Republished with permission

In 1991, a remarkable 13-year-old from Quebec mounted a national petition demanding an end to television violence. Convinced that the influence of violent programming had been a factor in the rape and murder of her younger sister, Virginie Larivière demanded legislation banning all violence on TV. By the time she presented her petition to then-Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in November 1992, it had more than 1.5 million signatures. 

"Ms. Larivière had a profound influence on our national conscience and her crusade was enormously influential in pushing TV violence to the top of the public agenda," said CRTC Chairman Keith Spicer (Canada & TV Violence: Cooperation & Consensus, April 3, 1995).

The petition was considered the catalyst for:

• an International Colloquium on Television Violence (Montreal, 1993) hosted by Perrin Beatty, then Minister of the Department of Communications
  
  
• development of a media violence strategy by the Department of Canadian Heritage
  
  
• the rewriting of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters' Violence Code
  CRTC-hosted focus group meetings on children and television violence. These meetings included media industries, government, parent and education groups, media literacy organizations and advocacy groups.