Justice Committee on Feb. 2nd, 2015

[Matthias Villetorte]

For sure it sends a message of denunciation, what the worst offender in the worst circumstance committing this offence should get as a sentence. It does encourage a court to turn the mind. The maximum sentence is higher; it has been increased, which could therefore turn their minds in those situations where you could qualify the offender as the worst offender in the worst circumstances. There is definitely, in some instances, a move that we see in sentences.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Brampton West, ON]

I'm going to share the rest of my time with Mr. Wilks.

[David Wilks, Conservative, Kootenay—Columbia, BC]

Thanks.

This question is for the RCMP.

Under the national sex offender registry, let's say sex offender A travels to Italy. I use Italy because I believe we have a liaison officer there. How are we to confirm that sex offender A, who provides three addresses of where he's going to stay in Italy, actually stays at them?

Do we have working cooperation with other police forces in Italy, or for that matter, in Europe, or are we relying on our liaison officer to do that for us?

[D/Commr Peter Henschel]

It's not quite that direct.

What the legislation provides is for us to share this information with CBSA. First of all, in particular for high-risk child sex offenders, we'll actually have detailed information for less than seven days. It allows us to share that with CBSA. It allows CBSA, on the return of the individual, to do some verification to see whether what they learn from that aligns with what the person provided before leaving. Our sharing information with foreign officials won't be done pro forma. It will be done on a case-by-case basis, when there is some reason to either advance an investigation or to prevent some kind of offence, keeping in mind things like ministerial directives on information sharing with foreign law enforcement, privacy issues, and depending on the country, what impact providing the information may cause.

That's generally how it would work. You'd have to have something specific to do more follow-up beyond sharing it with CBSA and doing verification of the data.

[David Wilks, Conservative, Kootenay—Columbia, BC]

Okay, thanks.

[The Chair, Conservative, Mike Wallace]

We actually have a few minutes left if somebody from the NDP would like to take the time.

Madam Péclet.

[Ève Péclet, NDP, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

I have two minutes. I will never refuse to talk, even if it's for 30 seconds.

The minister cited a few figures in reference to the registry.

Some municipalities already have registries, while others do not. I would just like to know how much money we are talking about. He mentioned $1.3 million over a 5-year period. He listed a few figures. What is the size of the budget being allocated to the new registry? How are you going to compile all of that data? And how will it be implemented in municipalities?

Some municipalities have it and some do not. I would just like some clarification on what the minister told us.

[D/Commr Peter Henschel]

You are correct that there are not databases in municipalities, that sort of thing. You're talking about the new database that will be created. It's a public-facing database. What happens right now is that at the local or provincial level, there may be public interest disclosures made, but it's not a database as much as it would be a news release made to the public to say that an offender is in the neighbourhood, or whatever. There aren't these other databases that we'll be pulling in from.

The estimated cost for implementing the legislation for us, for the changes that we have to make around the sex offender registry as well as the new database, is $6.7 million over the first five years, and then $1.17 million ongoing. That includes the development of this new public database, which is separate from the national sex offender registry.

[A/Commr Joe Oliver]

I would just add as a point of clarification that the national sex offender registry database already exists, and there are 36,000 names in that database. There's a single national database for people who have been convicted of a designated offence and who are required to register.

In the provinces there are registration centres, as set out in the legislation that exists today under the Sex Offender Information Registration Act, to identify areas where offenders would go to report, register, and do their annual reporting in, as well as reporting any changes to their address, driver's licence, and that type of thing. They exist today. That's what populates and keeps the information in the NSOR database current, valid, and relevant. We can understand where offenders are, whether they've changed addresses, and those types of things. That information is also used to do queries to support investigations.

[Ève Péclet, NDP, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Can I—

[The Chair, Conservative, Mike Wallace]

No, that's it.

[A/Commr Joe Oliver]

That is a database separate from the high-risk child sex offender database, which will be created once this bill has been enacted.

[The Chair, Conservative, Mike Wallace]

Thank you very much for all those questions and answers.

I want to thank our witnesses from the Justice department, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Ms. Morency.

[Carole Morency]

Sorry, but could I make one correction? I misspoke on Bill C-10 reforms and the child sexual offences penalties. I think I said they came into force in 2011. It was August 9, 2012. That was a mistake. Sorry.

[The Chair, Conservative, Mike Wallace]

Thank you that correction.

Thank you for all your service to this committee and to the public. Thank you very much.

That being said, we are adjourned until Wednesday.