Bill C-683

2nd Session, 41st Parliament,

62-63-64 Elizabeth II, 2013-2014-2015

house of commons of canada

BILL C-683

An Act to establish a National Institutional Abuse Awareness Day

Whereas First Nations, Inuit and Métis children were taken from their families and forced to attend residential schools where they were victims of horrific sexual, physical, psychological, cultural and spiritual abuse;

Whereas an estimated 80,000 of these children survived this abuse and still suffer from the trauma caused by those events;

Whereas, outside residential schools, there are an untold number of victims who have suffered similar abuse by clergy, lay officials and others associated with religious institutions;

Whereas the intergenerational effects of this type of abuse still impact victims and their families and will for generations to come;

Whereas a national day of awareness for people who have suffered abuse by clergy, lay officials and others associated with religious institutions would be a positive step on the path towards healing by creating visibility, promoting awareness and education, decreasing stigma and addressing the harm that has occurred;

Whereas having the Parliament of Canada establish such a day would help Canadians move forward and engage their communities in order to ensure that this type of abuse never happens again, and would help change the underlying systemic and cultural views on power and sexuality;

And whereas June 1 marks the beginning of National Aboriginal History Month in Canada and the day on which, in 1990, the Roman Catholic Church in Newfoundland and Labrador permanently closed Mount Cashel Orphan-age, a site of widespread abuse of youth;

Now, therefore, Her Majesty, with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

SHORT TITLE

1. This Act may be cited as the National Institutional Abuse Awareness Day Act.

NATIONAL INSTITUTIONAL ABUSE AWARENESS DAY

2. Throughout Canada, in each and every year, the 1st day of June is to be known as “National Institutional Abuse Awareness Day”.

3. For greater certainty, National Institutional Abuse Awareness Day is not a legal holiday or a non-juridical day.