Subject: RE: Repeal Section 43 is the closest it has been to being passed, but your help is now critical. Fwd from Kathy Lynn
Dear Parenting Friends:
Section 43 (the law that allows the hitting of children) is winding its way through the House of Parliment for 3rd reading of it’s repeal. It is hitting a snag from the Canadian Teachers Federation in that they believe that they can’t restrain children from incurring violence on others. This is not true. Restraint is covered under Section 34. Repealing Section 43 means that hitting will no longer be acceptable as a tool of correction. As well, some members think that repealing Section 43 is not justified under TRC6 (Truth and Reconciliation Commission Recommendation). If you believe that hitting children between the ages of 2 and 12 is wrong, please send this letter below. Time is urgent. I don’t wish to start a debate here, but time is running out on an issue that has been raised at least several times in the past 35 years. I have raised 5 adult children who have not been spanked and they are also writing letters. Please help.
Here is the email template and who to send it it. Here is the letter in English and French. Please copy and paste both versions into an email, insert your signature at the end of each version, and send it as set out below.
Please engage all supportive friends, family members and colleagues in this effort. Please act with urgency, as the vote will take place very soon.
Address your message to: JUST@parl.gc.ca; lenametlege.diab@parl.gc.ca
Subject Heading: Bill C-273
Copy to:
anthony.housefather@parl.gc.ca
michael.wiseman.826@parl.gc.ca
Thank you so much for your ongoing support and commitment.
Please send this letter:
Dear Chair and Members of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights,
I urge the Committee to complete the clause-by-clause examination of bill C-273 and send the bill to the House for Third Reading as soon as possible.
Canada ended corporal punishment of apprentices in 1955, of prisoners in 1968, as a judicial sentence in 1972, and of ships’ crews in 2001. We can no longer hit sailors or inmates, but we can still hit 2-year-olds. This situation cannot stand. Canada ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991 and has been repeatedly admonished for not upholding its obligation to remove the legal justification for any level of violence against children.
The TRC called for repeal of section 43 as a vital act of reconciliation, calling it “a relic of a discredited past [that] has no place in Canadian schools or homes.” It is a colonial law that violates children’s rights to protection, dignity, and physical security. The point is not whether punching a child is still legal. The point is, as Murray Sinclair stated, “that children are totally dependent on adults for their basic needs. When their rights are violated, their lack of power renders them incapable of resistance or of taking action. Their vulnerability also causes them significant emotional and mental harm, precisely because correctional assaults are inflicted on them by adults that they depend on for protection, for love and for emotional well-being.”
The Canadian Teachers Federation is the only professional organization in Canada that does not realize that every citizen has access to section 34 should they use force to protect themselves or others. Almost 700 other organizations have called for full repeal of section 43 without any fear of spurious charges. These include the Canadian Academy of Sport and Exercise Medicine, Canadian Association of Paediatric Health Centres, Canadian Association of Paediatric Nurses, Canadian Dental Association, Canadian Institute of Child Health, Canadian Medical Association, Canadian Paediatric Society, Canadian Public Health Association, College of Family Physicians of Canada, and National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health. Many major faith groups have called for full repeal. And 63 school boards have called for full repeal without conditions.
Parents and teachers will be fully protected under section 34. In addition, they have access to the common law defense of necessity. And they have a legal duty of care. Teachers who do as the CTF’s lawyer advises – to not intervene if children are being hurt – will be guilty of negligence.
There is no reason to delay. Thousands of children have been hit and hurt since bill C-273 was introduced. Each day of delay puts more children at risk of harm. Many will be beaten because the law tells their parents it’s ok to hit them. Some will be killed, as the violence escalates.
On April 30, the International Day to End Corporal Punishment of Children, please complete the clause-by-clause examination and move the bill forward to the House of Commons with urgency. Children are counting on you.
Sincerely,
Judy Arnall 