|
BCIFV home >
Media Releases > February
7, 2002
For Immediate Release: February 7, 2002
Contact: Penny Bain, phone: 604-669-7055 or 1 877-755-7055
or
pbain@bcifv.org or www.bcifv.org
Media Release:
New BCIFV Video Coincides With Ontario
Court of Appeal Decision on Section 43
The
January 21st ruling by the Ontario Court of Appeal
as to how Canadian courts should interpret Section 43 of the
Criminal Code comes at an interesting time for the BC Institute
Against Family Violence. BCIFV is currently producing a video
and curriculum material, for use by ESL teachers with their
adult students, explaining Canadian standards and laws regarding
child discipline.
"The video will consist
of three five-minute scenarios in which parents who are newcomers
to Canada respond to child-rearing situations", says
Penny Bain, Executive Director of BCIFV. "Our goal is
not to explore the issues in an exhaustive way, but to catalyze
discussion. Newcomer parents face many unique stresses. We
hope that by shedding light on areas such as the Canadian
perspective regarding the continuum between discipline and
abuse we can facilitate the difficult transition newcomer
families often face as they adjust to Canadian life and culture."
Yet as the recent Ontario
CA decision illustrates, says Bain, this is an area that continues
to require clarification in law for all parents in Canada.
Despite variations in parenting styles across this multicultural
country, the concept that physical discipline can escalate
to physical abuse is widely accepted. It is also widely accepted
that when care-giving adults pass a certain point on that
continuum, child-protection intervention is needed, and when
they pass a further point, criminal prosecution is needed.
The purpose of the law is to define these points in a way
that reflects Canadian values, which it currently does not
do.
"Those who oppose the
repeal of Section 43 - or at least amending it to clearly
define 'reasonable force' - perhaps do not realize that the
law is not now and is not likely to become an instrument for
micro-regulating parenting techniques," says Bain. "However,
as it currently stands, Section 43 can and is used as an instrument
for shielding adults accused of a level of physical punishment
that most Canadians - including those who believe in corporal
punishment - would find unacceptable."
The point of repealing or
amending Section 43, therefore, would be to clarify in law,
for native-born Canadians as well as newcomers, what is already
clear in most Canadian homes: that child-rearing standards
and practices in this country have changed. "The law
must reflect that change," says Bain.
Production of BCIFV's new
video and curriculum material, entitled "Life in the
Family: a Newcomer's Guide to Parenting Issues in Canada,"
is funded by a grant from the Canadian Heritage Multiculturalism
Program. It is being overseen by an advisory committee including
advocates for newcomer parents, ESL teachers, and experts
in the fields of parenting, child abuse, and the law.
For more information, contact Penny
Bain, Executive Director of the BC Institute Against Family
Violence at 669-7055 or 1 877-755-7055, pbain@bcifv.org
or www.bcifv.org.
- 30 -
|
