I'll try to keep it brief.
Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to fill out that questionnaire of yours.
As a young Canadian involved in the work of Égale Canada, it seems to me entirely appropriate to offer the viewpoint of a young person on an issue that seems to concern Canadian youth in particular. I'd like to emphasize two points.
I really believe that, with this bill, the committee wants to protect young Canadians from sexually predatory behaviour. I have no doubt that your intentions are good. However, it must be emphasized that the Criminal Code already contains sound provisions designed to protect persons under 18 years of age from Internet luring, sexual assault and relations with a person in a position of authority.
We question the need for this change. Unfortunately, increasing the age of consent from 14 to 16 will definitely be interpreted by young people as a criminalization of their sexual activities. Although this bill contains some distinctions that permit sexual relations between youths, it sends youths under 16 years of age the message that their sexual activities are illegal.
What this change will do is effectively have a silencing effect on youth. I think we need to be worried about young people who are going to be too afraid to come forth to seek health advice, to be counselled. If our true intention is to safeguard the sexual lives of young Canadians, then our focus should be on sexual health education and not on the Criminal Code, to ensure that young people can make intelligent and informed decisions about a very important part of their lives.
Sex health education is about keeping an open line of communication for all youth, particularly for those who, in reality, let's face it, begin to experiment at the age of 14. It is about ensuring that the most vulnerable among us are the most informed about their rights and about their safety. Raising the age of consent to 16 will make keeping those open lines of communication all the more difficult and might mean that the most vulnerable among us go uninformed.
I also believe that if we want to discuss sexual relations among young people, this discussion has to include all young people, both heterosexual and homosexual. That simply means that we will have to repeal section 159 of the Criminal Code, under which the age of consent to anal intercourse is still 18.
Under the present Criminal Code, the sexual relations of a 17-year-old gay couple are an indictable offence. That is not the case of a heterosexual couple. You can see how unfair this is. In addition to being clearly unequal and homophobic, this section was ruled unconstitutional by the Quebec and Ontario courts of appeal almost 10 years ago. If Canada wants to be a fair and equitable country, it seems to me it has to legislate in a fair way.
I want to thank you for giving me your time.