The Health Committee response to Motion 47 was released today. Motion 47 you may remember was passed last year unanimously in the House of Commons. Unfortunately, this report falls flat on its face.

The recommendations of this report portray a serious lack of analysis of the issues that Motion 47 sought to address. In fact, the only recommendations seem to be passing the job off on the provinces with yet more sexual education curriculum, as if that somehow solves all societies moral problems. It is frustrating that our secular culture’s only response to moral issues seems to be in the language of sexual expression, and they seem unable to analyze this issue from the moral perspective of the real and actual harm to the men, women, or children involved? There is no connection in the secular mind between sexual license and harm. Sexual license and expression cannot be impeded in any way, and if there is some perceived harm, let the teachers deal with it in their classrooms. It’s a bit too icky for the committee to seriously consider.

This report entirely ignores the contribution of violent pornography to violence against women. The majority of pornography includes violence against women, and promotes it, featuring women in a subservient position. The impact of constant exposure to violence in the psyche of the user, whether adult or child, must be considered in the way all women in society are being viewed.

Further, this report seems to think that the government has no responsibility to protect our children from the impact of accidentally viewing violent pornography at an early age. We go to extremes to protect our children from being unduly influenced by tobacco and alcohol products, but this report glosses over the impact of violent pornography and acts as if our children’s innocence is not of importance.

ARPA is non-partisan, but we are seriously disturbed by the flippancy with which this committee, and thus the government has handled this extremely important issue.

Contact your representative, and ask them to bring up this issue in the caucus, and to challenge the government on this report. Go to easy.arpacanada.ca and select the pre-drafted letter there for you on Motion 47. Please do call as well, and let your MP know that this issue is not one to be trifled with, that this should be done right the first time.