Mr. Speaker, I am amazed to be here participating in a debate on the illegality of child pornography. I am offended by the attitude of the Liberal government and the minister who feels that Canadians have no right to be participating or observing a debate on this issue. I would like to know, who are they to say that Canadians are overreacting because they are concerned that a judge has said that it is legal to possess child pornography?
This law was originally passed unanimously in parliament in 1993, but the decision of one man, Mr. Justice Shaw, has undone all the work by the people's representatives.
This case raises a number of issues that go beyond the impact upon the Sharpe case specifically and the possession of child pornography in general. In this case Robin Sharpe got off. At least one other case was thrown out in the B.C. provincial court because of Justice Shaw's decision. The possession of child pornography is therefore currently legal in the province of British Columbia.
Make no mistakes, child pornography is not about pictures of naked infants on bearskin rugs. It is about children, sons, daughters, grandchildren, being abused and exploited by adults.
The only people whose rights were being infringed by this law are pedophiles. I believe that we as a society have a right to deny this extreme minority the right to see young children being abused. Make no mistake, we mean real children. Real children are being abused to make child pornography. There is no acting. There is no consent, because children can never give consent to acts like this. Because it is now legal to possess child pornography in B.C., I am sure that more children are going to be used for the creation of pornography to satisfy the appetite of pedophiles. That means that more children will become victims of sexual abuse in order to satisfy the charter of rights and freedoms of pedophiles. The results are not necessarily apparent immediately in the now. But many of the negative recriminations occur 10, 15 or 20 years later. How often do we hear convicted adult sex offenders plead for reduced sentences because they themselves were sexually abused as children? What type of circle of violence are we creating by legitimizing the possession of child pornography?
I want to extend Justice Shaw's reasoning to other criminality that perhaps possession of stolen property could be determined to be an infringement of the possessor's freedom of expression. What about the possession of illegal drugs? It could easily be argued that their use relieves tension and there is no harmful intent. Or what about the possession of unregistered firearms? Surely it could be argued that Bill C-68 was an infringement on the freedom of expression of gun owners, the vast majority who have no harmful intent.
Perhaps this government should spend as much effort keeping child pornography out of the hands of pedophiles as it does restricting the rights of legitimate gun owners.
I would like to raise another spectre. That is of courts taking over the role of parliamentarians. It does not matter if 301 individuals representing five different political parties and, more important, 30 million Canadians unanimously agreed that child pornography is wrong. One individual has changed the law in British Columbia.
I know the case is under appeal, but that means that three other judges in the B.C. court of appeal will get their say. After that maybe nine other judges in the Supreme Court of Canada will have their say. While I respect the roles courts have in administering justice they should not have the right to overrule the will of the members of this House who are elected by Canadians to make laws on their behalf.
This is about far more. It is about respecting our constitution. This is another example of the courts interpreting the charter of rights in a manner in which it was not intended. Every now and then the Prime Minister likes to claim responsibility for introducing the charter of rights. I would like to think that he did not bring in the charter of rights to give pedophiles the right to possess child pornography.
It was almost 800 years ago that the British had the Magna Carta which introduced such concepts of guarantees of rights and the rule of law, as well as laying the foundation for parliamentary democracy. The Americans have had their constitution and the bill of rights for over 200 years. Despite the spectacles that we see today in the American Senate it aided ennoble causes like the freeing of slaves. Now if we compare these two historic documents with our charter of rights that is still shy of its 20th birthday, it will be known as the document that gave pedophiles the right to possess child pornography. We should be ashamed that our charter is even being challenged in this way.
I cannot overemphasize the importance of this case to the value of the charter and to the courts in general. I suspect very few Canadians can list the benefits that the charter has brought in their day to day lives. But if this decision is allowed to stand, they will certainly remember it. Even before this decision in my five years as a parliamentarian I have received countless letters and phone calls of constituents telling me that Canada would be much better off without the charter of rights. If this decision were to stand, that is, if the courts decide that it is more important to allow pedophiles the right to see children being abused than it is to protect our children, I am afraid I could not disagree with them.
If the charter of rights and accompanying court decisions are to have any value at all in the lives of Canadians then they must have the support of Canadians. Decisions like this left to stand will drive away any of the support that might still remain for the charter of rights and our constitution.
A constitution or a charter of rights that does not have the support of the people is an empty document. It is a document that is devoid of any relevancy. That is our challenge today, to make sure our charter of rights respects the feelings of Canadians and has relevancy to all our lives in Canada.