Law should protect vulnerable teens
 
By Mindelle Jacobs
Edmonton Sun
 
Our laws are often necessarily complex, but on some issues there is a compelling need to draw a line in the sand and banish ambiguity.

Sadly, the Liberals have chosen feebleness over determination when it comes to protecting children from sexual predators.

Child-protection groups like Beyond Borders have been lobbying the government for years to raise the age of sexual consent from 14 to 16, to bring Canada in line with most western democracies.

Instead, the Liberals have resurrected an old bill that attempts to safeguard children by adding a new category of sexual exploitation to the Criminal Code.

Under the proposed bill, it would be up to a judge to decide whether a teen between 14 and 18 years old is being sexually exploited.

"Factors that a judge may consider include the age of the young person, the age difference between the parties, the evolution of their relationship and the degree of control or influence exercised over the young person," explains the background paper.

Instead of introducing legislation that would definitively declare that young teens are off limits to much older partners, the Liberals are pushing a wishy-washy compromise that will do little to stamp out child exploitation.

The new bill emphasizes the conduct of the accused, as opposed to the consent of the young person to sexual activity.

As Conservative justice critic Vic Toews points out, winning a conviction would be virtually impossible. "That's an absolute nightmare to try and prosecute," he says.

"Ask any prosecutor how you can prove an exploitive relationship."

Imagine a defence lawyer grilling a 14-year-old girl about the intricacies of her relationship, he says.

"Many children of that age don't even feel they're being exploited. They feel that they're in love," says Toews.

Fellow Conservative MP Myron Thompson recently tabled a private member's bill that would raise the age of consent to 16.

It's a perfectly sensible way to help prevent men from preying on young teen girls.

Even women from the polygamous Mormon sect in Bountiful, B.C., want the age of consent raised, they told a conference on sexual exploitation in Winnipeg earlier this month.

"Come on, children are children," one of the Bountiful women told the gathering.

But the Liberals remain stubbornly blind. In the House of Commons last week, Justice Minister Irwin Cotler made it sound like boosting the age of consent would result in scores of innocent teens being convicted.

What balderdash. A close-in-age exemption to shield teens from prosecution would solve the problem. It has been suggested that teens be exempted from the law if there is no more than a five-year age difference between partners.

A 19-year-old boy, for instance, would be allowed to have sex with a 14-year-old.

Anyone older would be prosecuted.

Cotler also noted that there are several hundred 15-year-olds in Canada who are either married or living common-law.

The solution, again, is simple. Exempt the married couples and the common-law couples who are close in age and prosecute the rest.

We can't afford to be hesitant over child protection. Doing so simply gives pimps, reprobates and other riff-raff free access to children.

"It's not a difficult law to pass and it's not a difficult law to enforce," says Toews of Thompson's bill to raise the age of consent.

"It sends a very clear message to adult predators not to exploit these children."

How ironic that a government that purports to champion human rights is so reluctant to take a strong stand on behalf of vulnerable teens.

Mindelle can be reached by e-mail at: mindy.jacobs@edm.sunpub.com
 
canoe.ca
Originally published February 27, 2005
 
Back