Editor's Note: This story contains graphic information
In a LifeSite News story, it reports how the Canada Supreme Court struck down a mandatory one-year sentence for two men convicted of possessing child pornography. Even though the court acknowledged the two men possessed vile sexual images of children, some as young as 5, the court ruled 5-4 their already-lenient mandatory sentences are unconstitutional.
The first offender, Louis‑Pier Senneville, admitted to having 317 images of children. Most images were of young girls ages 3 to 6. He pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography and to one count of accessing child pornography, according to the article.
The second offender, Mathieu Naud, admitted to possessing 274 videos of child pornography, most of them showing children ages 5 to 10. He pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography and to one count of distribution of child pornography.
Despite his heinous crimes, Senneville is serving only a one-year sentence. Naud was serving only one year for distributing child porn and nine months for possession.
Daniel Weiss, executive leader of Sexual Integrity Leaders, tells AFN the ruling is no surprise to anyone who has watched Canada’s worsening culture over the years.
“This new ruling in Canada shows just how far off the rails of culture can get when they forget about the harm of sexual exploitation,” he says. “Canada has shown itself to be weak in these areas going back 20 years.”
Rather than deal with the two convicted criminals and their monstrous crimes, the high court bizarrely imagined a hypothetical scenario in which an 18-year-old is sent to prison under the mandatory sentencing for sexting a minor. That imaginary scenario was likely meant to generate sympathy for a teen headed to prison, but the court instead was hit with backlash for shrugging off the sexual exploitation of innocent children.
“This decision is outrageous,” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith stated. “The possession of child pornography is a heinous crime, and even a one-year minimum sentence is already far too lenient.”
Pierre Poilievere, the well-known leader of the Conservative Party, vowed his party will introduce and pass mandatory sentences, and use the Notwithstanding Clause in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to override the high court’s ruling.
Weiss tells AFN the court’s ruling suggests the “sexual revolution” is winning when pictures of children being sexually abused by adults isn’t legal justification for a mandatory prison sentence.
“This is the kind of slippery slope we see,” he warns, “when we elevate sexual rights versus the rights of children and families."
