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CONSERVATIVES TO RAISE THE AGE OF CONSENT
FOR SEXUAL ACTIVITY
The Conservative Party has long sought to
raise the age of consent for sexual relations from the present
14 years to 16 years of age. It brought this issue forward
on Opposition Day back in April 2002. Since then, several
Conservative MPs have put forward private members’ bills
to raise the age of consent. These bills have been overwhelmingly
supported by their Conservative colleagues, but the Liberal
party has resolutely refused to support raising of the age
of consent because of political pressure from homosexuals.
The latter want access to adolescent males, claiming that
such teenagers should have “choice” as to their
sexual activity to discover themselves and fulfill their sexual
desires.
Conservative Justice Minister Vic Toews introduced
Bill C-22 in the House of Commons on June 22, 2006. This bill
includes an exception to allow young teenagers, who are within
five years of age of each other, to be exempt from the age
of consent provision. Mr. Toews explained that this five year
gap for teenagers was included because the Conservatives didn’t
want to criminalize consenting sexual conduct between youths,
but “wanted to protect young people from adult predators…”
Sexual predators, who use the Internet to
lure Canadian children for sexual purposes, have made the
raising of the age of consent a critical issue, as Canada
has one of the lowest ages of consent in the western world.
This has resulted in pedophiles around the world focusing
on Canadian children to lure them over the Internet. For example,
in March 2003, a 32 year old Texas man came to Ottawa and
had sex with a 14 year old boy he had met on the internet.
When police raided the predator’s hotel room, they seized
his computer, which had 288 pictures and movies of child pornography.
Although the predator was charged with possession of child
pornography, the police could not charge him with having sex
with a minor, since the boy was 14 years of age and had “consented”
to the act.
Opposition to Raising the Age of Consent
Homosexual activists, such as the lobby organization
EGALE, the Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Ontario,
the homosexual Sex Laws Committee, the Canadian AIDS Society
and Planned Parenthood (recently re-named the Canadian Federation
for Sexual Health), have all come out swinging against this
proposed legislation, arguing that the Criminal Code already
includes a provision which came into effect last July, that
makes it illegal for people in positions of authority or trust
to “exploit” young people by having sex with them
if that person is under 18 years of age. Unfortunately, “sexual
exploitation” is not defined in the Criminal Code and
it is difficult, if not impossible, to prove that exploitation
has occurred when a young victim claims that the sex act was
consensual. Another problem with the provision is that it
leaves it up to the judge to determine whether exploitation
has occurred and this means that young persons, once in court,
frequently suffer at the hands of defence lawyers, who aggressively
cross-examine them, dispute their relationships with the older
sexual partners. This leaves them emotionally exposed and
vulnerable.
The groups opposing the raising of the age
of consent also argue that it will cause adolescents to go
“underground”, i.e. not receive assistance if they
become pregnant or if their partner is an older man, whom
they may want to protect. Nor, they claim, will adolescents
seek sexual health information if they are below the age of
16 years.
It is also significant that homosexual activists
are complaining that the Conservative bill to raise the age
of consent discriminates against gay men, since the bill does
not reduce the legal age for anal sex, which is currently
set at 18 years in the Criminal Code. The activists demand
that the age for anal sex should be the same as heterosexual
or vaginal sex. EGALE claims that “one sexual act should
not be treated any differently than any other sexual act”.
There are, however, very cogent medical reasons for prohibiting
anal sex to those under 18 years of age. This is because anal
sex is the most dangerous for the transmission of HIV/AIDS
and other STDs. Anal sex causes tiny tears in the anal tissue,
which, according to the website of the University of California,
“are like giant highways for the HIV and STD viruses
to get into the blood system.”
Surprisingly, the supposedly conservative
National Post, in an editorial on February 11, 2006, stated
that the difference in age for anal sex was “plainly
discriminatory”. It said that it will “stigmatize
homosexual and bisexual teenagers” and impose “moral
judgments on the nature of the intimacy between young adults…”
If only it were that simple! However, the National Post in
its editorial of June 26, 2006, did go on record as supporting
the raising of the age of consent to 16 years of age.
The real question to be addressed is whether
society should bury its head, pretending that adolescents
under 16 years of age are capable of giving their consent,
or whether vulnerable young persons should be protected by
the law. Fortunately, it seems that most believe it’s
a protection issue.
The bill is supported by the Provincial Attorneys
General, and, surprisingly, most of the NDP caucus and a few
Liberal MPs. As a result, fortunately, the proposed bill is
likely to be passed even without Liberal or the Bloc Quebecois
Party support.
Please write to your MP and urge him\her to
vote in favour of the Age of Consent Bill – Bill C-22.
Your MP
c/o House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
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