a 12-year-old girl was stabbed and slashed about the head after leaving an "all ages" party around 2:20 a.m. last Saturday morning. The party was held at a club in downtown Toronto's Entertainment District. The girl was treated for her injuries and released into the custody of people who are referred to as "her parents". Police are searching for another girl who is older, but not much older, than the pre-teen who was attacked.
The Entertainment District of Toronto has its share of violence, including gunplay, during late night and early morning hours. Yet it seems that it is now perfectly acceptable for parents to allow their children, no matter how young they are, to stay out all hours of the day or night by themselves. The way the media initially reported the incident was no different than the way that they would have reported it had the victim of the slashing been 21 instead of 12. The fact that 12 was a young age for a stabbing victim was remarked upon, but not the fact that she was out alone after two in the morning. Citytv gave the story some play but concentrated on how the owners of the clubs market these parties to teens and preteens. The parents of the young girl, who knowingly allowed her to go to this party and stay until after 2 a.m., apparently, according to present day mores, have no responsibility for the safety of their daughter.
The reaction of the police was no different than those early media reports. Det. Dave Barnwell, of 52 Division where the stabbing took place, was quoted by the Toronto Star as saying, "We're satisfied there was reasonable parental supervision and that's not part of the investigation." Even the police see nothing wrong with young children walking the downtown streets during early morning hours--nothing to do with them; not their job.
We live in an age where everyone has rights, but no one has responsibilities and nowhere is this more noticeable than the attempt to marginalize the role of parents in society. This was clearly illustrated during the recent federal election when the Conservative Party's policy of giving parents $100 a month for each child under six caused an outrage in some circles. Parents should not have to take responsibility for raising their kids; the government should and nothing short of government run daycare facilities (subsidized, of course) is acceptable in the raising of children. It's no wonder that these things are happening.
Toronto City Councillor, Giorgio Mammoliti, is once again raising the issue of imposing an 11 p.m. curfew on children under the age of 16. Mammoliti has presented this plan to Toronto City Council on two previous occasions; the last time was during the summer of 2005 which is now referred to as "the year of the gun". Both times, City Council defeated the proposal. The common wisdom of the lefties on council is that children, no matter how young, have rights to come and go as they please. In our society, 12-year-olds cannot drink alcohol, work, vote, or drive a car, but they are free to roam the streets alone in a dangerous part of the city a 2 o'clock in the morning.
Mammoliti told CTV News that the girl's parents should be charged under the Child and Family Services act and that Children's aid should investigate the matter in light of the fact that the girl was at the event with her parent's permission. The Councillor has also written to Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair. although parents have been charged and/or have had their kids snatched for lesser reasons, it is doubtful that the politically correct police and social workers will take any action because, of course, these children have rights. Parents have little role when it comes to having to take responsibility for their offspring.
In light of the stabbing of such a young girl, there is a chance that a curfew bylaw will pass. after all it is an election year and the city mothers have to be seen as doing something. But don't bet on it.
The federal Liberals started to go into freefall during the election campaign after Paul Martin's Communications Director, Scott Reid, said that the Conservative Party's idea of giving cash to parents was a bad idea because they would just spend it on "beer and popcorn". Perhaps we judged Scott too harshly.
after all, drinking beer and eating popcorn would give parents something to do while their pre-teens are out partying in the middle of the night.
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