Sitting on the couch with her husband, Brian, 15 years ago, Judy Harding was taking in her daily dose of the evening news when a story reached out to her in a way no story had before.
“It was the 11 p.m. news on our local station. A 2-year-old had been raped by her grandfather. We were shocked. My husband looked at me and said he never thought a child that young would be raped. Then he said, `I’m ashamed to be the same sex as the person who did this.’
“It was my husband at that point who looked at me and said, `We have to do something about this.’ I remember saying, `But what can we as average citizens do? We can’t change the criminal code of the country!’ “
The news broadcast continued. The next story described how three other little girls had been raped repeatedly by their stepfather throughout their young lives. The sentences were 1 1/2 years for the grandfather and one year per child for the man with three stepdaughters. The Hardings’ outrage swelled.
“Ironically, on the same evening news, they reported on a robbery at a local convenience store. A desperate young man who stole bread and milk to feed his starving family got three years in jail. That did it for me. Something was wrong with this system, I thought.”
Judy Harding later learned that the 2-year-old girl had been so badly abused that she required a hysterectomy.
The next day, Harding hired a lawyer and drew up a petition to protest the lenient sentences given to the two sex offenders. Within hours she was knocking on doors in her neighborhood, explaining to others how they could make a difference.
“It was anger that got me off the couch initially,” Harding said.
Within a few weeks, she had collected 40,000 signatures and was in Ottawa, standing in front of Jean Chretien, the federal minister of justice at the time.
“I was terrified standing in front of Chretien. Reporters were there with microphones this big,” Harding said, gesturing with her hands. “I had never done anything like this before. I had always been second on the dance floor, never the first, if you know what I mean.
“With all of these reporters around us, my family and supporters, we realized that we needed a name for our organization. They kept asking us, `Who are you?’ We looked at each other and said, `Well, we’re citizens and we’re concerned.’ At that moment, Citizens Concerned With Crime Against Children was born.
“We had no trouble becoming incorporated because no one had a name that long,” said Harding, who remains the executive director, overseeing a volunteer board of 12 directors, four staff and 23 other volunteers. Citizens Concerned With Crime Against Children is a non-profit organization, completely community-funded.
That first petition successfully pushed those two sexual-abuse cases to the Supreme Court of Appeal, where both sentences were lengthened.
“One was doubled, and the other sentence was tripled,” Harding said. “And that made me feel great.”
Harding has enjoyed many victories over the last 15 years, including the growth and stability of “the four C’s,” as Citizens Concerned With Crime Against Children is affectionately referred to by the community.
“The aim of Four C’s is to try to prevent sexual abuse of children. If the abuse has already occurred, then we try to assist the child down the difficult road to recovery.”
While proud of the work her organization performs, Harding said: “It’s a shame that there is a need for our organization at all. Even if one kid must go through that kind of pain, then that is too many.”
Harding originally ran the Four C’s from her home, where she received immense support from the community and her family. She organized committees to work on public-awareness campaigns, activism and support for victims and their families.
In 1992, a local service club offered the Four C’s a huge, old house in downtown Kitchener rent-free. With the help of other local clubs, the house was renovated and turned into a “kid-friendly” sanctuary.
“I couldn’t believe it when they offered us this house,” Harding said. “They called me up, and I read off my needs: It had to be close to the court house, on a bus route, lots of parking, warm and friendly, on and on. And they said yes to everything. It was my dream come true.”
Today, that house welcomes hundreds of children each year. Inside, the first thing a young visitor will find is hundreds of teddy bears, donated regularly by the community. Each scared young visitor receives his or her own new teddy bear.
“Their eyes just light up when they see all the teddy bears,” said Harding. “And when they are told that they can have one for themselves, a big smile creeps across their face that just melts my heart.”
The Four C’s also helps prepare children to testify against their abuser. It has two counselors on call, referral services and a private video room where police officers can question frightened children on tape. Volunteers stay with the child through every step of the legal process in an attempt to alleviate fear of confronting their abuser and fear of the unknown.
Despite the services her agency offers, Harding still faces daily the same anger, shock and sadness she felt when she first saw that upsetting news broadcast.
“Initially, I had got off that couch so mad at what I had seen on TV that I wanted to see all sex offenders sent to Devil’s Island, and when that filled up, to the Bermuda Triangle. But now, it’s not that simple. I have to deal with the small child who looks up at me and says, `But that’s my dad.’
“I started to think, `God, if we start sending all sex offenders off to Devil’s Island, we end up sending abused children right back into the closet.’ So I started hanging around with offenders, to better understand the problem.”
Harding, who has two children, has been a registered nurse for more than 15 years, spending most of that time caring for sick youngsters. Surprisingly, this equipped her with little practical information about sexual abuse of children.
“What outraged me was that this was a closet-kept secret. Even I had learned very little on the topic. I graduated as a nurse in the ’70s, and most of my notes only dealt with physical abuse.”
To learn more, Harding began to research the subject.
“I went to forensic psychiatric units, I went to institutions because I had to learn more about the people who could commit these crimes. When you are dealing with something this complicated, you have to look at the whole pie, not just one slice. It was a real education for me because I couldn’t understand it. I thought, `What can these offenders see sexually in the body of a 3-year-old child?’
“It was a real eye-opener when I talked with the offenders. Even with the sexual abuse of a child, it is a power thing. It all comes back to self-esteem.”
Harding has also learned how to use the media to get publicity and raise money for her cause.
“I had first thought of the media as enemies. One of the first interviews I ever had to do was with one of the local radio stations. I was on my way out the door to take the petition to Fairview Mall, and this guy showed up on my doorstep wanting an interview. I just froze. Then I talked so fast because I just wanted to get this thing over with because I was so nervous. I was afraid I was going to make Four C’s out to look like a bad organization. The reporter stopped and asked me if I was nervous. I said, `How could you guess?’
“He invited me for a tour of the station to explain how everything works, like when I am on the air, when not. He walked me through the whole process. Then he put his hand on my shoulder and said, `Judy, we’re on your side. We’re all dads and moms, grandmothers and grandfathers, and we feel just as strongly about preventing this type of abuse as you do.’
“And I thought, `I have a friend.’ The media that day became my friend.”
Harding counts among her triumphs her work with other concerned individuals in amending the Canadian criminal code to permit videotaped interviews with children to be admitted as evidence.
Despite the successes, the work is daunting. Harding credits her “wonderful support network at home” with keeping her optimistic when she sees so many discouraging cases.
When a child comes into the house, Harding encounters “practically every feeling that one can have. The very first feeling is sadness because I truly believe that the good Lord didn’t put children on this Earth for this to happen to them. Then I feel anger, and then hope, that we will be able to help this individual.
“The children who leave here can hold their heads high. They can survive with counseling and support. And when they do, they’ll be a stronger person than I’ll ever be. I guess that’s what keeps me going.
“There probably isn’t a room in this house where I haven’t shed tears. Does it get to me sometimes? Yes. The minute that it doesn’t touch my heart strings is the time I should get out of it.”
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To contact Citizens Concerned With Crime Against Children, write to 100 Lancaster St. East, Kitchener, Ontario N2H 1M8 Canada.
