A Burnaby mother is speaking out after her young child was given an anti-abortion flyer filled with “disgusting” images.
Burnaby residents have complained for years about people coming onto their private properties to leave these flyers at their homes – with the chance of children being exposed to the graphic images plastered on them.
The mom, Tina, doesn’t want her full name used but sent samples of the flyers given out in the Edmonds neighbourhood which are similar to the ones that other residents have supplied to the NOW over the past three years.
“My son is six and was playing in the driveway on the weekend because it was finally sunny out,” Tina said. “He said a woman came up the driveway and handed him the pamphlet. He came running up to me looking all in a panic because he had looked at it. I went running out trying to find this awful person but they were gone. Let’s just say she is lucky I didn’t find her.”
An organization has launched a petition to the Canadian government calling for limitations regarding what imagery and content can be used in a demonstration after anti-abortion activists distributed flyers and displayed images that show allegedly aborted fetuses.
The Viewer Discretion Legislation Coalition (VDLC) is a London, Ontario-based organization that formed when anti-abortion activists distributed graphic pamphlets and displayed road signs in their province.
Co-founder of the VDLC, Katie Dean, told Glacier Media in a previous interview that the graphic images may be traumatic for people to view--particularly if those individuals are children or women who have suffered the loss of a child or had an abortion.
Dean says that many people have told her about their reactions to the signage, as well as those of their children. While children are often afraid, she adds that many adults have had to pull over in traffic after passing by them.
"It's a total abuse of their freedom of expression," she adds. "You don't get to decide if you want to see it."
Non-consenting individuals and children
When it comes to graphic films and videos, Dean notes that there is always a warning cautioning the viewer of the content. In this case, the sight of such imagery is being exposed to non-consenting individuals and children.
Initiated by Dean, the VDLC is petitioning the Canadian government to:
1. Amend or create legislation setting out the limitations regarding what imagery and content can be used in a protest or demonstration that is subject to public viewing; and
2. Amend or create legislation regarding if, and how graphic imagery can be delivered to homes across the Country (i.e. putting such pamphlets in envelopes with a "Viewer Discretion" warning).
- With files from Elana Shepert, Vancouver is Awesome
