Dianna Sakisheway wrote a scathing letter to Public Safety Minister Vic Toews this week. Her complaint stems from a speech Breitkreuz — known as the father of the legislation to repeal the long-gun registry — gave during a career day at Canterbury High School on March 7.
"I am outraged at the irresponsible conduct of the federal government in promoting gun violence to schoolchildren," she wrote. "You have gone much too far."
"Mr. Breitkreuz spent most of his allotted time discussing firearms and cited a Texas study that showed women who carry guns are less likely to get raped, including a specific number of women who avoided rape as they were armed," Sakisheway wrote in another letter obtained by Postmedia News. "Stop assaulting the sensibilities of our children."
Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal MP Judy Foote — who was copied on the letter of complaint to Toews — raised the issue in question period Thursday.
"(Breitkreuz) told a classroom of Ottawa high school students — some as young as 14 — that all Canadians should carry firearms, and girls in particular should be armed to protect themselves from sexual assault," she said.
"Does the minister of public safety agree with his colleagues' extreme position that children should be carrying loaded guns into the schoolyard?" she asked.
Breitkreuz denied having made any such statements, and asked Foote to withdraw her statement and apologize to him.
"This is completely unfounded," he said. "Its absurd and totally without foundations."
Foote offered no such apology, and offered to table the letter for all to see.
Sakisheway told Postmedia News that she is "just a mother" and has no political associations. She said she wrote the letter at the insistence of her daughter, who, like some of her friends, was offended and would not let the issue go.
"He took advantage of situation where he was welcomed into tell the children about his career," she said. "He wasn't invited to go in talk about his favourite political issue."
Breitkreuz should have known better, Sakisheway said, than to describe violent and frightening scenarios — such as bank robberies — to such an immature audience.
"It's so fantastical to tell this type (of) story to children who are impressionable and gullible," she said. "The sad and mean thing he did to these kids is that he planted a really, really negative seed in their minds at an emotional level."
In her letter, Sakisheway says Breitkreuz clearly told the students that "it should be much easier for Canadians to attain and own a firearm because it is their duty and their right to engage in gun violence."
She also stated her support for gun-control laws in general, and demanded a written apology from Breitkreuz for "the harmful effects of his promotion of gun violence."
Original Article
Source: ottawa citizen
Author: Jeff Davis
No comments:
Post a Comment