Mr. Speaker, unfortunately the scourge of child pornography has become more widespread with the advent of the Internet.
While serving as trustee of the Ottawa Public Library, I fought, with success, to protect children from Internet pornography. In fact, our local solution became the pan-Canadian model promoted by the Canadian Library Association.
This afternoon, I would like to bring to your attention a petition signed by more than 5,000 Canadians from across Canada, asking Parliament to pass harsher laws to deal with people who abuse our children.
Statistics indicate that 39% of criminals with child pornography in their possession have images of children between the ages of three and five. Furthermore, 83% of these criminals have images that show children between the ages of six and twelve being sexually abused.
At present, section 163 of the Criminal Code of Canada imposes negligible minimum sentences such as 90 days imprisonment for making child pornography. For possession of such materials, a criminal may be sentenced to only 14 days in jail.
With this petition, Canadians are demanding higher minimum sentences to protect our children, fight pedophilia and provide more justice.