Over the last two years, more and more people have begun to publicly express their opposition to pornography business. Formerly, only the churches seemed willing to take a firm stand in public. Today, radical feminists (looking at it exclusively from a woman’s point of view) have advanced at least to the recognition that violent pornography is a menace. With the appearance of a particularly vile issue of Penthouse, the demand for action increased.
In the House, the first mention of pornography was by the PC member for Ottawa Capilano, Mrs. Mary Collins, who also included an interesting note on the current state of the family in her maiden speech on November 13:
We must take into account the changing nature of families in our society. My young daughter Sarah brought her class picture home from school two weeks ago. I asked her how many of the children shown in her picture still lived with their original biological mothers and fathers. She looked at the picture of a class of 27 children and pointed out three or four who still lived under those arrangements. We must recognize, as I personally understand, the changing nature of families and provide the necessary support to enable our families to bring up healthy and well-rounded children for the future of this country.
The issue of violence is of great concern to us, particularly violence against women and children and with respect to pornography. Basically, I believe some of us have had enough. While I am a great believer in freedom, I think that with freedom comes responsibility. We must take measures to define and limit the worst of the hateful and violent literature which degrades women and children. I will be working diligently with my colleagues in this House to that end.
Some Hon. Members: Hear Hear!
Mrs. Collins: Although he is not here, I concur with the words of my colleague, the Hon Member for Burnaby (Mr. Robinson), who spoke last week. He said that it is not enough merely to advance new penalties or new laws but that we must look at the real root of violence in our society. He referred specifically to the issue of soliciting. I think the same principle applies to dealing with issues related to pornography and sexual violence against women and children. There is a big task before us and we need the good will of Hon. Members from all sides of the House to enable those discussions to go forward in this community of ours.
On the same day, the Liberal MP for Mr. Trudeau’s old riding, (Mount Royal) Mrs. Sheila Finestone, called for action:
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Justice. The action of the Minister of National Revenue who stopped the entry into Canada of the December issue of Penthouse magazine, which expressly depicts bondage scenes of the most degrading and dangerous sort, an outrage to women, men, and, in this case, the Japanese culture, was only a very late reaction. These magazines should never have crossed the border.
Will the Minister reiterate before the House the electoral promise made by the Prime Minister to propose an amendment that would include gender in Section 287 of the Criminal code on hate literature? Will he assure the women and men of Canada that the customs tariff and the provisions of the Canada Post Corporation Act concerning obscene, violent and degrading material will be enforced by his Government with all the rigor and vigilance required?
Hon. John C. Crosbie (Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada):
Mr. Speaker, the administration of the customs tariff is in the hands of the Minister of National Revenue who is already attending to that particular feature of the Hon. Member’s question.
With respect to the other question which the Hon. Member asked, the Prime Minister’s commitment will certainly be carried out. Further, we hope that even more effective steps will be taken to improve provisions of the Code that relate to hate propaganda and pornography.
As the Hon. Member knows, there was a commission appointed by the last Government, under the chairmanship of Mr. Fraser, to study the subject of pornography and prostitution. That commission should be reporting in the next month or two. We do not want to move without having the benefit of that report first. You may be assured that after Christmas measures will be laid before the House.
The next day Revenue Minister Perrin Beatty (Wellington-Dufferin-Simcoe riding in Ontario) announced that the custom officials had confiscated the Penthouse issue in question and had been ordered to do the same with other magazines and films depicting sex and violence. Naturally, the president of Penthouse’s largest Canadian distributor, James Neile of Metro Toronto News, claimed he had been wronged.
Other MP’s who expressed a strong desire to stop the importation of pornographic material were NDP Lynn McDonald (MP for Broadview-Greenwood in Toronto), who spoke on November 14 on violent pornography against women; the Liberal critic responsible for the status of women in her party, Mrs. Sheila Finestone, who spoke again on November 15, referring to both the forthcoming Fraser report on pornography and the Badgley Commission report on Sexual abuse of children, and then addressed the issue once more the next day in reference to the Penthouse advertisement in daily newspapers comparing the confiscation of its December issue with the actions of a Nazi government.
On November 19, Mrs. Claudy Mailly (PC-Gatineau) forecast legislation on pornography and sexually abusive broadcasting. Finally, on November 23, Mr. Gus Mitges, PC member for Owen Sound, Ontario (Grey-Simcoe), applauded increased fines for pornography in the USA and recommended a similar attack on the profits of pornography peddlers here in Canada.
AH
