Evidence of meeting #23 for Canadian Heritage in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was violent.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

René Caron  Founding President, TROP-PEACE Association
Noémie Fiset-Tremblay  As an Individual
Myriam Bernard  As an Individual
Maxime Bernard  As an Individual
Jordan Ruby  As an Individual
Jacqueline Sékula  As an Individual
Patrick Sékula  As an Individual
Victoria Hurrell  As an Individual

3:35 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Gary Schellenberger

Welcome to this 23rd meeting of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, pursuant to the order of reference of Tuesday, October 16, 2007, Bill C-327, an act to amend the Broadcasting Act in regard to reduction of violence in television broadcasts.

We welcome today Mr. René Caron.

Sir, I'm glad we could make it available that you could be here today. I understand that you didn't trust the train today; you brought a bus, because the train went backwards the last time.

We're going to try to hold this part of the meeting to about 45 minutes. You have about 10 minutes to make your address. I'm sorry for the shortness of time, but we do have eight young Canadians coming in following you, sir, and we have to make some time for them also.

Welcome to our committee, and please bring your words forward.

3:35 p.m.

René Caron Founding President, TROP-PEACE Association

Mr. Chairman, let me inform you that if I don't give you my speech in English, it's because when I was a little boy, the old brothers taught me only 800 basic words in English, so I don't know where to put them in the right place at the right time. So I will speak in French for you and your colleagues.

3:35 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Gary Schellenberger

That's great. Thank you.

3:35 p.m.

Founding President, TROP-PEACE Association

René Caron

Before you is a signatory of a petition by over a million Canadians who have reacted to the terrible tragedy that took place at the École Polytechnique de Montréal on December 6, 1989. Fourteen young women students were murdered and ten others wounded by an insane shooter.

Like so many other Canadians, I wondered what I should do to make sure that this kind of massacre never happened again in our society, which we thought of at the time as tolerant and non-violent. When I learned that young Virginie Larivière had started a petition to have broadcasters and the CRTC commit to taking the necessary steps to impose stringent regulations requiring that the monstrous violent films, and the programs where people kill one another instead of helping one another, be shown on television after 9 p.m., I knew that something serious and positive had to be done.

In Quebec City in March 1990, I organized a meeting of Optimist clubs and teachers, and we decided to form a non-profit association to make sure that follow-up action was taken on the petition signed by a million Canadians. Virginie Larivière had a meeting with the Prime Minister of Canada, who said he was impressed by her initiative and assured her that it would not be ignored.

We all know that acts of violence have risen by 432% since 2001 on Quebec's private networks, and that, at present, over 80% of acts of violence are broadcast before 9 p.m. That is why Association T.R.O.P.-P.E.A.C.E has worked in the schools and with parents for the last 18 years in a public education campaign, to get them to think about what they are absorbing from their screens, whether on television, in video games or on the Internet.

We have formed a partnership devoted to this important and necessary mission: the Optimist clubs of Quebec and eastern Ontario, the Knights of Columbus and the CSQ in Quebec.

Nothing tangible was done by the appropriate authorities, and so we had to make our own efforts to achieve a better society. You know, as do we, that our young people are the most vulnerable victims, and that massacres like what happened at the Polytechnique have been almost everyday occurrences in our neighbour to the south, and even here in Canada.

Association T.R.O.P.-PEACE—T stands for Travail, R for Réflexion, O for Ondes, P for Pacifiques, P for Positive, E for Entertainment, A for Alternatives, C for Children and E for Everywhere—understands the clear negative effects of violence on television, and endorses the brief filed with the United States Congress in June 2000, in which those effects are identified and proved by physicians, pediatricians, psychologists and psychiatrists.

They joined forces to say that violence on television leads to an increase in youth violence. Over a thousand studies have established the cause and effect relationship between exposure to violence on television and aggression in some children.

We are not specialists, but like thousands of parents and educators we have met over the last 18 years, we believe that television violence invades children's imaginations, heightens their fears, interferes with their academic learning and contributes to higher crime rates later. Violence on television contributes to desensitizing children to real violence and the suffering of victims.

Regulating violence on television does nothing to hinder the artistic expression of the creative community. This is not censorship. But we believe that the existing legislation should be amended to regulate the times at which violent programming may be broadcast, to protect our children.

With all due respect to certain producers and broadcasters, we believe what the healthcare professionals have to say about this. Violence on television has an undeniable influence on all children. It does not transform every child into a criminal and it is not the only thing that influences children. But the studies that have been done all lead to the same conclusion: the risks it creates for a growing number of children will some day have consequences for our entire society's quality of life and feelings of safety.

I would like to thank the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage for giving me the opportunity to convey the opinion of thousands of Canadian parents and teachers who care about taking non-violence and respect seriously and doing something about them today, and who hope to inspire the best in our young people.

In fact, Optimist International, the umbrella group for hundreds of thousands of members, the real friends of youth, is preparing to give official recognition to our campaign to raise awareness for non-violence and respect, as the YMCA Canada has already done.

We have to remain clear-eyed if we are to be able to make important decisions. The time for this has come. When the choice is between the broadcasters' freedom and children's safety, it is children's safety that should take priority. That is not the case now. Broadcasters refuse to acknowledge that priority. Like thousands of others who think as we do, we believe that the government has the responsibility of regulating the times at which violent programming may be broadcast, to protect our children.

As I conclude my presentation, I add an important observation. Amending the legislation on broadcast times would, seriously and unequivocally, be much more than reasonable.

Thank you.

3:45 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Gary Schellenberger

Thank you for that.

Our first questioner is Mr. Scarpaleggia.

April 1st, 2008 / 3:45 p.m.

Liberal

Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC

Thank you, Mr.Chair.

Welcome, Mr. Caron. I was not fully aware of the history of your campaign. I remember Ms. Larivière because I saw her on television at the time. She met with the Prime Minister. Your role right at the start of the campaign was not clear in my mind. Ms. Larivière was the one who made the passionate appeal for something to be done. Was it she who started the petition, or was it you who contacted her to tell her that you wanted to gather signatures?

3:45 p.m.

Founding President, TROP-PEACE Association

René Caron

That is an excellent question that brings back fond memories.

Ms. Larivière was sponsored by the Optimist club near her home. When she set about gathering signatures for her petition across Canada, she needed people to distribute it for her. She did not knock on doors from here to Vancouver to get a more than a million people to sign. Getting those million signatures and more took help from, among others, the Optimist clubs, the Knights of Columbus and other service club organizations. Then the Prime Minister met with her in Parliament.

That was where my involvement began. I saw that nothing was being done afterwards. I said to myself that what needed to be done then was a concerted attempt to convince children, who are perfectly intelligent, to think about what they were consuming.

3:50 p.m.

Liberal

Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC

So your organization goes to visit schools. Do you do that all over Canada?

3:50 p.m.

Founding President, TROP-PEACE Association

René Caron

Our guide is on our web site in English. You can see it at www.trop-peace.com.

3:50 p.m.

Liberal

Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC

You also go to schools in Quebec. Does that mean mostly elementary schools?

3:50 p.m.

Founding President, TROP-PEACE Association

René Caron

No, we go to secondary schools too. Let me give you an example: next week, I will be in Val-Barrette in Mont-Laurier. Instead of visiting all the little schools with 75 to 125 students, the students will come to the church in Val-Barrette in the afternoon, and, in the evening, I will met the parents in the same church. Then I will take the bus—I have become a real bus person—to Rivière-du-Loup where I will go to the secondary schools, not just in Rivière-du-Loup, but also in Cacouna, Trois-Pistoles, and so on.

3:50 p.m.

Liberal

Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC

What you do is amazing.

3:50 p.m.

Founding President, TROP-PEACE Association

René Caron

It is not just me, sir.

3:50 p.m.

Liberal

Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC

But travelling all across...

3:50 p.m.

Founding President, TROP-PEACE Association

René Caron

At 82, I have still got what it takes to do it.

3:50 p.m.

Liberal

Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC

And the conviction to go with it.

3:50 p.m.

Founding President, TROP-PEACE Association

René Caron

I believe in it to the extent that, if one day my health were to deteriorate, I would have the satisfaction of having done my best, before ending my journey, to improve our society today.

3:50 p.m.

Liberal

Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC

The fact that you are out in the field means that this is no theoretical matter for you.

3:50 p.m.

Founding President, TROP-PEACE Association

René Caron

I call it educating the people.

3:50 p.m.

Liberal

Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC

You are educating the people. You meet young people and their parents. Are you finding that your involvement with children and their parents has an effect on their reactions to the programs they watch? When all is said and done, do you feel that your efforts are bearing fruit?

3:50 p.m.

Founding President, TROP-PEACE Association

René Caron

One thing is for sure: activities take place in all the communities we visit. These activities are in an intervention guide that we distribute. It is revised and republished each year. A good number of clubs formed by other participants use other approaches. For example, there is a walk for peace each year in Saint-Eustache. Young people walk five kilometres to raise awareness about the importance of peace. Parents can see their children's commitment to the cause from their balconies. That is one kind of awareness.

There is another kind of awareness that I think is wonderful. Last year, in a school of 500 students, we printed a kind of identity card bearing each student's name. It listed various forms of violence that the child could become involved in—verbal or physical violence—in class, in the bus, at home, while playing a game, and so on. On another part of the card, the child could write behaviours that he was proud to have corrected that week; the next week, he would deal with something else. They have to look into their conscience, not just for three days or for three weeks, but for three months.

3:55 p.m.

Liberal

Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC

The kids...

3:55 p.m.

Founding President, TROP-PEACE Association

René Caron

They are very serious about it.

3:55 p.m.

Liberal

Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC

They follow through with it and an adult...

3:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Gary Schellenberger

Excuse me. Great dialogue is going on, but Ms. Mourani is really waiting to ask a question.

Thank you.