The editorial Victorian Age of Consent by Jennifer Squires (February 15, 2006)raises extremely important questions and issues for Canadian society, and universally. Many people believe Canada is a democratic nation without analysing deeply the liberties we assume we have. Pierre Trudeau was correct when he said that the state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation. Unfortunately, it is rare to have a minister of justice with a keen insight into the law and its function. Too often, the Criminal Code of Canada is used as an extremely crude and offensive tool to control people without any other function than that.
We live in a society where a swear word usually sexual in nature will often not be permitted in the electronic or print media, whereas mass murder is often written about and depicted de rigeur. There is something about the nature of sexuality that leads some politicians to pass laws that harm individuals far more than any intimate activity. It is to be fervently hoped we will one day have a government and a justice minister that removes consensual non-violent sexual activity entirely from the criminal code.
David S. Rovins
Independent
