After many attempts over the years, Canada’s anti-spanking lobby have a bill going through the Senate of the Federal Parliament which would criminalise the use of spanking.

Bill S-206 would remove the Criminal Code section 43, allowing parents and teachers to use “reasonable force” when disciplining children in their care.

“The main problem of repealing section 43 is the use of state coercion to tell parents how to parent,” says Andrea Mrozek of Cardus Family, a research and family advocacy institute.

Support for the bill has been led by Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which deals with deals with the issue of physical abuse suffered by indigenous (Indian) children in residential schools in the past. This, as Andrea Mrozek points out, implies a false equivalence between the abusive discipline of children taken away from their parents’ protection in a different era, and a couple of swats on the bottom by a loving parent today.

The so-called “spanking law” was last reviewed in 2004 and upheld by the Supreme Court.

See also out recent interview with Robert Larzelere of the American College of Pediatricians.