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Rehtaeh Parsons Bullying
"I wish I had done a lot more."
Rehtaeh Parsons will live on in the lives of others thanks to the organ donations made after her death. I received a letter from an organ recipient. This unnamed person found out this year they needed a new heart. Their family and friends were scared because they almost died. Then the words hit me, the recipient is "only 17 years old." Rehtaeh's age.
We were horrified to find out that taking a photograph of oneself having sex with an unknowing and unconscious person then texting it out to pretty much everyone she knows wasn't a crime in Canada. Seriously, trust me. It isn't. But now, fortunately, it will be. I am very grateful to hear that Justice Minister Peter MacKay and Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney have announced new legislation that will address this disgusting crime that devastated our daughter Rehtaeh. Now, thanks to this new legislation, ignoring these young victims and their families will no longer be an option.
If a situation similar to Rehtaeh Parsons' was brought to my attention, I would immediately put all parties on notice and commence the steps necessary to litigate through the civil justice system. I would do all I could to ensure that rather than feeling powerless, the victim felt empowered.
Today marks four months since my daughter Rehtaeh ended her life. It's said that losing a child is the hardest thing a person can experience and if there is something worse I can't imagine what it could possibly be. The last four months have been hell peppered with smiles as I think back on memories. I cherish those when they come, even if they last for only a moment. This is the hardest thing I have ever faced. This is an ocean of grief. I'm treading water in a tidal wave of pain, disbelief, anger, sadness, waves and waves of heartache.
After going to a party a 15-year-old girl from Nova Scotia was "dragged outside" by several boys and performed oral sex on one of them, while another filmed it all happening. Since April, the federal and provincial government have been taking steps to make amendments to the law so these situations don't happen again. But are they being enacted quickly enough?
Christie Blatchford column today on Rehtaeh Parsons, today, is hateful garbage. Essentially, Blatchford writes an entire column -- without one named source, without any sources at all, in fact -- to seemingly promote the notion that Rehtaeh Parsons wanted to get raped, and that the police were right not to do anything about it.
This morning I woke up and read an article in the National Post about Rehtaeh's case. I'm not upset or mad. A little disappointed maybe. The writer, Christie Blatchford, makes a few statements I would like to address. I told Rehtaeh all the time that justice is a long shot and even that people will think she either asked for it, or she deserved it. I just wanted her to be prepared. She just wanted to be believed.
Glen Canning, wrote a blog about his daughter, Rehtaeh Parsons, who hung herself because of the trauma of an alleged gang-rape by four classmates and the relentless bullying that followed. He wrote, "They say parents need to teach their children. Instead, it was Rehtaeh who was my teacher." But here's the thing: Parents do need to teach their children, and they are not doing it. Rehtaeh Parsons' death arrives on the horrific heels of the Steubenvile high-school rape case and Amanda Todd's suicide near Vancouver last fall after a sexually explicit photo led to the bullying that eventually drove her to take her own life, too. Our job is not just to feed and clothe our kids, but to shape them.
