OTTAWA -- Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has reintroduced a law beefing up the national sex offender's registry by making it mandatory for anyone convicted of a sex offence in Canada to be added to the registry.
Currently, it is up to a Crown prosecutor to ask for an offender to be added and a judge to agree.
The new law would also ensure a Canadian convicted of a crime outside the country is added to Canada's registry upon their return. They must report their arrival and conviction to police within seven days of returning to Canada.
Police will also be able to search the registry to help prevent sex crimes, not just after one has been committed.
Ottawa police Chief Vern White said that means when a parent calls and complains a particular car has been parked outside their child's school over and over again, the police can search the registry to see if the car belongs to or is driven by a registered sex offender.
"Canadians have the right to feel safe in their communities," Toews said at a news conference in Ottawa.
The Conservative government reintroduced a bill Wednesday that would toughen up Canada's sex offender registry.
The party wants to make it easier for police to use the information in the registry to prevent future crimes.
Public Safety Safety Minister Vic Toews said the legislation would force anyone convicted of a sex crime to be added to the national registry and supply a DNA sample for the file.
"This is not the case under the current law. At present, the Crown must apply to have an offender registered and the presiding judge has the discretion but is not required to make such an order," Toews told a press conference in Ottawa.
"Our legislation will eliminate this process and make registration automatic upon conviction."
The proposed amendments would ensure that police can notify foreign or other Canadian police when high-risk offenders are travelling in their area.
Authorities would also be able to include in the registry those returning to Canada after being convicted of sex offences outside the country.
The registry will also include details of how offenders committed their crimes to help police investigate subsequent cases.
The Tories first proposed the amendments in June 2009, but the bill died when Prime Minister Stephen Harper prorogued Parliament last December.
The Conservative government reintroduced a bill Wednesday that would toughen up Canada's sex offender registry.
The party wants to make it easier for police to use the information in the registry to prevent future crimes.
Public Safety Safety Minister Vic Toews said the legislation would force anyone convicted of a sex crime to be added to the national registry and supply a DNA sample for the file.
"This is not the case under the current law. At present, the Crown must apply to have an offender registered and the presiding judge has the discretion but is not required to make such an order," Toews told a press conference in Ottawa.
"Our legislation will eliminate this process and make registration automatic upon conviction."
The proposed amendments would ensure that police can notify foreign or other Canadian police when high-risk offenders are travelling in their area.
Authorities would also be able to include in the registry those returning to Canada after being convicted of sex offences outside the country.
The registry will also include details of how offenders committed their crimes to help police investigate subsequent cases.
The Tories first proposed the amendments in June 2009, but the bill died when Prime Minister Stephen Harper prorogued Parliament last December.
I think this is a good law to reintroduce. I think that if it helps protect women and children to prevent sex crimes, it sounds beneficial to me. On CBC here are some comments that sum up my views on the topic:
It is unfortunately, not uncommon, for a woman who finds herself in a compromised situation to claim a sex crime was committed. The range goes from wives who believe their husband is cheating on them, to students in high school who don't like their teacher or who are afraid they might fail a course. It is far too easy to be charged.
For the real criminals, rapists, pedophiles I have no problem with a registry and one that severely limits a convicted person's future freedoms. However, this law sounds far too broad in scope, as many have noticed. For examples I don't think using the services of a prostitute should follow with registry unless the prostitute was obviously underage, nor situations which might arise between a 17 year old and his 15 year old girlfriend unless force were used or there were other clearly substantiated evidence of malfeasance.
As this bill stands now, if a 15-year-old boy is caught having (consensual) sex with his 14-year-old girlfriend, he could be branded as a sex offender FOR LIFE.
Seems like it's too wide a net. Might be better if it was a little narrower, and more focused on the relatively small number of pedophiles and serial rapists.
It is unfortunately, not uncommon, for a woman who finds herself in a compromised situation to claim a sex crime was committed. The range goes from wives who believe their husband is cheating on them, to students in high school who don't like their teacher or who are afraid they might fail a course. It is far too easy to be charged.
For the real criminals, rapists, pedophiles I have no problem with a registry and one that severely limits a convicted person's future freedoms. However, this law sounds far too broad in scope, as many have noticed. For examples I don't think using the services of a prostitute should follow with registry unless the prostitute was obviously underage, nor situations which might arise between a 17 year old and his 15 year old girlfriend unless force were used or there were other clearly substantiated evidence of malfeasance.
As this bill stands now, if a 15-year-old boy is caught having (consensual) sex with his 14-year-old girlfriend, he could be branded as a sex offender FOR LIFE.
Seems like it's too wide a net. Might be better if it was a little narrower, and more focused on the relatively small number of pedophiles and serial rapists.
the bill needs to be more specific. possibly it is and the media just failed to pass that along. happens all the time. anyway... like most people pointed out on here there are crimes listed as a sex crimes that have no business having a consequence of registration for life. the punishment needs to fit the crime. if evidence can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the intent was malicious then yes, they should be registered for life. but many cases no, they should not.
like someone else pointed out alot of crimes are on a he said she said basis. i was at a house party once where my friend went to his room to change a shirt he spilled his drink on. there was a girl who had been all over him all night who followed him to the room. both were very drunk. the next morning she says she thinks she was raped because she couldnt remember anything. he says it was completely consensual, she even provided the condom.
nothing ever happend of this situation but these exact scenarios go to court all the time. most of them resulting in a conviction of the male. nobody knows exactly what happened and there is no evidence to prove anything did. should someone be on a sex offenders list for life because of this situation?
i dont think so.
like someone else pointed out alot of crimes are on a he said she said basis. i was at a house party once where my friend went to his room to change a shirt he spilled his drink on. there was a girl who had been all over him all night who followed him to the room. both were very drunk. the next morning she says she thinks she was raped because she couldnt remember anything. he says it was completely consensual, she even provided the condom.
nothing ever happend of this situation but these exact scenarios go to court all the time. most of them resulting in a conviction of the male. nobody knows exactly what happened and there is no evidence to prove anything did. should someone be on a sex offenders list for life because of this situation?
i dont think so.
Being tough on sex offender sounds good, also the judge will spend less time delibarating and more time working. At the end of the day we might save some money.
If people don't do it again, it won't matter if they do give DNA, we'll just have the knowledge and still can get forgiveness. For multiple offender then it will make a difference, if the first time doesn't get register in one province, move to the next one... how many sex offending do we need.
Is there other crimes related to this behavior, maybe statistically sex offender do some other crimes and having DNA can help then.
Harper has been working hard on closing loop holes in the judicary system that criminals are using through corrupted lawyers to get away with their crimes, this has something to do with this. He would know.
Tough on crime... sure.
What, precisely, in Canada are "sex crimes" which will be registered into this database? This hasn't been explained anywhere in the media.
If this is going to end up like the situation in the United States where people convicted of acts like public urination and sex with their partner when they are both youths... then this is a horrible idea.
The Liberals and NDP will oppose this bill. They are more interested in defending the rights of their power base (rapists, pedophiles, criminal scum) than putting power back into the hands of the average Canadian.
waynemcqueen wrote
" Nobody who is convicted of a sexual crime should be exempt."
the problem is that the definition of a sexual crime is very broad. someone who exposed themselves in public is also considered a sexual criminal although the person has not physically assualted anyone and there is no reason to think that that person would. to require them to provide a dna sample and to register is a bit of an invasion of privacy.
i think that cain.Lawrence had the right of it
"Get rid of the sex offender registry. Replace it with a "pedophile and violent rapist registry."
what we really want is to stop violent sexual attacks and punish those that commit said offences. we do not want to invade everybody's privacy on a very marginal chance that they do commit such an attck.
would you object to providing a dna sample simply because you are human and we know that a full 100% of sexual attacks are commited by humans?
i know for damn sure i would object to that.
We should not take alot of these sex convictions too seriously because of all the crimes out there this crime is very hard to prove bryond a shadow of a doubt that a crime took place.Most the time it is a he said she said type of thing ,the fact is men and women do like to have sex it is human nature.However in Canada many men are convicted of rape based on the gut reaction of twelve jurors who somehow think they can read minds.I think most Canadians would be shocked to see how much court time is wasted on trials that have ZERO evidence. I was a juror once on one such case and was shocked that it ever got as far as a trial .For the men out there that will vote thumbs down remember all it takes is for any female out there to tell the police you did something sexual to them and you are going to get booked.
It is not a solution to ending these crimes BUT that is not what it was intended to do. So lets just hope it passes as it MAY help to prevent future crimes.
Once this is passed....lets hope the Government starts working on tougher, mandatory sentencing, tighten up parole, eliminate parole for multiple offenders...etc etc etc.
I for one want these people off the street. Are you with me? If so, make your self heard to your MLA.
Any such "sex offender" registry should only be reserved for repeat offenders, dangerous offenders and those who are at reasonably high-risk to reoffend.
Currently, the law is too broad and goes well beyond the principles of public protection.
If people don't do it again, it won't matter if they do give DNA, we'll just have the knowledge and still can get forgiveness. For multiple offender then it will make a difference, if the first time doesn't get register in one province, move to the next one... how many sex offending do we need.
Is there other crimes related to this behavior, maybe statistically sex offender do some other crimes and having DNA can help then.
Harper has been working hard on closing loop holes in the judicary system that criminals are using through corrupted lawyers to get away with their crimes, this has something to do with this. He would know.
Tough on crime... sure.
What, precisely, in Canada are "sex crimes" which will be registered into this database? This hasn't been explained anywhere in the media.
If this is going to end up like the situation in the United States where people convicted of acts like public urination and sex with their partner when they are both youths... then this is a horrible idea.
The Liberals and NDP will oppose this bill. They are more interested in defending the rights of their power base (rapists, pedophiles, criminal scum) than putting power back into the hands of the average Canadian.
waynemcqueen wrote
" Nobody who is convicted of a sexual crime should be exempt."
the problem is that the definition of a sexual crime is very broad. someone who exposed themselves in public is also considered a sexual criminal although the person has not physically assualted anyone and there is no reason to think that that person would. to require them to provide a dna sample and to register is a bit of an invasion of privacy.
i think that cain.Lawrence had the right of it
"Get rid of the sex offender registry. Replace it with a "pedophile and violent rapist registry."
what we really want is to stop violent sexual attacks and punish those that commit said offences. we do not want to invade everybody's privacy on a very marginal chance that they do commit such an attck.
would you object to providing a dna sample simply because you are human and we know that a full 100% of sexual attacks are commited by humans?
i know for damn sure i would object to that.
We should not take alot of these sex convictions too seriously because of all the crimes out there this crime is very hard to prove bryond a shadow of a doubt that a crime took place.Most the time it is a he said she said type of thing ,the fact is men and women do like to have sex it is human nature.However in Canada many men are convicted of rape based on the gut reaction of twelve jurors who somehow think they can read minds.I think most Canadians would be shocked to see how much court time is wasted on trials that have ZERO evidence. I was a juror once on one such case and was shocked that it ever got as far as a trial .For the men out there that will vote thumbs down remember all it takes is for any female out there to tell the police you did something sexual to them and you are going to get booked.
It is not a solution to ending these crimes BUT that is not what it was intended to do. So lets just hope it passes as it MAY help to prevent future crimes.
Once this is passed....lets hope the Government starts working on tougher, mandatory sentencing, tighten up parole, eliminate parole for multiple offenders...etc etc etc.
I for one want these people off the street. Are you with me? If so, make your self heard to your MLA.
Any such "sex offender" registry should only be reserved for repeat offenders, dangerous offenders and those who are at reasonably high-risk to reoffend.
Currently, the law is too broad and goes well beyond the principles of public protection.
The actual number of people who were caught using information from the SOIRA.
ZERO!!!
Seriously, its zero. It is a registry just like the firearms registry. Full of information...but none of it has been used for a conviction. It is all "after the fact" information...people who have been caught for some other offense...who are then added to it "after".
It is a "feel good" kind of registry. The government can give the appearance of being tough on crime...the Opposition has little choice but to vote for it because who wants to be labelled as soft on sex offenders. But it does next to nothing in terms of making people any safer.
ZERO!!!
Seriously, its zero. It is a registry just like the firearms registry. Full of information...but none of it has been used for a conviction. It is all "after the fact" information...people who have been caught for some other offense...who are then added to it "after".
It is a "feel good" kind of registry. The government can give the appearance of being tough on crime...the Opposition has little choice but to vote for it because who wants to be labelled as soft on sex offenders. But it does next to nothing in terms of making people any safer.
In my opinion, the procedure was set up with a human element for a reason. Nothing in law is static or black and white, so in my opinion this should be presided over by a judge.
I would like to know of concrete examples of how the current system failed and then go even further by looking at the root cause. Was it the judge or was it a lazy prosecutor who didn't file the paperwork?
Next up, the police will have the ability to both charge and convict if they feel like it, bypassing the courts completely. This is dangerous water to tread.
I would like to know of concrete examples of how the current system failed and then go even further by looking at the root cause. Was it the judge or was it a lazy prosecutor who didn't file the paperwork?
Next up, the police will have the ability to both charge and convict if they feel like it, bypassing the courts completely. This is dangerous water to tread.
i have some concerns about it ...just simply i knew a woman that was quite siteful or mental she accused 4 different guys of sexually assaulting her once right in front of me she took a cab from reddeer to me and my wifes place in edmonton and ask me if i had the $400 to pay the cab i said no and the cabby was right at the door she then said in a loud voice he raped me..at which point he took off..knowing any guy would and the cab fare forgotten.
2 other got arrested and released and im assuming charges dropped ..a 3rd got held in jail for 8mnths until the preliminary trial and all charges were dropped and in all these cases nothing happened to this woman..no consequences.
it makes me wonder how many other cases like that there are ..im sure more than a few false rapes get convicted because really when it comes to the mans word against the womans + the mighty DNA evidence ..the man will lose.
i think this registery should be for 2nd time offenders who are clearly a sex predator.
2 other got arrested and released and im assuming charges dropped ..a 3rd got held in jail for 8mnths until the preliminary trial and all charges were dropped and in all these cases nothing happened to this woman..no consequences.
it makes me wonder how many other cases like that there are ..im sure more than a few false rapes get convicted because really when it comes to the mans word against the womans + the mighty DNA evidence ..the man will lose.
i think this registery should be for 2nd time offenders who are clearly a sex predator.
Necessary Yes, and very worth while, however some discretionary guide lines especially with youth - perhaps may be required.
Whorthwhile, yes of course, and overdue but it is being done.
Lets hope the NDP and Liberals get on the band wagon for a change. (I hope they know what that means?)
Whorthwhile, yes of course, and overdue but it is being done.
Lets hope the NDP and Liberals get on the band wagon for a change. (I hope they know what that means?)
The registry will also include details of how offenders committed their crimes to help police investigate subsequent cases.
It will make it much easier for cops to manufacture or bend evidence to fit a crime.
It will make it much easier for cops to manufacture or bend evidence to fit a crime.
I'm all for it, but there are problems with the registry. If you get caught urinating in an alley and get charged for it, you will be placed on this registry. They have no way of determining if your an actual sex offender or someone being indecent in public.
These types of laws always result in further abuse, that is why the need to register was at the courts discretion. The government is catering to a very vocal group of individuals. What happens next is that even more laws will be foisted on the masses by a handful of people in Parliament.
I don't think Canadians should stand by and allow anyone to pass any law without a good deal of representation by the Canadian people. Put it to the vote! If the majority of Canadians vote for the law then pass the law. The current way of passing laws is too arbitrary. I wonder how many Canadians have been asked their opinion of the laws currently before Parliament?
I don't think Canadians should stand by and allow anyone to pass any law without a good deal of representation by the Canadian people. Put it to the vote! If the majority of Canadians vote for the law then pass the law. The current way of passing laws is too arbitrary. I wonder how many Canadians have been asked their opinion of the laws currently before Parliament?
Another example... two highschool seniors - one is 18 and one 17. The 18 year old misinterprets an advance and touches the 17 year somewhere inappropriate. The 17 year old freaks out and the 18 year old immediately stops and apologizes. The parents later find out and press charges. Now the 18 year old could possibly be convicted of sexual assault. I don't think it's beneficial to anyone that the 18 year old be on the sex offender list for the rest of his/her life.
I am not convinced this is 100% a good idea. Let's say, for example, a 16 year old and a 15 year old in a dating relationship (or not) have 'consensual' sex. The 16 year old could conceivably be charged and convicted of sexual interference and sexual assault. I'm not talking about if two young teens having sex is ok or not... I'm saying I don't think that in this case the 16 year old should be considered a sex offender for the rest of his/her life (or even at all).
Point in case: not everyone convicted of a sex crime should automatically be a sex offender.
Vast majority - yes. Everyone - no. There needs to be room for judicial discretion.
Point in case: not everyone convicted of a sex crime should automatically be a sex offender.
Vast majority - yes. Everyone - no. There needs to be room for judicial discretion.
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