April 30, 2023 is the National Day to End Corporal Punishment. As such, please consider sending a letter in support of Bill S-251 to Senator Stan Kutcher's office to help end corporal punishment in Canada. He prefers letters be sent by postal mail but I have provided his email as well. Please feel free to use as much of the below (heavily borrowed from members of the Community Psychology section of the Canadian Psychological Association) to draft your letter of support. (Postage is free to members of the Senate and House of Commons.)

Recent research on corporal punishment is reviewed and summarized in the following source: https://endcorporalpunishment.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Research-effects-summary-2021.pdf 

Additional information about the positive impact of outlawing corporal punishment may be found in: https://endcorporalpunishment.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/The-positive-impact-of-prohibition-of-corporal-punishment-on-children.pdf

 

Senator Stan Kutcher

RE: End Corporal Punishment

Senate of Canada

Ottawa, ON

K1A 0A4

Stanley.Kutcher@sen.parl.gc

Dear Senator Stan Kutcher,

Thank you for tabling Bill S-251 and requesting that letters of support for this bill be submitted to your office. 

I understand that children are a vulnerable population, as they are susceptible to harm and less capable of protecting or defending themselves. Aside from children, corrective assault of all other Canadian citizens by those in positions of authority is currently legally prohibited.

However, under Section 43 of the Criminal Code of Canada:

"Every schoolteacher, parent or person standing in the place of a parent is justified in using force by way of correction toward a pupil or child, as the case may be, who is under his care, if the force does not exceed what is reasonable under the circumstances."

Section 43, as currently worded, provides a virtual defence of child assault, in the guise of justifying corporal punishment of children for correctional purposes. Attitudes toward corporal punishment have changed as evidence of the harms of this practice has mounted. To assist in understanding the issue, please consider a brief review of recent evidence from scientific, psychological literature below.

Corporal Punishment is Linked to Broad and Enduring Personal and Societal Harm. There is abundant research evidence that physical punishment does more harm than good. Even mild physical punishment predicts a wide range of poor mental health outcomes, including increased risk of death by suicide and increased risk of violence toward children and intimate partners in adulthood. As members of the Community Psychology section of Canadian Psychological Association note, we have had compelling research evidence for at least two decades of the harm caused by corporal punishment. In October 2021, the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children published a summary of the relevant research on the issue, Corporal Punishment of Children: A Summary of Research On Its Impact and Associations (https://endcorporalpunishment.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Research-effects-summary-2021.pdf from which following excerpt has been taken:  

“A major 2002 meta-analysis [by E. T. Gershoff] of 88 studies found associations between lawful corporal punishment by parents and ten negative outcomes, and another major meta-analysis in 2016 [by E. T. Gershoff and A. Grogen-Kaylor], which reviewed 75 studies published over 50 years, involving a total of 160,927 children, confirmed the findings of the earlier meta-analysis and found evidence of associations with five more negative outcomes. The evidence is now overwhelming – more than 300 studies show associations between corporal punishment and a wide range of negative outcomes, while no studies have found evidence of any benefits.” (See Gershoff, E. T., 2002. “Corporal punishment by parents and associated child behaviors and experiences: A meta-analytic and theoretical review”, Psychological Bulletin, 128(4), 539-579; and Gershoff, E. T. & Grogan-Kaylor, A., 2016, “Spanking and Child Outcomes: Old Controversies and New Meta-Analyses”, Journal of Family Psychology, advance online publication 7 April 2016.)

Canada is Lagging Behind Internationally. The World Health Organization has called for the implementation and enforcement of laws to prohibit physical punishment. In 1979, Sweden became the first nation to ban corporal punishment of children. As of this writing, 64 other countries have also banned physical punishment of children, as well as 16 territories and two constituent countries, including Finland (1983), Denmark (1997), Germany (2000), Romania (2004), Hungary (2005), Venezuela (2007), Congo (2010), France (2019), and Japan (2020).

Bill S-251 is Aligned with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action #6, which called upon the Government of Canada to repeal Section 43 of the Criminal Code of Canada.

Legally Banning Corporal Punishment has had Positive Impacts in Other Countries. Following prohibition, attitudes toward corporal punishment have become more negative and rates of its use have declined. Furthermore, prohibiting physical punishment does not result in increased criminal charges for parents and caregivers. It is pertinent to note that it is already illegal to use physical violence while angry and that, relatedly, Bill-S-251 proposes to outlaw caregivers’ deliberate use of physical punishment to “correct” children’s behavior. 

You have my full support for Bill S-251. I understand that children's voices are often not heard in our democratic system, and their voices matter. In my view, children should be seen and heard, and oftentimes they are actively discouraged from having a platform or have not yet developed the capabilities to find their own. Many psychotherapists have witnessed and aimed to help heal the pervasive negative psychological impacts of childhood trauma on many adults. By repealing section 43 of the Criminal Code, I hope childhood trauma will be reduced, and more children will be provided safe and loving conditions in their youth so they have more of a chance to become thriving adults.

Sincerely,

A Concerned Member of Canadian Society