Bill 202 – Mandatory Reporting of Child Pornography Act (Amendment)
March 22, 2010
The Chair: The hon. Member for Calgary-Fish Creek.
Mrs. Forsyth: Well, thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I am grateful to stand in this House in committee to speak strongly in support of Bill 202, the Mandatory Reporting of Child Pornography Act. I want to thank the hon. members of this Assembly for their thoughtful responses during second reading. To tackle a problem of this magnitude, we must all work as one to achieve our goal. Mr. Chair, this bill will make the reporting of child pornography mandatory when someone comes across it, adding another weapon in the fight against this terrible woe. It is not a knee-jerk reaction to a dreadful problem but a measured and reasonable response that is increasingly common at the provincial level. It will take measured, deliberate, and sustained co-ordination to stamp out this problem.
As much as I want to see the proliferation of child pornography end immediately, I know it will be a process. This bill doesn’t pretend to solve all the issues of child sexual exploitation, but it does reflect my approach in the past: step-by-step progress on the elimination of harm to children. As elected officials we know how complicated the legislative process can be. Even issues with a broad consensus don’t lead to decisive action. Care must be taken in response.
Child pornography is a growing menace. It destroys children’s lives, and it leads to a lifetime of suffering, of damaged relationships, of heartache. This is an industry, Mr. Chair, an industry with revenues in the tens of billions of dollars annually, and the sexual deviants who sexually abuse children for money or to satisfy their sick perversions are actually on the leading edge of organized crime. I don’t think there’s any ambiguity about what child pornography is, but just in case any member of this Assembly is not sure, the Criminal Code of Canada is quite clear. The focus is on sexual material. There is a concern between nudity and sexuality, Mr. Chair, but the fact of the matter is that child pornography is exclusive sexual material involving acts, not poses. We are not talking about innocent family photos here, Mr. Chair. The hon. Member for Calgary-Varsity can rest assured that his family photo collection is safe, that his family heritage won’t be left in tatters. Museums and cathedrals will not be torn down brick by brick when it becomes obligatory to report child pornography.
We are not the first province to propose this type of legislation, and we should not be the last. Albertans are reasonable people. They can see the difference between an innocent family photo and explicit pornography involving children.
Privacy is a cherished value to Albertans and an essential element of freedom and choice, but every principle has its limits. Rights are limited by their effects upon other individuals and the community.
For example, sexual offenders do not have the freedom to live wherever they please. The rights of offenders in general are curtailed in terms of travel.
The only question this bill asks of Albertans is to do the right thing: report pornography material involving children and let qualified law enforcement professionals take over. This is not a scourge that we can fight alone. We must all work together. Past cases have met with not only national but international co-operation to bring these children from harm and monsters to justice. There are great organizations in Alberta fighting this problem together. The ICE, integrated child exploitation unit, is a combined effort between the RCMP and Calgary and Edmonton police. The child at risk response team, CARRT, is another joint effort for the protection of children. Cybertip is a national effort to curtail online exploitation of children. The federal government has been working on legislation towards increasing protection against child exploitation.
In fact, Mr. Chair, they have been working on this issue since 2002. Bills C-46 and C-47 are slowly moving through the committee stage while we speak. As they are national in scope, they require the diligence to get the national execution correct. We do have a partner in Ottawa that understands the issues at stake.
We should not waste any more time. We have the power to do something at the provincial level. We should think globally, and we should act locally. Many Internet companies voluntarily forward information in regard to sites peddling child pornography. We should build on the goodwill in the broader society and take the steps that other provinces in this great country already have. This bill has the support of law enforcement and so many law-abiding Albertans. With the support of the Assembly we can make a difference in this war.
Mr. Chair, I will now table an amendment which speaks to a concern from the government on the coming into force, moving that date from July 1, 2010, to December 31, 2010. The government indicated that they could not get the regulations in place by July 1, and as a former minister of the Crown, delaying till December 31 gives the minister and their staff lots of time to get regulations in place.
The Chair: Hon. member, you have an amendment, so we’ll pause and distribute the amendment. Hon. members, this amendment is now known as amendment A1. Hon. Member for Calgary-Fish Creek please continue on amendment A1.
Mrs. Forsyth: Well, Mr. Chairman, as I noted earlier, I have been pleased to table the amendment, which speaks to the concern from the government on coming into force and moving that date from July 1, 2010, to December 31, 2010. The government indicated that they could not get the regulations in place by the 1st of July. As a former minister of the Crown, delaying till December 31 gives the minister and his staff lots of time to get the regulation in place. With that, Mr. Chair, I’ll move acceptance of my amendment A1.
Mrs. Forsyth: Well, thank you, Mr. Chair. I had to think about what I was going to say for a few minutes. I appreciate the Member for Battle River-Wainwright’s comments. I’m quite taken aback. One of the things about Bill 202, Mr. Chair, if I may tell you, is that it’s a bill that I actually have been working on for a year, and it was a bill that I was working on when I was a government member. It was a bill that I sat down with with the former Solicitor General and the Minister of Justice, who both said that they supported this particular bill.
I have in my hot little hand, Mr. Chair, a briefing note that happened to come from the government when I brought this piece of legislation forward. At no time – at no time – under the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and risks on this piece of legislation is it ever mentioned about the regulations. What it does say is that it will enhance the protection of children from sexual exploitation, thereby contributing to ensuring safer communities. The bill could increase the discovery and apprehension of predators. Weaknesses. It says that it could increase the number of reports made to local authorities, who are limited in what they can do if the materials were not created locally. It would create the burden of a number of unnecessary reports that are made to local authorities. Opportunities, Mr. Chair. The bill could demonstrate the government’s commitment to protecting children. The bill could ensure that Alberta is a leader in child protection. Then it goes on to some issues about some risks in regard to it could be constitutionally challenged.
Well, I’ve been a member of this House since 1993. I brought a very innovative piece of legislation through this Assembly called the Protection of Children Involved in Prostitution Act. The Premier of the day knew that it could be constitutionally challenged and supported having it constitutionally challenged because it was protecting our children in this province.
Mr. Chair, I understand that the July 1 date on the original Bill 202 might have pushed the limit for the department. I accepted and thought about extending it to December 31. I would be more than willing to help the government through the regulations. I would be more than willing to talk to the stakeholders in the community. I want to reiterate, though, Mr. Chairman, that the stakeholders in the community support this piece of legislation. I have never brought forward a piece of legislation since I have been here, since 1993, without consulting with the people that the particular bill would affect. That’s why the private members’ bills that I’ve brought forward in this Legislature have been successful in this Legislature. I work from the bottom up, not the top down. That is why the people in this province have supported the private bills that I have brought forward in this Legislature: the Drug-endangered Children Act, the Protection of Children Involved in Prostitution Act, the drug-endangered children apprehension act, Amber Alert. All of those have come forward because the stakeholders in this province have been consulted. Bill 202 has been consulted with the stakeholders.
We’re giving the opportunity to bring this innovative piece of legislation forward to this government, asking them to accept it. I spoke to the Member for Battle River-Wainwright. He explained that the government wasn’t and couldn’t do the regulations by July 1. I said, “No problem; we’ll give them till the 31st of December,” which is already – what? – eight or nine months. How many other children are going to be affected while we wait eight or nine months more?
I’ve been working with Cybertip. Manitoba has this legislation. Ontario has this legislation. While some of them have not been proclaimed, they have also done a lot of work. I’ve also worked with those provinces that have brought this piece of legislation forward.
I would like to ask every member of this Assembly to support the amendment that we’ve put on the table.
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