That is a very difficult question to answer, Mr. Dechert, because I can't imagine any world where this type of offence could be seen as the slightest bit appropriate. Touching a child, touching an innocent person who in many cases is relying on the very person, the perpetrator, for protection is the ultimate breach of trust. We have seen far too many of these cases where it was a family member, a coach, a religious person, an individual who had greater access to that child. Why we are seeing an increase in these offences defies logic.
But what I do know is that I suspect you and others on this committee, and certainly those in the policing community, those who are victims' advocates, those who are tasked to protect, fully embrace all efforts to increase our protection of children, to increase the accountability within the justice system when it comes to the treatment of offenders who breach that trust. I believe that is found in Bill C-26.
I believe there are important steps in that direction. Is there more we can do? Yes, I believe there is always more that we can do, and some of that important work is being done thankfully across the country by child advocacy workers and victim services. Certainly police, front-line policing, is far more attuned. I think of the incredible work that is done by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
We can touch on the subject of how much more information and offensive information, quite frankly, is now available on the Internet. The ability to lure children into certain vulnerable positions is also something we're looking at and is contained in the cyberbullying bill.
But I think it's incumbent upon all of us to try to do more to protect Canadian children.