A few weeks ago, I received in my morning mail one of those
taxpayer sponsored postcards from my local member of Parliament, Ed
Holder, asking for my opinion on the topic of
"spanking". Mr. Holder stated that a Liberal Senator had
introduced bill S-209, which would, in his words, "criminalize
spanking". He went on to say that this bill "removes the
justification in the Criminal Code available to schoolteachers,
parents and persons standing in the place of parents of using force
as a means of correction toward a pupil or child under their
care." Currently this justification exists under section
43 of the Criminal Code, despite attempts by child advocacy groups
such as the Canadian Foundation for Children, Youth and the Law to
have it repealed.
Mr. Holder was soliciting my opinion on the following
question:
"Do you support the Liberal Senator's attempts to make criminals
of parents who chose to sometimes discipline their children by
spanking?"
Well, yes, in fact, I do.
The question in my mind is why anyone in the twenty first
century would sanction family violence of any kind. In
the not too distant past, woman abuse was viewed as a
family matter better left to the parties involved to sort
out, but is now treated as the assault that it
is. What does Mr. Holder think of
that? If you have a disagreement with a
co-worker, is it okay to physically assault him to make your
point? Do we teach our kids to settle disputes
with their peers through violence? How do we justify violence
perpetrated on the most vulnerable in society by labelling it
something seemingly innocent like spanking? Being hit is
being hit, whether you're a child, a student, an adult, a senior, a
partner, or a person on the street.
Schools have drafted codes of conduct to support positive
behaviour and reduce acts of violence among students. Should
teachers be exempt from their own school's code of conduct?
What kind of role modelling would this provide, and how could
schools support teacher on pupil violence but at the same time
condemn pupil on pupil violence? This would be rightly viewed
as the hypocrisy it is.
No, Mr. Holder, I don't want teachers or "persons"
standing in my place having the authority to smack my kids, and I
don't support parents having the right to smack their
own kids, either. And another thing, I would
appreciate it if you would take the tax dollars you're spending on
these surveys and direct them to family antiviolence initiatives
instead.
