The legalities of spanking in Canada has reared its head again during COVID-19.
Liberal-appointed Senator James Munson (Ont.) says that with more families together at home right now due to the pandemic, kids are at greater risk of getting spanked, reports Blacklock’s Reporter .
Munson has revived a proposed ban on spanking after a bill to prohibit it lapsed in the Senate two years ago.
“Reasonable force to inflict pain on a child seems to still be okay in this country,” he told the Senate’s social affairs committee.
“Fifty-four countries have banned it, fifty-six countries have said they’re willing to ban it. To me, it makes us look like a nation we shouldn’t be when we are talking about the care of a child.”
Spanking is legal under section 43 of the Criminal Code that dates from 1892 but children’s rights groups say the practice should be illegal.
“When we’re in Covid and kids are in isolation — and I see the data in front of me right now — young people are not necessarily safe in the homes,” said Katherine Hay, CEO of federally-funded Kids Help Phone.
“It is not okay for parents to have that kind of permission.”
Sara Austin, CEO of Children First Canada added: “Children are the only members of Canadian society in which it is legally sanctioned that physical violence against a human being is permitted. It is long overdue and needs to be repealed.”
Spanking was upheld in 2004 by the Supreme Court as constitutional.
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