Section 43 enables a culture in which punishment is not rooted in individual accountability, but in the preservation of adult control. It constructs a legal foundation for punitive discipline by permitting “reasonable force,” a concept that lacks both clarity and enforceable limits. While collective punishment is not a form of physical force per se, it thrives in systems where power is exercised arbitrarily. Section 43
The logic is parallel: children are not treated as subjects with rights, but as objects of correction. Section 43 grants adults wide discretion to determine when and how discipline should be applied, just as collective punishment allows educators to issue blanket consequences without investigation or nuance. Caroline Locher’s analysis
Furthermore, collective punishment is often accompanied by emotional or psychological coercion—public shaming, threats of escalation, forced apologies, and social isolation. According to UNICEF, such acts fall under the broader definition of corporal punishment: “any punishment in which physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort, however light,” including acts that “belittle, humiliate, denigrate, scapegoat, threaten, scare or ridicule the child.” Collective punishment enacts these harms at scale. UNICEF’s An Everyday Lesson: END violence in Schools
To repeal Section 43 would be to begin dismantling the ideological infrastructure that permits group-based discipline to masquerade as educational strategy. It would affirm that children are entitled to justice, not just obedience. the TRC Calls to Action
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What is Section 43 of the Canadian Criminal Code?
Section 43 permits “reasonable force” on children. It remains law in Canada and continues to justify harmful disciplinary practices in schools.
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