Our guest is Carrie Kohan, a national child advocate and spokesperson who has forced the change of several laws in Canada relating to child abuse, and has written a book called “The Five Lessons of Life”.

In addition to forcing the government to change an entire body of Canadian law, Carrie founded Project Guardian and Mad Mothers Against Pedophiles (MMAP) in 1998. What MADD did for drinking and driving, Carrie wanted to do for pedophilia and the protection of children, by educating the public and change the laws.

On the podcast, Carrie tells how a convicted pedophilia broke into her home in northern Canada and attempted to abduct her two-year-old daughter. She fought him off with a kitchen knife and he was later arrested.

“It was a big knife,” she says.

That incident turned her into a determined child advocate and her actions resulted in significant tightening of laws to protect children in Canada. At one point, she says, the Liberal party in Canada sought to reduce the age of consent from 14 to 12. Carrie embarked on a coast-to-coast media campaign, whipped up public pressure, and succeeded in convincing lawmakers to instead increase the age of consent there to age 16.

Her 17-year effort also helped achieve a national sex offender registry for those who have been convicted of sex crimes, although she says there are “loopholes” that make it possible for some offenders to be excluded.

It was a long battle that she says cost her friends and family members and “probably cost me my marriage, actually, because it took so much time.” There were death threats, she said, as she exposed pedophile rings, and eventually Carrie began experiencing, what she describes as a form of PTSD.

On the podcast, Carrie says that in Canada pedophiles are sent to one of five special prisons set up specifically for them. There, she contends, their behavior is reinforced as inmates share stories and even role play. “It’s not prison time,” she says, adding that much more needs to be done to protect children.

“A country is judged,” she adds, “based on how they treat their children. But so far, the world is pretty much getting a failing grade. Your silence is your acceptance. The more that we’re quiet about it (pedophilia), the more it will grow. It is a silent epidemic.”

Take a listen.