I've heard of fights where people have pulled out weapons like guns, knives, and even swords and crossbows. I've never heard of any case of using a child as a weapon — until now.

On June 29th, a woman in Toronto got into an altercation on a public transit streetcar, and allegedly proceeded to use her three-year-old child as a weapon to hit the other woman. She later got off the streetcar and walked away, with her child.

Luckily, the little girl was not hurt during the attack — at least not physically. I would, however, be very concerned about the child's mental and emotional state, and the child's future in the care of a woman who is not afraid to use her as a weapon.

After police said publicly that they had identified the mother, she turned herself in. She's been charged with assault with a weapon and two other assault charges, but it's not yet clear what the charges entail exactly. I'm hoping that the charges will not only cover the assault on the woman on the streetcar, but also reflect the abuse inflicted on the child. Striking out at an adult passenger is bad enough, but using your child as a weapon is absolutely heinous.

We can't control who has children in this country, but we do have laws in place to make sure that children are cared for, treated well, and not put in harm's way. When a woman blatantly ignores those laws and willfully puts her child in danger for her own ridiculous actions, that woman should be punished for her transgression, and receive lots of counseling and rehabilitation before she's allowed to care for a child again (the child is now in her father's custody).

We need to make sure the child is in the hands of a loving adult who can take care of her properly, and we need to make sure that people who willfully harm a child pay the price for their abuse.