Call To The Canadian Goverment To Raise The Present Age Of Sexual Consent from 16 To Atleast 18

To:  Canadian Government

To The Members Of The Canadian Government .....

We the undersigned DEMAND that the Canadian Goverment RAISES Present Age Of Sexual Consent from 16 to at least (or more so) the same age as that of the voting age in Canada, which at the present time is 18 years old.

It is undeniable that young children form a special and vulnerable group in society.

Nowhere is this more true than in the context of sex – so much so that we often need to protect them by placing limitations on what they do sexually.

Below a certain minimum age, children are at risk of not having the physiological, biological and, most importantly, emotional development to cope with sex, and with the many possible consequences of having sex, which include teen pregnancy, illegal or legal abortion, childbirth, parental and societal disapproval, and unsupported parenthood.

Unfortunately everyone matures at a different age. That does not mean that choosing an average, approximate age for consensual sex, such as 18, is arbitrary or wrong.

There is no great harm in asking “early developers” to wait for a year or two before they begin to have sex. After all, young people are not always as mature as they like to claim they are.

The current Age of Consent may increase the risk that HIV infection will spread more widely among Canadian young people.

Even without resorting to a moralistic view of the criminal law (i.e. that its function is to stem moral disintegration and to uphold the ‘shared morality’ of society), there is adequate justification for age of consent laws.

Society has a vital interest in ensuring that its naturally weaker members are protected from harm, and doing so is precisely the function of the persuasive and coercive powers of the criminal law.

It is therefore legitimate for the law to aim to prevent sexual harm to children by criminalising sex with them.

Indeed, age of consent sex laws are not the only laws dependent on age.

In Canada it is also an offence, for example, to sell tobacco to children, or to employ children below a certain age in the entertainment industry, whether or not the child ‘consents’.

Society must recognise the reality that the apparent expression of ‘consent’ by a child is often different from consent expressed an adult. In the case of the former, therefore, it is not always true that saying ‘yes’ is a true expression of human autonomy.

By having a lower age of consent (or worse, getting rid of it entirely) legalises, legitimises and brings above ground the many problems that we are fighting underground.

It will provide an opportunity for paedophile networks to expand, by allowing them to target even younger children – now lawfully.

The problem of paedophilia is already a rapidly growing one, made worse by its expansion into ‘related’ avenues such as child pornography.

In addition to the obvious problem of paedophilia, the problem of the sexual predation of young children also encompasses the problem of youth prostitution (since prostitution is itself already legal in many countries), and the international traffic in boys and girls.

We act as a wall of protest, to our Government, demanding the rights of our children to have safety in their lives and security in their homes!

We will not stop until the Government steps up to the plate and accepts the cloak of responsibility. Their actions must meet our demands, the demands of the public.

The residents/citizens of Canada, who are the undersigned Petitioners, demand that the above statements be addressed and implemented into a bill as quickly as possible and in such a way that all Canadian residents/citizens see immediate positive step taken by all of the members of the Canadian House Parliament Assembled towards the enactment of this bill and future safety of our children!

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Call To The Canadian Goverment To Raise The Present Age Of Sexual Consent from 16 To Atleast 18 Petition to Canadian Government was created by and written by Brittany Cameron (miss-blue@live.ca).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.