Anti-spanking bill passed by Senate
ELIZABETH THOMPSON Gazette Ottawa Bureau
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
OTTAWA - A bill that could see parents slapped with assault charges for spanking their children has passed a crucial first step on its way to becoming law.
Bill S-209, which would prohibit a parent to use force on his or her child except in very limited circumstances, was adopted without fanfare by the Senate this evening.
The House of Commons must also adopt the bill before it can become law.
"It is to send a signal so that people who use violence in a repeated way will no longer feel protected," said Liberal Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette, the author of the bill. "It is not to arrest everyone who gives their child a tap on the arm."
Darren Eke, press secretary to Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, said the ruling Conservatives will probably be given a free vote on the private member's bill.
"We look forward to the debate that will take place when the House of Commons will consider this bill, as amended by the Senate, in the fall," he wrote in an email to The Gazette.
The bill, which has taken nearly four years to wend its way through the upper chamber, removes the defence contained in Section 43 of the Criminal Code for parents and educators who resort to corporal punishment as a corrective measure.
Without that defence, they could be open to charges of assault for striking children in their care - particularly if it occurs often or is severe.
The bill was amended, however, in response to concerns raised by groups testifying before a Senate committee, that any use of force - even to protect a child or someone else - could be criminalized.
The bill adopted by the Senate allows parents, teachers or those acting for a parent to use "reasonable force other than corporal punishment, but only in three specific circumstances:
- Preventing or minimizing harm to the child or another person.
- Preventing the child from engaging or continuing to engage in conduct that is of a criminal nature.
- Preventing the child from engaging or continuing to engage in excessively offensive or disruptive behaviour."
For example, a parent or a teacher could use force to stop a child from running out into the street or hurting another youngster but could not spank or strike the child as a routine disciplinary measure.
"No corporal punishment would be allowed, either by an educator, the mother, the father or someone acting for them," Hervieux-Payette explained.
Hervieux-Payette first tabled the bill in December 2004 after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled 6-3 that year to uphold the right of parents to use "reasonable" force to spank their children between the ages of 2 and 12, and provided guidelines.
She said the ruling sent the unintended message to parents that it was okay to hit their children between those ages - a message she hopes her bill will correct.
"It is to send a signal that it is not allowed to hit your children for education purposes," Hervieux-Payette said, noting there was no outcry when the Criminal Code was changed to ban corporal punishment in schools.
Hervieux-Payette said she believes police and prosecutors will show discretion and won't prosecute in minor cases. Parents who repeatedly hit their children deserve to be prosecuted, however, she said.
"Parents who repeatedly strike their children in front of the neighbours, I have no remorse about the police intervening. Who is going to protect those kids? As a spectator we have no power to intervene."
People are freer to strike their children than their animals, she said.
"When we hit an animal we call it cruelty and when we hit a child we call it education. ... People are ready to go to the barricades for a dog or a cat but (not) for a child."
Liberal MP Marlene Jennings, who is to pilot the bill through the Commons, said the current law must change.
"I think the time has come to abandon the use of force against our children as a way to 'correct' their behaviour," she said.
"Virtually all experts in child development agree, so let's take our Criminal Code out of the 19th century and into the 21st."
ethompson@thegazette.canwest.com
© The Gazette 2008
