Hear hear! I've always believed that Canada took a far stronger position on the human rights of children than the United States does.

Legally, we in the U.S. really do seem to believe that children are the property of their parents. For example, the Supreme Court ruled decades ago that Amish children do not have the human right to an education. This is an issue close to me, because I live in Amish country, often slowing down for horses and buggies as I drive to town and back.

I'm close enough to the situation to understand the impact of nearly 40% of Amish people leaving the church after they turn 18. Because of that Supreme Court decision, those young people leave the church without so much as a high school education. They tend to live on the margins, impoverished and short on dreams.

That's because the Supreme Court ruled that parents' religious rights to exempt themselves from generally applicable education laws supersede children's fundamental human and civil rights.

I thought Canada was better than that, more moral than that. I certainly hope so, but I'm very nervous about what's going on north of the border right now.