A similar Bill was introduced in each Parliament since then, but never passed.
Fourteen years after being elected, Art Hanger chairs Parliament's Justice and
Human Rights Committee, which is currently examining Bill C-22, Protection of
Children, which would raise the age of consent from 14 to 16. It is an
interesting footnote that the children he is trying to protect were born in the
year he was elected.
After the Committee hearing, at which The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada
(EFC) appeared as a witness to support the Bill, I said to Mr. Hanger, "It must
be nice to working on a Bill with two numbers instead of a Bill that has three
numbers." (Bills with two numbers, such as C-22 are government Bills, where
Bills with three numbers are Private Members' Bills, which usually do not pass
in the House of Commons.) He smiled.
And there is something worth smiling about. After so many attempts to introduce
this legislation, it is finally here, and could soon become law. Canadian
children might soon have more protection from adult sexual predators.
EFC was there to tell the Committee that it was important to raise community
standards, and to remind MPs that anyone under 18 is a child, and therefore
vulnerable, and needs the protection of the law to keep them safe. Their
arguments centred on the value of a human being, created in the image of God
and that children are to be cared for and not looked at as objects of adults'
sexual desires.
Three different police groups made there presentations alongside EFC. Their
arguments are just as compelling and their testimony is frightening enough to
cause parents to worry more about the safety of their children. Undercover
officers report that 100 percent of the time, when online, posing as a 13-year
old, conversations that are initiated with them move quickly to discussions
about sex. This usually occurs in less than one minute. Some predators who
believed that they were actually talking to a 13-year old boy or girl tried to
maintain the relationship with the undercover officer for several months, just
waiting for that youth to reach the current age of consent, which is now 14
years.
At a Committee meeting on a different day, one of the witnesses was accompanied
by a young man, who as a result of sexual abuse when he was younger, ended up
selling his body to men in a section of Toronto called Boys Town. He gave his
personal story to committee members and told them that younger boys were the
most in demand. In what was an emotional presentation, he told MPs that it is
younger children in circumstances similar to what he faced as a youth, that
need to be protected today. (This presenter was not very old, and I can't help
but wonder if similar legislation had been passed earlier in 1996, could he
have been protected?)
There were other groups who came before the Committee and who argued forcefully
that the age of consent should remain at age 14. Even in our modern age, I had
difficulty with some of the frank discussions and language that were used
around the Committee table, such as from one group, EGALE (Equality for Gays
and Lesbians Everywhere) who strongly advocated lowering the age of consent for
anal sex from 18 (as the law currently states) to 16. He had agreement from a
number of committee members. When a representative from EGALE suggested that
the legal age of sexual consent has been 14 since 1890 and should therefore be
left alone, another witness at the committee reminded him that homosexuality
was illegal in 1890 and so he should not be so quick to argue for the status
quo.
Inscribed on Parliament's Peace Tower is Proverbs 29:18, "Where there is no
vision, the people perish." The New International Bible Version says it this
way: "Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint." This can
either be taken as a descriptor of the way things are, or a warning, for us not
to let up.
Children are among society's most vulnerable persons. They need adults to
protect, guide and provide for them. For this reason, legislation across Canada
and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Canada
is a signatory, define a "child" as every person under the age of 18 years.
Canada's child pornography laws confirm a child to be under the age of 18
years. Children need society's protection-they need the protection of the law.
All federal and provincial age-related legislation has age restrictions,
whether it is the age to obtain a drivers licence, the legal age for
consumption of alcohol or the age at which one can purchase cigarettes. These
age-related restrictions exist because, as a society we recognize the
responsibility to protect our children.
At what age is a person mature enough to engage in activities that may have
life-long consequences?
A society can be judged by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens. While
Canadian society regards the protection of our children as a primary
responsibility, tragically, abuse of children still occurs on an all too
frequent basis.
