Mr. Speaker, in recent years a new kind of violence against women has reared its ugly head at parties, on campuses and in nightclubs across Canada. Date rape drugs have become a violent weapon used to victimize women in cowardly assaults. Colourless, odourless and tasteless, date rape drugs are slipped into drinks to render women unconscious so they can be sexually assaulted and raped.
According to a study in the Canadian Journal of Public Health, date rape drugging rates more than doubled in Vancouver, Richmond and the North Shore of the lower mainland between 1999 and 2002.
According to Statistics Canada, fewer than 10% of women who have been sexually assaulted report to a hospital, let alone to the police to pursue prosecution. The cowards who use date rape drugs need to be told through the law, with stern punishments, that their behaviour will not be tolerated.
I call on the government to take the following steps: first, create a separate section in our laws for date rape drugs with tough new penalties; second, launch a national campaign to educate young women on the dangers of these drugs; and third, streamline the collection of evidence on sexual assaults and rapes to facilitate prosecutions.
It is time for the Liberal government to step up and fight the cowardly use of these drugs that victimize and assault women.