Minister Shea wears the shame of her Colleague?

The House of Assembly Hypocrisy

We can all agree that violence against girls, young women, and women must be stopped - and therefore any actions of governments to move that agenda foward is positive. 

The problem is Minister Shea - and it's a big problem - you cannot expect anybody to believe that this effort is sincere - when your colleague the Minister of Finance - stood recently in the House of Assembly and praised a sexual offender - because he happened to win a hockey game. 

You must deal with that issue frankly - this person praised by your colleague was at the time of the praise already convicted of raping two young women and subsequently plead guilty to raping another young woman in her sleep. 

You can't as the Minister responsible for the Status of Women - refuse to address this unacceptable behavior (congratulating Mark Yetman Goalie CeeBees - Sexual Offender) by your colleague. If you do not apologize for these statements in the House of Assembly and apologize to the young women who were victims of Yetman - then your Ministerial Statement today rings hollow. 

I can't single Minister Shea out here - as many others in the House from all sides - sit silently. Shame. 


Here is the Hansard of a Ministerial Statement today by Joan Shea:

MS SHEA: Mr. Speaker, I rise in this hon. House today to provide an update on the progress of Atlantic Canada’s CyberSafe Girl Initiative. 

In August 2010, the Atlantic Ministers Responsible for the Status of Women held their first annual meeting and at this time they shared concerns on cyber-violence. 

Cyber-violence is the use of the Internet to harm or intimidate another person and includes name calling, teasing, threatening, starting rumours, posting embarrassing or degrading pictures, or encouraging violence. Acts of cyber-violence take place through e-mail, social media Web sites such as Facebook or Twitter, blogs and on-line games. 

To address this disturbing issue, the Atlantic ministers committed to creating an initiative that provides educational tools to youth, parents and educators. 

From this commitment, the CyberSafe Girl Initiative was developed. This initiative focuses on creating awareness and preventing cyber-violence being perpetrated against young girls on-line. The Atlantic Ministers Responsible for the Status of Women were pleased to officially launch the CyberSafe Girl Initiative campaign in St. John’s on October 11, 2012 – International Day of the Girl.
Through the CyberSafe Girl Initiative, a Web site and three fact sheets were developed to promote safe Internet usage for young girls. These fact sheets, entitled 10 Tips for Girls, 10 Tips for Parents, and What Everybody Needs to Know, are available throughout Atlantic Canada. In our Province, the Department of Education assisted with the distribution of the CyberSafe Girl fact sheets earlier this month to Newfoundland and Labrador schools with students in Grades 7 to 9. 

The CyberSafe Girl Initiative was also recently showcased during the fifty-seventh session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York on March 6. During this international event, two of the Atlantic Canadian Status of Women Ministers presented background information on the initiative and highlighted interactive components, including the fact sheets and Web site, to emphasize that ending cyber-violence against girls is a global effort; one that our Province is proud to be part of. 

Mr. Speaker, the Atlantic Ministers will continue to make progress and spread the word with this initiative in the collective effort to end cyber-violence. I encourage all families in Newfoundland and Labrador to join this effort by reviewing these fact sheets and visiting cybersafegirl.ca to learn more about cyber safety. 

___________________________________________