Way to Go, Canada! According to the Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium, 99 percent of Canadians took in some Olympic action in February, 2010 through one of their media platforms. While Canadians are the big winners, it is interesting to continue to examine the different ways to own the podium. Continuing the theme of our previous 'notable' posting, we ask "how many athletes went home with medals?" and "how many medals went home with athletes?", in addition to the traditional measure of "how many medals were won by countries". For a surprising summary for 2006 and 2010, click here.
Articles - Screening
Coaches Report - Summer 2008, Volume
15 Number 2
Canada Raises Legal Age of Consent
The term “age of consent” is the
age at which one is legally allowed to engage in sexual activity. In June 2006,
the Harper government introduced Bill C-15, the Tackling Violent Crime Act, to
raise the legal age of consent in Canada from 14 to 16. Officially, the purpose
of the bill was to address the issue of adult sexual predators who seek out
younger victims via the internet. The change in the law was also politically
motivated, to draw attention to the Conservative government’s priorities around
promoting family values.
Regardless of motive, on May 1st
of this year, the Criminal Code amendment to raise the age of consent in Canada
from 14 to 16 took effect; our age of consent is now in line with other
countries such as Britain, Australia and most American states.This change means that adults who have
sexual activities with boys or girls aged 15 and younger could face criminal
charges.The new law includes a
“close-in-age” provision of five years, which means it would be legal for a
15-year old to have relations with a 19-year old provided the relationship is
not exploitative and the older person is not in a position of trust or
authority.In clearer terms, a teen
under the age of 16 cannot consent to sex with an adult five or more years
older.
Among the exemptions, sex between
peers under 16 is okay, as long as neither is in a position of trust or
authority and they are 12 or older.Likewise, if a person under 16 (and 12 or older) has sex with someone
less than five years older, they can be considered to have consented unless the
older person is in a position of authority.
Why are we touching on this topic
in our column? Over the years the Centre for Sport and Law has dealt frequently
with cases of inappropriate sexual relationships in the sport setting. We have
also written about them in this magazine. In some regards, the new law makes no
difference when the relationship in question is one of trust and authority,
such as between coach and athlete, or teacher and pupil. The Criminal Code has
always said that young people cannot consent to sexual activity with someone in
a position of authority.
However, some notable cases that we have
reported on such as R. v. Weston (which involved a 30 year old coach
and a 14 year female athlete) would now be decided differently as a result of
Bill C-15. As well, the high profile case of Canadian Amateur Diving
Association and Arturo Miranda, a discipline matter decided by a
tribunal of the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada in 2005, would have
had a very different outcome if decided today.
This discussion on raising the legal age of consent in Canada from 14 to 16 has not touched on the ethical issues and the legal duty of coaches towards athletes, but acts as a reminder of the power inherent in the coach-athlete relationship, which needs to be respected with the utmost care.
