canada a tourist destination for child sex." (Toronto Star, Jan. 20, 2000). Further CASE says , "In November 2000, an international report on child abuse from ECPAT singled out Canada as a haven for sexual predators of children. The report stated that Canada has one of the youngest ages of consent for sexual activity at 14, whereas, other countries are raising the age to 18 years." (The age of consent for sexual activity is 16 in Britain, New Zealand and Australia, and 16 to 18 in the United States. {CASE-Bulletin #6, Oct. 29, 2002) "At one point, Canada was considered a global leader in combating sexual exploitation of children. Regressive age of consent laws, flawed legislation and an overall lack of planning by the federal government are turning Canada into a venue for sexual exploitation of children. "(Report: Looking Back, Thinking Forward - ECPAT 2001) * ECPAT - End Child Prostitution and Trafficking (Thailand) Several reports of kidnapped nine to eleven-year-old children in the Toronto area, some of whom are still missing, only lowers the age of victims from several years ago in the heart-rending cases of 15-year-olds Leslie and Kristen at the hands of Bernardo and Holmolka. Those heinous crimes were on our doorstep. And now, child pornography legislation has done nothing to curb the sexual assault of children, particularly as it is challenged in the courts by the likes of convicted pedophile J. R. Sharpe of B.C. The March 4th, 11:00 p.m. news on CH TV carried the story of a rescued 12-year-old prostitute in Toronto. Although detective sergeant, Rick Wills of the Hamilton Police Force stated that Hamilton has not seen such a case in the past four years, community stake holders need to be vigilant. He referred to the greed of organized crime which victimizes such young girls and boys too, often controlling them with drugs. Prostitution and child pornography are two of the largest activities of organized crime. The point is, there are children in Hamilton, including vulnerable young teens, who need protection in whatever way this City can help provide it. You have read the excellent description by the City Solicitor of the "three-tier age and capacity based regime for dealing with sexual offences against children....Children under twelve years of age are placed in a category where they cannot legally consent to any form of sexual activity, based on empirical evidence that young children are unable to evaluate the dimensions of consenting to sexual activity, and are particularly vulnerable to control by adults." Parents can attest to the fact that teens of various ages would fall into this same category. It is ludicrous that Canada's legislation states the arbitrary age of twelve years, at which point vulnerability "to control by adults" is ended. This notion is indeed at the epicentre of the Age of Consent issue. "...children aged twelve and thirteen, ...can legally consent to sexual activity with another person who is within two years of their own age, if the other person is over twelve." Obviously, this provision was placed in legislation in 1988 to "excuse" experimental behaviour of children. And yet, it is the enshrinement in law of the "legitimacy" of sexual behaviour in children even younger than 14, which can serve as temptation for adult pimps, "voyeurs", pedophiles, and the porn industry, even though all of those phenomena are illegal. It is the low Age of Consent that has required this sort of "cataloguing" of the sexual activity of even the very young child, within our legal system. The slate needs to be wiped clean. C.P.C.S. is of the opinion that a resolution from the City, directed to the Federal Government, and urging the Age of Consent be raised from 14 years, would add support for a common-sense approach to the protection of minors (under 19) of "all "ages. | ||
The Harm and Repercussions of Premature Sexual Lifestyle |
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| Under the heading of "Irreversible Harm," C.A.S.E. further states that, "Sexual Exploitation of children... causes extreme lifelong emotional, mental, physical and sexual harm. Very often the damage is irreversible and at best it is very difficult to treat. ...it is an indictment of the health of Canadian society. We must recognize that sexually exploited children are neither problems or criminals. These children have been subjected to a cruel, humiliating and painful form of abuse that very often terminates their childhood, damages their bodies and can destroy lives. They need sensitive treatment and conscientious care for recovery." (CASE - Vol. 2, 2002) C.P.C.S. recommends the viewing by adults of the current film in local movie theatres, entitled "Monster," the true (although not Canadian) story of a woman, sexually victimized at the age of eight years and then punished by her father for her involvement. With a childhood lost, her adult life became a twisted nightmare of physical and spiritual survival, during which she was further victimized, and turned to serial killing. It was "jungle justice" to her, and yet, all the while she held out hope, and strove for true love and companionship. She was executed after many years on Death Row. (Now you do not have to see the film!) The point is, we adults must care enough about our children to safe-guard them from harm, any sort of harm, even at the cost of some adult's freedom of expression. "The state may legitimately limit basic freedoms only to prevent harm." Our courts must protect self-esteem and dignity of minors, not the "freedoms" of the adults who prey upon them. This organization applauds City Council for mandating, seven years ago, the Hamilton Sexual Health Network. Its programs, through education in the schools and community, slowly as funds permit, are addressing those issues which will improve the likelihood of successful journeys through adolescence. Premature sexual activity is at the root of the following problems experienced by youth, their families and their communities. The Age of Consent issue can be relevant in all of these problem areas:
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The Relationship of the Age of Consent and Public Health |
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| Although the City's report, in reply to our presentation in 2002 involved a great deal of input from Public Health, and a rationale as to why "sexual health services (birth control, etc.)" must be available for children as young as 12 years; and although the argument was presented that raising the Age of Consent would be detrimental to youth accessing local clinics; the positions put forward are unhelpful, and sound rather self-serving. Common sense suggests that a deterrent to older individuals to avoid "jail-bait" , (ie) avoid sexual contact with youth under the age of 18 by raising the Age of Consent - would, in fact, reduce the sexual involvement of children with older persons. And that is the whole thrust of this presentation. As to the decision of teens, close in age, to be sexually active, sexual health clinics would always be there as a safety net with good, solid, comprehensive information for the informed choice of their clients. Any Age of Consent legislation could be tailored to deal with close-in-age teen situations, with the application of common sense, the discretion of the courts, and the support of the community. In the event of fewer teens requiring sexual health services with a rise in the Age of Consent, public health resources could be re-distributed in the promotion of programs supporting positive initiatives for teens and their families, including abstinence, healthy life-style, good decision-making, the creation of self-esteem, the parent-teen relationship, and so forth. Happily, all of these positive programs have begun within Hamilton's Sexual Health Network, with positive preliminary feedback, thanks to the mandating of that body in 1997 by the (Regional) City Council. The Staff report on the Age of Consent should not conjecture that raising the Age of Consent will discourage young people from accessing "sexual health services," but rather conjecture that there may be fewer individuals with a need to access "sexual health services". This is because they may choose to not be sexually active, if supported by a change in legislation, by positive school curricula echoed in the community by Public Health, and by parenting seminars. Proof of less need for "sexual health services" (ie: birth control, etc) are the 1998/99 statistics of our own Public Health department that a 57% decline in teen visits to the local sexual health clinics (because of fewer hours of operation as a result of a funding decrease) coincided with a 22% drop in the pregnancy rate! (See chart attached, courtesy of Hamilton Wentworth Family Action Council.) On another note, quoting the Staff report, ".... any such legislation would possibly also be struck down by the Supreme Court of Canada, since the Court has stated that the current age-based consent provisions recognize the developing autonomy interests of children." How is it that the "autonomy" of the child is a good thing in its entirety? Even the age of consent for marriage in Canada is 16, and parents give the consent! How are 14-year-old children at the grade 8 or 9 level in school (not to mention grades 10, 11, and 12) prepared to make the "autonomous" decision, to become sexually involved? Such a notion divides off the child from his/her family, and the only long-term support system he/she has, particularly at the critical time of premature sexual involvement, assault, pregnancy or abortion. We need to be suspect of the "autonomy" notion being forced upon children when they are not mature enough to deal with the peripheral issues and consequences of their choices. It is wrong-minded, and leads to the thought that children are deliberately being polarized away from their families and support system by present age of consent legislation, public health policy, and the absence of a national strategy to fight child sexual assault. Rather, public health clinics, nurses, parents, schools, police, the courts and the community need to transparently work together in support of youth and their problems. | ||
Proposed Amendments to Canada's Child Pornography Legislation |
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| Bill C-12, some 15 months after its introduction to the House as Bill C-20, is only at first reading, and it is the opinion of CPCS that the protection it affords children involved in the creation of pornography is nebulous at best. John Robin Sharpe - Canada's most famous (infamous) self-proclaimed pedophile, stated (National Post, Feb. 27, 2004), that the cross-examination of children on the stand in the determination of the type and quality of his/her relationship with the adult criminally charged, as proposed in Bill C-12, "will be entertaining and educational"! (See article attached, National Post, Feb. 27, 2004) What of the anguish and re-victimization of the child as this cross-examination goes on, for the judges to determine "the nature and circumstances of the relationship". The proposed legislative amendment seems bent on protecting adults from the courts, rather than protecting children from adults. Further, the Staff report says, " Other proposed amendments...will eliminate the defence for material which has 'artistic merit or an educational or scientific purpose'....This defence will be replaced with a new defence, if the material...'serves the public good'...." Subsections 163.1(6) and (7) simply substitute the term "public good" for "artistic merit". Again, it is the adult who is defended by this new statute. Where is the protection for the child of 14 years involved in the creation of this pornography as the court interprets, subjectively, how it might serve the "public good" and thus, render the adult "innocent"? The National Post article quoting Ms. Roz Prober of "Beyond Borders", (a group fighting the sexual exploitation of children), states "...the government should abandon the exploitation law and instead simply raise the age of consent for sex to 16 from 14, meaning sex with anyone under that age would constitute sexual assault. That would make prosecutions more cut and dried, without need for detailed and potentially embarrassing testimony from children, and would be in line with many other industrialized countries..." (National Post, Feb. 27, 2004)
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Conclusion |
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| Councillors, as the Staff report points out, changing of the Age of Consent to 18 would require other legislative amendments at both the Federal and Provincial levels. Time, effort and collaboration will be required to meet the challenge. Please do not be deterred by what may seem to be a daunting task. Your community needs your determination.
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| REQUEST | ||
| Canadians For Positive Community Standards requests Hamilton City Council to adopt and forward a resolution (worded motion) as follows, to Federal Justice Minister, Irwin Cotler, and Prime Minister of Canada, Paul Martin, with copies to local Hamilton Members of Parliament: John Bryden, Sheila Copps, Stan Keyes, Beth Finny, and Tony Valeri. "On behalf of the residents of the greater Hamilton, Ontario community, the Hamilton City Council requests that the government of Canada raise the Age of Consent for sexual involvement of young persons from fourteen (14) years of age to eighteen (18) years of age; and further, that the government of Canada create a national strategy for enforcing effectively the child pornography laws in Canada."
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C.P.C.S. thanks Committee and Staff members for their excellent service in dialoguing with the community.
Canadians For Positive Community Standards
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| RESOLUTION | ||
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The City of Hamilton unanimously passed the following resolution on March 10, 2004: "That the City of Hamilton, in opposition of sexual exploitation of children, implore the Government of Canada to move quickly and amend federal legislation, to raise the age of consent from 14 years of age, and thus to make a positive change in an alarmingly growing area of sexual exploitation of our children." | ||
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Minutes of Hamilton's Social and Public Health Services Report 04-004, 9:30 a.m., Tuesday, March 9, 2004.
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