Madam Speaker, I rise today obviously to speak in favour of Bill C-27, an act to amend the Criminal Code.
At the outset I congratulate my colleague, the Minister of Justice, for championing a bill designed to improve the Criminal Code provisions in four key areas vital to the health and safety of women and children both in Canada and around the world.
I speak to this bill both as Secretary of State for the Status of Women and as a physician who has, in every one of the four aspects of this legislation, seen firsthand the results of this type of imbalance of power in society. The four aspects of this legislation are child sex tourism, child prostitution in Canada, criminal harassment and female genital mutilation.
Hon. members will recall that many of the amendments before us were introduced in the last session as Bill C-119. Since the new session we have added a new section relating to child sex tourism and a further amendment relating to child prostitution in Canada.
There are four things the bill has in common. They speak to the issue of systemic violence in society, particularly against women and children, and the commitment of the government to removing that violence.
Last year in Beijing at the fourth world conference there was a great deal of support for this issue of dealing with systemic violence, not simply by legislation but by dealing with systemic violence at its roots.
Systemic violence requires strong comprehensive provisions that will deal not only with the legal components of this but also with issues that have to do with sensitizing the population, with prevention, with education, with treating the person who is harassed or violated and with dealing with the rehabilitation of the violator or the harassor. These things are very important if we are to put an end to this kind of violence in society. While this is an important component of a comprehensive strategy, it is not the only component.
As well, many of these issues of violence stem from roots that have to do with cultural and religious backgrounds, with social issues which make violence a traditional imbalance of power in our society. Those in society who have very little support, who have very little voice to speak for themselves, who have very little autonomy and independence are the ones who are traditionally the victims of violence. We can see in all four of these issues they tend to deal with women and children who are still among the people in society who cannot speak for themselves or who cannot defend themselves.
In Beijing it was clearly stated religion is not an excuse for mutilation and for violence.
I urge everyone in the House to support the bill. Going abroad to have sex with children is exploitation at its worst, at its most shameful. It means we will not do in this country certain things we feel ashamed of, and we go to another country where we can be hidden by anonymity to exploit and abuse other people's children.
The Criminal Code already addresses certain aspects of sex tourism. Section 212 could, now that we have seen it in its full entirety as an amendment, affect tour operators, travel agents and agencies offering sex tours. Subsection 1(a) deals with specifically providing or attempting to procure whether in or out of Canada, and that obviously refers to those who would set up tours or agencies which would allow people to go on this kind of venture. Subsection 1(g) deals with entering or leaving Canada for the purpose of prostitution. This is an indictable offence which will be given not less than ten years.
Canadians are seen as role models to the world. For us as a country to allow Canadians to go across the world to exploit and violate children is absolutely unacceptable. The bill sends a clear signal that this behaviour is unacceptable at home and it is unacceptable abroad, especially with the extraterritorial provisions in the bill.
Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Belgium, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and the United States have already adopted legislation which permits prosecution of nationals for sexual activities with children. A world congress against sexual exploitation of children will be held in Stockholm, Sweden on August 27 of this year. Canada will send government representatives. The congress is expected to develop a declaration and a plan of action.
Clearly there is an international environment which upholds the principles we in Canada have included in the amendments to this bill.
Bill C-27 further amends section 7 of the Criminal Code allowing proceedings in Canada against Canadian citizens who engage in activities associated with child prostitution when they are outside the country. This is an issue of morality. It is an issue of human rights.
The second component of the amendments deals with changing these things at home. As my mother used to say, charity begins at home. It would be hypocrisy for us to make provisions which would create a problem for people who go abroad and not deal with the people at home who continue to exploit children.
These amendments will make the pimping of a child under 18 an aggravated offence and will look at those who procure children under the age of 18 and those who use violence. When we talk about systemic violence we are talking about an imbalance of power. The perpetrators will use that power and violence to make those children under 18 continue to prostitute themselves.
The amendment will deal with a very important component in the imbalance of power, where fear and anxiety play a major part. Many people who have been exploited in this kind of system are afraid to speak against their abuser or their exploiter. In this case, it will be made easier for children to testify behind a screen so that they do not have to be afraid of what might occur after they have testified.
The third component of the amendment makes it illegal to cause someone to fear for their safety or the safety of someone unknown to them by following them, by threatening them, by communicating threats to them either at home or at work. This amendment is important because it will ensure that murder committed while stalking will now be seen to be first degree murder whether or not it can be proven that it was planned and deliberate.
The penalty for first degree murder is 25 years with no parole. This is really important because in the past the argument was always made that the person did not intend to go ahead and do this, that it happened by mistake and was a crime of passion. Stalking clearly says that a person is seeking to threaten and harm someone. Now that person should be made responsible.
Finally, the fourth component of this bill deals with female genital mutilation. This is a very complex and sensitive issue because it deals with cultural and religious beliefs. However, it has become an international cause celebre. The World Health Organization, UNICEF, United Nations and Beijing discussed this issue and decided that it was absolutely unacceptable to use religion or culture as a reason to inflict violence on anyone.
As a physician, I can say that female genital mutilation is not violence against children or against women solely. It also carries with it the health problem of chronic pain, chronic pelvic inflammatory disease, chronic disease that a woman has to live with for the rest of her life making her an invalid in many instances. This is violence and abusive power at its worst because religion is used to say that someone must succumb to this kind of violence.
Paragraph 232 of the platform for action at Beijing requires governments to prohibit female genital mutilation wherever it exists and gives vigorous support to efforts among non-government and community organizations and religious institutions to eliminate such practices.
While I said earlier that we require comprehensive plans and strategies to deal with the issue, legislation is one of them. Education, sensitivity training and awareness must be a component. Status of Women Canada, the Solicitor General and Health Canada have been working with communities and grassroots organizations to deal with this issue.
We have found that communities which have been subjected to some of these violent episodes such as female genital mutilation, it is very difficult for people to speak out. It is very difficult for them to speak against what is a religious practice, especially when they live in these communities.
Dealing with these issues on the ground and going out into the communities is very important. We need to talk about systemic violence, not only in terms of legislation but in terms of setting clear, comprehensive, holistic strategies where we work across departments, where we work across governmental levels and where we work within the community and with NGOs to ensure that we deal with these issues fully.
At this time, the Criminal Code prohibits female genital mutilation in Canada. It also prohibits having a child removed from Canada to have female genital mutilation performed. The Criminal Code states that it is illegal. One cannot remove a person from the country in order to perform an illegal act.
This amendment clarifies this. It also adds the very strong educational and sensitivity component we were talking about earlier by defining female genital mutilation as aggravated assault.
Maiming and wounding a person is not a cultural practice. Anyone under 18 cannot consent or have any person consent to having this terrible act done on them.
Underlying all these four amendments to the Criminal Code is something very important. It speaks to removing that imbalance of power that is systemic in our society today. It is a way of warning abusers in positions of authority or trust who abuse through religion or parenting. In many instances, children as young as five years of age have been subjected to child sex tourism in some countries of the world. This is not sex tourism. It is pedophilia.
The exploitation and abuse of those who are at the lowest rung of the ladder, women and children, must be stopped. I see this bill as being a step in dealing with the issue.
I urge everyone in the House to vote for the bill. Let us continue to work on other ways to bring about, not only legislation, but comprehensive strategies so that this country can be a safe place for women and their children and eventually the world will no longer exploit them.