Mr. Speaker, I would like to follow up what the hon. member across the way touched on. When she indicated that anyone convicted of murder as a result of stalking would serve 25 years imprisonment, she should clarify that. She knows that under section 745 of the Criminal Code that individual would have the advantage of early parole after serving just 15 years.
I do not think that should be side stepped, it is a fact. I do not think she was absolutely frank and forthright in her suggestion that anyone convicted of murder for stalking would have to serve 25 years. They, like all murderers in this country under today's law, would have the advantage of section 745 and would be able to expend taxpayer dollars in an attempt to lower the parole ineligibility after serving just 15 years.
Nevertheless, I rise today in support of the government's bill, C-27. In 1993, 52 Reform members came to Ottawa with a commitment to the Canadian people to reform Parliament. Included in those reforms was the promise to be supportive whenever possible of government legislation. We promised not to oppose government legislation simply for the sake of opposition or to gain political points.
If a bill enhances public safety we will support it. We therefore support the government's initiative in Bill C-27. Bill C-27 is a series of amendments to the Criminal Code dealing with child prostitution, child sex tourism, criminal harassment and female genital mutilation. It will help reduce violence against women and children. Therefore we support it.
The bill is not the final answer. A number of legislative changes must be implemented if we are to continue to eradicate domestic violence and child abuse. Attention must be focused on crime prevention, starting with the identification of the cause of domestic violence.
Clause 5 of Bill C-27 amends Criminal Code section 268, aggravated assault. Under Bill C-27 infibulation in whole or in part to the labia majora, labia minora or clitoris of a young person under the age of 18 will be considered aggravated assault punishable by a term of imprisonment not exceeding 14 years. The thought that there are adults in the country who are willing to subject their children to that kind of treatment is the most abhorrent aspect of the whole issue.
Therefore we will push for an amendment under this clause of Bill C-27 to completely eliminate this barbaric and inhuman practice to protect all women in the country.
In view of the concern expressed in 1992 by the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons this Criminal Code amendment is necessary. The Ontario college reported that there had been a rise in the number of requests for infibulations in the country. Infibulation is the cutting off of a young girl's genital parts, including the clitoris, and the subsequent sewing together of the opening leaving room for only urination and menstruation.
Just thinking about it, just reading about it, just speaking about it fills me with a degree of repulsion that makes me wonder why the government has waited as long as it has. As my colleague from Surrey-White Rock mentioned, we are indebted to the member for Quebec who I think spurred the government in this direction with her private member's bill. I congratulate her.
Canada has been cited by the World Health Organization as being one of forty countries involved in the practice of what has become known as female circumcision, correctly referred to as female genital mutilation. Female genital mutilation causes a number of short and long term problems including excruciating pain; hemorrhaging; occasional death; exceptionally high rates of infections to the urinary tract, bladder, reproductive organs and bowel; menstrual and pregnancy problems; anemia; and disfiguring cysts that not only reduce or eliminate sexual pleasure but often result in extreme pain during intercourse and can even prohibit it.
Suffice to say, the Canadian medical community says that female genital mutilation has absolutely no benefits but is completely unnecessary and extremely harmful.
An assistant in my office watched a documentary on female genital mutilation. As the mother of a five-year old girl she says she cannot erase the horrifying impression the film left upon her. The documentary was about the cultural practice of female mutila-
tion. In the film a four-year old girl sat on what appeared to be a stool upon a dirt floor while an elderly woman from the community using a crude instrument cut off her clitoris. No anesthetic was used. No freezing was used. As the girl screamed in horror and pain, the woman proceeded without any sign of anguish on the part of the mother, who not only witnessed the barbaric mutilation of her daughter but was part of it. The mother showing no sign of emotion restrained her daughter. When the procedure was complete the girl laid on a dirty mat, sobbing, with her feet tied together and with her hands bound.
I relay this horrible story to the House because we as a nation must signal to the world that the practice of mutilating young girls is absolutely deplorable and therefore must be outlawed everywhere.
In Somalia and other countries the practice meets cultural demands or cultural standards or preserves a sense of identity to their community, or it is done to preserve virginity and family honour. It is time the UN stepped in and protected children worldwide from being assaulted and abused in the name of culturally acceptable practices. The UN has been asked to put a stop to child labour. Therefore it is absolutely imperative that the UN move to stop this most savage abuse of children.
I urge the Government of Canada to take the lead on the issue by initiating talk with those countries that would be supportive of UN action in this regard. We must take every measure possible to protect children in this country and throughout the world.
I therefore fully support the section of Bill C-27 which makes it an offence for a Canadian citizen to obtain paid sexual services of children abroad or to engage in an activity associated with child prostitution when they are out of the country.
The most alarming part of the issue is the fact that we have adults in this country who will travel to other countries to have sexual relations with children. It is alarming for me to realize there are adults from other countries who will come to Canada and take advantage of and abuse children from dysfunctional families who are prostituting themselves. There is a lot of work for us to do within our own country as well as internationally.
I would be remiss, however, if I did not question the effectiveness of this Canadian measure in eliminating child prostitution throughout the world. While it may bring Canadian citizens to justice, it will not stop citizens from other countries from engaging in sexual relations with children. Again I believe the only way to eradicate this form of sexual abuse against children would be through UN action and action of other international bodies.
I also support the portion of Bill C-27 which imposes a mandatory minimum sentence of five years imprisonment for persons found guilty of profiting from juvenile prostitution. I have some concerns regarding the effectiveness of imposing only a five-year minimum sentence. Pimping is a serious offence and as such should carry a severe penalty. I will therefore be seeking the advice of the witnesses appearing before the standing committee regarding possible amendments to this portion of Bill C-27.
Under subsection 212(4) of the Criminal Code obtaining the sexual service of a person under the age of 18 years is an indictable offence liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years. Bill C-27 alters this section of the code by adding that it is an offence to obtain sexual service of persons believed to be under the age of 18 years. I support this change.
I would, however, recommend an additional change to make the procurement of sexual service of persons under the age of 18 years liable to a minimum of five years. Let us cut off the demand. If the Johns using these young children, abusing both girls and boys, knew they faced a serious term of imprisonment, they might think twice before they express their lust upon the children of our country.
Buying sex from children is just as bad as selling it. The sex trade in this country is a booming industry in which children appear to be a hot commodity. Child sex consumers demand young flesh. Pimps are parasites, some of them violent, who happily supply the demand. The demand for child prostitutes will not go away as long as child sex consumers sleep easily at night knowing their risk for arrest is minimal and if caught the penalty is only a maximum of five years.
According to the B.C. attorney general's office only eight B.C. men have been charged for buying sex from a juvenile since 1988. By contrast, 215 pimping charges were laid between 1988 and 1993. Sexually exploited children deserve protection in the Criminal Code with all other children who are victims of sexual predators.
Whether they are sexually abused on the street instead of in their homes or schools, the penalty ought to be the same. All children, especially those who are products of abusive and dysfunctional families which have forced them to retreat to the streets where they are further abused, deserve equal protection under the law.
If we ever hope to reduce and eventually eliminate juvenile prostitution, we must address the reasons children are turning to the streets where they are vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Despite the justice minister's admission in the fall of 1995 that he had no money for crime prevention, we must implement preventive crime measures, particularly in relation to juvenile prostitution and in relation to young offenders.
As we go about the country reviewing the Young Offenders Act, the 12-year review, we should talk to groups and organizations doing early identification and preventive work to keep young
children out of the criminal justice system, prostitution and the drug trade. There are ways and means. We must spend more of the $10 billion that we spend at the back end of the system in preventive programs. They are there and they need our help. We can keep these young kids off the streets, out of prostitution, out of drugs and out of the criminal justice system.
Those children who are turning to the streets and a life of crime must be given an alternative safe haven where they can have some hope for and assistance in having a positive and productive future.
Finally I touch briefly upon the portion of Bill C-27 regarding harassment. We are all aware of the growing problem of domestic violence in the country and the need for the section on criminal harassment outlined in the bill. We need more legislation and more preventive measures in relation to domestic violence in the country, including more power for the police to investigate and prosecute people who abuse their spouses.
If the justice minister thinks Bill C-27 and his gun registration legislation are the only measures needed to combat domestic violence, I suggest he is wrong. Firearms registration will not eliminate or decrease this form of violence. This fact was evident in the recent and horrible shooting death of 10 members of a Vernon, B.C., family by an estranged and distraught spouse.
Now only did the police in that case not follow a 1993 government policy to investigate cases of domestic violence, including those cases where there is no co-operation by the victim, they issued a gun permit to a person who had allegations of violence and abuse launched against him.
I quote from an April 10, 1996 Globe and Mail article which states:
This mass killing of 10 people last week in Vernon, B.C., has revealed fatal flaws and everyday limitations to Canada's much vaunted gun control laws.
The two handguns used-in the killings were acquired legally because there weren't enough police officers, enough public funding and enough political pressure to pursue tell-tale doubts that he might have been dangerous.
In closing I reiterate my opening statement. We support Bill C-27, but we hope to introduce amendments that will enhance its effectiveness in eliminating juvenile prostitution, domestic violence and female genital mutilation.