Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In Canada over the last year, we have had to endure too many young people’s lives lost due to suicide, suicide brought on by bullying. Most recently, we heard of the untimely death of Rehtaeh Parsons in Atlantic Canada.
I bring this motion forward so that this Assembly can show its support for work currently underway by provincial, territorial and federal Justice Ministers. They are working hard to effect change to the Criminal Code of Canada, change which will hopefully limit cyberbullying, which will allow for the prosecution of those who take advantage of our young people through social media by cyberbullying, and hopefully, it will keep more of our young people alive for many years to come.
The parents of Rehtaeh Parsons were forced to make a decision that no parent should have to make. They were forced to terminate the life of their child. I know the misery that that decision meant for them, and I do not wish it on any parent. Seventeen-year-olds are not supposed to die before their parents do. But Rehtaeh Parsons had earlier chosen to end her life by suicide, a choice she was forced into as a result of bullying; cyberbullying, specifically.
Like Amanda Todd before her, Rehtaeh Parsons had very private and personal images of herself posted on the Internet without her consent. The ensuing bullying, harassment and blackmail were too much for both of these young ladies, and they turned to suicide as a way out of what they felt was an untenable life.
We are legislators. It is our job to make law, and by doing so to make our territory safer and a better place to live and work. When circumstances drive our children to take their own lives or to harm themselves, it is our job to do whatever we can to change those circumstances and reduce the risk to our children.
If cyberbullying is a circumstance, one way to reduce that risk is to hold to account the bullies who terrorize our children, the bullies who taunt and humiliate via the Internet and social media.
As legislators we have a powerful voice, especially when it is a unanimous one. As legislators we can lobby for change to the Criminal Code to make it illegal to share intimate images without the individual’s consent, and our voice will carry considerable weight with those making the law.
This motion asks us to lobby. It asks for the support of this Assembly for the work being done by all Canadian Justice Ministers, work which will change the Criminal Code of Canada to make it a criminal offence to share intimate images without consent. It is not a partisan motion by any stretch of the
imagination. We all should be concerned in this House about the safety and security of our children and young adults.
I ask all Members to support this motion. Let us be together on this issue and send a united, strong, one-voice message to the Justice Ministers of all Canadian jurisdictions.