Mr. Speaker, today I speak in favour of the Canadian Alliance brought forward by the member for Wild Rose, a motion to address the growing problem surrounding child pornography.
I have spoken in the House many times on issues that frustrate me, bother me and annoy me, but this one sickens me. I do not think it is because I am a mother or a grandmother, or even a female. I believe the idea of child pornography sickens most Canadians.
I attended a briefing sponsored by the member for Wild Rose where we met frontline police officers from Toronto who must track down and prosecute the makers and distributors of child pornography. These officers must view every picture, number it and catalogue it. The stress that this causes was indescribable. We saw some of those pictures, which they see on a daily basis, and I have not been able to drive those disturbing images from my memory ever since. They are truly sickening. They are extremely unsettling.
These are the same officers who must spend hours and hours a day viewing these disturbing images. Their commitment to our children is the only comfort that they get from their task. The Government of Canada must respond to their appeals for more law enforcement resources. We need to change Canada's laws to ensure that those who distribute and use child pornography are prosecuted.
Despite the empty arguments of those who support child pornography, it is not possible to make this material without causing harm. It is no different than any other form of child abuse.
One female victim of child pornography wrote:
When I was 8 years old my father made me look at pictures that showed girls doing sexual things to men in books. I went along with him, not knowing any better. He continued to rape me and use me for 4 years while using these books. Now at 16 I have found that I have a serious STD that has no cure. I have been with no one but my father. What will I tell my husband someday? I may die from this disease. Pornography has ruined my life.
She is 16 years old. How people who engage in this behaviour can believe they are normal is beyond me. How can a father give his 12 year old daughter a sexually transmitted disease not get her to a doctor for help? These actions harm the affected children for many years to come.
Another young victim wrote:
I am 13 years old. You could say that I am an average teenager, except for one fact. I am a victim of pornography. When I was very small, my real Dad sexually abused me while he was watching a pornographic video. I lost my innocence to my real Dad when he chose to use me for his own self-fulfilling needs. The things he did to me happened while he watched pornography. What did I do to deserve this? I go through times of depression, confusion, anorexia and guilt. My Mom says it was not my fault, but I still wonder--wasn't I good enough or perfect enough. I am finding that there are many others like me. People say there is no harm to pornography. I say they are wrong.
Victims of this sexual abuse do their best to avoid repeating the cycle, but the statistics tell us they are not as successful as one would hope. Most victims are saddled with a lifetime of insecurity, mistrust, sexual dysfunction, sexual addictions, intimacy issues and all the related stress and health disorders.
One victim wrote:
When I was six years old my Great Uncle started showing me pictures of men and women in all kinds of pornographic situations. As a child of divorced and busy parents I was so eager for any kind of attention I could get--even his kind. He started out teaching me to masturbate (so I wouldn't be physically damaged when he started to molest me). I only saw him every other week or so but by the time I was seven when we (my mom, my grandmother and I) moved in with him, I knew everything that was in those magazines and how to do them.
He started molesting me soon after we moved in and of course he wanted to do everything that those people did. I just tried to pretend I wasn't there. This knowledge damaged me for most of my life. We lived there for a year and I finally told a friend what was happening and she convinced me it wasn't my fault and that I should tell my father. Well my Dad got the abuse stopped by threatening to go to court with it but then finally had to take over my custody because my Mom didn't believe me and let my uncle come over to the house around me again.
Through me teenage years I abused alcohol and was very promiscuous. My view of myself was very warped. I married my husband at 17 and because of this degrading view of myself I continued to abuse alcohol and started a long string of affairs. I felt I was nothing more than a hooker so I acted like one.
Well to make a long story short 7 years ago I found I was pregnant and I didn't know if it was my husband's or the other man I was seeing at the time. I called my husband to ask him what to do (we were only a signature away from divorce) and God was in control. This man who had seen me cheat and lie to him still didn't want a divorce. He wanted to reconcile and raise the child together as a family. Well being responsible for someone other than myself woke me up and I was determined to be a better parent to my child than mine were.
What should we do as a society and a government to stop this? We can crack down on the people who produce and distribute child pornography as a first step.
In fact in a recent survey of my constituents, when asked if those caught with child pornography should be included in a national sex offender registry, 98% said, yes. Support for raising the age of consent from 14 years to 16 years was almost unanimous, at 96%. Many even suggested raising it to 18.
When asked if pornography increased the likelihood of child sexual exploitation, 88% agreed and of my constituents who responded to the survey, 100% wanted child pornography banned in Canada.
I would like to go back to the issue of the national sex offender registry and the inclusion of producers and distributors of child pornography.
The Canadian Alliance has called for such a registry for a long time. Unfortunately, the Liberal government has responded with a pathetic, watered down version. It is unbelievable that the John Robin Sharpes of this world will not be placed on the list.
Every living person who has been convicted of a sex crime should be included in the registry for life. I am looking forward to hearing the Liberal reasoning why they should not be.
How we deal with the issue of child pornography is not a measure of our freedoms of expression, but it is a measure of how much importance we place on the protection of our children.
While not everyone who looks at pornography is a rapist or pedophile, virtually every single rapist and pedophile is caught with pornography and often it includes child pornography. We know that viewing large quantities of pornography provides its reader with a distorted view of the real world around them. It skews their normal social relations. Why would we not take the opportunity to prevent this when given the chance?
Many of those who view large quantities of pornography do not even know they are in trouble.
Here is Tom's story:
As a former addict, there is no question in my mind that pornography has a profound impact on a person viewing the material. It is subtle and has a latency period, not always an immediate impact, on the individual. My sexual addiction reached its height when I finally decided to act out all those images I had been taking in over the years...I was arrested for attempted rape. The attack was my responsibility, but there is no doubt that pornography was the fuel, the drug I used to prepare for my crime. I do not think the crime would ever have occurred without it.
We have a chance today to do something good for both the victims and the perpetrators of child pornography. We have a chance to make our communities safer, our children safer.
I encourage my colleagues to stand up in support of the motion and make a very positive difference today for all Canadians.
