Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the hon. member to comment on something that concerns me a great deal about the motion.
I agree with him that on an issue as complex as this we must sit down and think clearly so that we do not do the wrong things for the right reasons. We must clearly understand the issues of sexual exploitation of children, which all of us in the House are opposed to, completely and totally. I have spent a great deal of my time as secretary of state for the status of women working with the Minister of Justice dealing with the issues of commercial sexual exploitation of children and youth. It is an abomination and we must work very hard on that issue.
However, the term legal age of consent and raising it to 16 concerns me. It is not about sexual exploitation but about the sexuality of young people below the age of 16 and their ability and right to consent to engage in sexual activity at the age of 15 or sometimes at the age of 14.
I recall clearly that sexual activity in young people was beginning at the age of 13 when I was practicing medicine. I remember that it was a very difficult time for physicians who were trying to help those patients to make the right decisions with regard to issues of sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. How do we help these young people? How do we discuss birth control and the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases? How do we talk about the issue of safe sex with these young people?
First and foremost there must be a recognition that young people under the age of 16 do have a sexuality that they need to express and engage in consensually with each other. That is what concerns me about this age limit that we are placing here. Second, what happens to physicians and other health care providers who are helping these young people through these difficult times? They discuss sex in a logical and clear way in terms of the pros and the cons and talk about protection, what the risks are, and what the up sides are of this issue. What might this prohibit when we talk about appear to describe children engaged in sexual activity?
Does that mean that a physician counselling a young person below the age of 16 would be considered to be describing or appearing to describe children engaged in sexual activity? Would it mean that two young people at the age of 15 who mutually consent to have sex would suddenly be indulging in an illegal activity? Is that an appropriate thing? Would it mean that when health care workers give these young people either condoms or other forms of birth control they would be doing something illegal?
There are huge ramifications to this consent issue that concern me. I wonder if the hon. member could comment on this because for me, the problem of appearing to depict means that a young girl of 15 cannot write anything in her diary about her relationship with a young boy of 15 with whom she had sexual activity. How she writes that would be apparent to depict the engagement in sexual activity. Those are the concerns I have.
I understand the intent of the motion and I do not have a problem with the intent. For many of us who are parents and physicians, we are all concerned about exploitation of children and youth and the engagement of sexual activity without consent. For me this age of consent is a major concern.