Reporting Child Porn

I read this morning that Manitoba is considering making it a crime for people to not report evidence of child porn. Call me naive, but I always assumed it was a illegal to not report a crime, especially one against children. It's frightening to think that the rest of our provinces don't have this law on the books.

Consider this, you witness a child being raped or physically abused and you choose to ignore it. Isn't that one of the worst crimes you could commit? Maybe I'm confusing legal culpability with moral culpability but they should both apply in cases like these.

A child who has been the victim of a sexual deviant will carry the scars in his/her psyche for the rest of their lives. If they're lucky they'll truly understand that they were innocent victims but many feel a sense of guilt or personal uncleanliness because of their abuse. If they're strong enough they will file charges with the police and hunt the pedophile down no matter how many years pass. And, if they're luckier still, their abuser will finally be forced to face the shame and consequences of what they've done.

I'm all for putting pedophiles in prison for life once they've been convicted. It's possible some learn self control after a while but the simple fact that they've harmed even one child makes them unfit and unworthy to live in society.

The country that takes a strong stand to eliminate pedophiles from society will earn every honor bestowed on it. I wish so much that Canada would lead the way.