Canadian Politics

I had the below article published in my local newspaper in 2005. However, I still believe it has merit, and it's as relevant today as it was then. I hope you read the article and voice your opinion below.

Time to Raise Age of Sexual Consent

(Jul 12, 2005) Published in The Cambridge Times newspaper

Many Canadians look at you as if your head has shrunk to the size of a pea, and your clothes are on backwards when they are told that the age of sexual consent in this country is 14.

Sixteen, some will argue. Others (generally the ones with kids who are either 14 or approaching that tender age) look nauseous.

How is it that young people can't smoke until they are 19, vote until 18, buy a lottery ticket until 18, drive until 16 or even drop out of high school until 16, but are deemed mature enough to engage in full sexual relations at the age of 14, providing that the adult they are having sex with doesn't hold a position of authority?

Does this make any sense to you?

As a parent of a daughter who is almost 12 years old myself, I can tell you this scares the hell out of me.

If she exercises her right to have sex at 14, then she could be having a baby just before reaching the age of 15.

In my opinion, she won't be mature enough or financially stable enough to raise a child.

The boy or man who impregnated her is probably not going to support the baby, so guess who that odious task is going to fall to?

Yes, you guessed it, me.

Either that, or she puts the baby up for adoption, aborts it, or she tries to raise the baby while being unequipped to raise herself.

None of those choices sounds particularly appealing to me.

If the last scenario doesn't scare you enough, there is also the fact that your baby girl or boy may be having sex with your 50-year-old neighbour right now and you, as a parent, would be powerless to stop it.

In fact, if you were to go over to that neighbour's house and remove your child, you could be charged with kidnapping.

On top of all of that, pedophiles from around the world have targeted Canada as a nation that will tolerate the exploitation of our youth.

Not only will we tolerate it, we have legalized it. Fourteen-year-olds are easily manipulated by wealthier, smarter, less naive adults and so make easy targets for sexual predators.

Why are we allowing this to happen? At first we fought back, but over time many Canadians have forgotten. In 1987, the Mulroney government lowered the age of sexual consent to 14. Since then, the Liberals have refused to raise the age of sexual consent to 16.

In 2002, more than 40,000 people sent a letter to Justice Minister Cauchon asking that the age of sexual consent be raised to 18.

The Canadian Police Association has requested the age be raised twice and in 1999, the Attorney General asked that the age of sexual consent be raised to 16 in order to combat the exploitation of our children.

Despite all of these efforts, the Canadian public has not been heard. Our kids are still being put at risk, and more and more children are having children.

It is the government's responsibility to protect our children from sexual predators and most of them are doing a terrible job of it.

As a Canadian citizen and a parent of two, I urge the public to make their voices heard on this subject. Write a letter to parliament and get in touch with your local MP and tell them how you feel.

I believe there is nothing more important than protecting our young people, don't you?