NDP's Bill C-273 Supports Truth and Reconciliation

Canadian laws should reflect our highest values. Allowing children to be disciplined through violence is incompatible with those values.

My colleague, MP Peter Julian (New Westminster—Burnaby), introduced Private Members Bill C-273 as a direct response to Truth and Reconciliation Recommendation #6. This recommendation urges the federal government to repeal Section 43 of the Criminal Code of Canada, which currently permits physical punishment of children in Canada.

New Democrats will continue to fight to uphold the dignity and fundamental rights of children and for all 94 Calls to Action outlined in the Truth and Reconciliation Report to be enacted.

Watch Laurel's statement in the House on Bill C-273 here.

"The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality." - James Baldwin