Who legislates pornography?
Seamus Henry: no laws to regulate sales to minors


Northern News Services

NNSL (July 30/99) - It was Yellowknife South MLA Seamus Henry who brought the issue of pornography into the open.

He pointed out, in a letter to the City of Yellowknife, that "there is no legislation in place regulating the rental or sales of (pornographic videos and magazines) to minors."

After receiving complaints from the public, Henry looked into the situation and found that while there is no legislation at the territorial level, setting an age requirement for the sale of adult materials, there is a municipal bylaw that can be enacted.

"Although legislation can be enacted at the territorial level, the process is extremely lengthy and cumbersome and would require consultation at the community level," Henry said in the letter to city council.

"I firmly support enacting legislation to protect minors from accessing and viewing adult publications and feel this could be done far more expeditiously at the community level, especially when the legislation is already in place to do so."

He said that "at the very least" Yellowknife could set the example and initiate laws to protect minors.

City councillor Robert Slaven agreed, and brought the issue to the other councillors. Together, they have instructed administration to draft amendments to the Business Bylaw to prohibit the rental or sale of videotapes, defined as "adult publications," to anyone under the age of 18.

That amendment is also to include businesses that sell adult books, magazines and other printed material.

"I'm guessing (the sale of pornographic material to minors) isn't a huge problem but the least we can do as a society is remove this material one step further away from our youth," Slaven said.

"We don't want to make rules that are unenforceable. I'm sure we can work out ways of doing this that won't be unduly inconvenient or expensive to businesses."

Slaven said the first step would be to have city administration sit down and consult with business owners to ensure adult materials aren't falling into the hands of those who are under 18. They also have to be careful to clearly define what constitutes "adult material."

The NWT Cities, Towns and Villages Act addresses the issue under the heading "Adult Publications."

An adult publication is "any book, magazine, printed matter, audiotape, photograph, film, or videotape" that portrays, as a main characteristic, a female's breasts or a person's genitals.

If the material is intended to be erotic, sexually violent or sexually degrading, it falls under the adult publication definition.

Yellowknife Mayor Dave Lovell has been authorized by council to write to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs to clarify jurisdictional matters.

"I think the question we have to ask is -- Do we want to regulate pornographic material in Yellowknife?" Lovell said.

"If the answer is yes, then we should draft a bylaw to address the issue."