Oh, oh!
Evidence of meeting #61 for Justice and Human Rights in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was sexual.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #61 for Justice and Human Rights in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was sexual.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:55 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
5:55 p.m.
NDP
Françoise Boivin NDP Gatineau, QC
—the danger for me is in the fact that we need to have uniformity. You cannot have a system in Quebec that is different from Ontario's or that is different from Manitoba's or wherever. It's going to be chaos everywhere—
5:55 p.m.
Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime, Office of the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime
I'm in agreement. I'm in agreement. You want to have consistency, yes.
5:55 p.m.
NDP
Françoise Boivin NDP Gatineau, QC
—and meanwhile it won't secure the victims more or anything about the matter....
5:55 p.m.
Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime, Office of the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime
I'm in agreement that consistency would be something that we would want to have.
5:55 p.m.
NDP
Françoise Boivin NDP Gatineau, QC
So should the RCMP be in charge of determining who goes into the...?
5:55 p.m.
Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime, Office of the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime
I would defer to the experts on who would be appropriate for that in terms of offender management.
5:55 p.m.
Chair, Policy Review Committee, Canadian Criminal Justice Association
I wanted to jump in with regard to talking about efficacy and whether this will make communities safer, because I think the bottom line is that's the important question for me.
My concern is that in fact a public registry may actually put in place the conditions that create and increase the likelihood of victimization against another person, because we know that stress is highly correlated to offenders' cycles of offending for sex offenders, especially high-risk ones. If you put them in a situation where they've been publicly identified, where everyone in the community knows who they are or has the ability to know who they are, and where they can't get a job and they can't maintain housing, you escalate that stress. There's no support. There's no assistance. You actually create a situation where that person is more likely to offend.
For me, the danger is that what we're saying as a community and as the government is that we would rather create a situation where the person reoffends and goes back to prison for a longer time than spend the money to support them and prevent that victimization from happening. I'm only here because I want to see effective policy.
Thanks.
5:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Mike Wallace
Thank you very much, Doctor.
Thank you for those questions and answers.
The last questioner is Mr. Dechert for three minutes.
5:55 p.m.
Conservative
Bob Dechert Conservative Mississauga—Erindale, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a question for Mr. Calarco of the Bar Association.
In your opening remarks, Mr. Calarco, I believe you said that a publicly accessible sex offender registry would not make communities safer. That was your view.
5:55 p.m.
Member, National Criminal Justice Section, Canadian Bar Association
Yes, sir, I said that.
5:55 p.m.
Conservative
Bob Dechert Conservative Mississauga—Erindale, ON
Okay. My confusion comes from the actual Bar Association written submission to the committee that I read. In the conclusion on page 11, it is stated that in fact “a well-crafted and administered registry could contribute positively to crime prevention”, so can it? If so, how would you suggest a registry be crafted so that it could prevent crime?
5:55 p.m.
Member, National Criminal Justice Section, Canadian Bar Association
What I said, sir, is that there was very little evidence that the registries as they exist now have contributed to any sort of safer community or prevented crime—
5:55 p.m.
Conservative
6 p.m.
Member, National Criminal Justice Section, Canadian Bar Association
If there is a well-crafted registry, and first of all, not a registry where everyone found guilty of a sexual assault of any sort is put in it.
6 p.m.
Conservative
Bob Dechert Conservative Mississauga—Erindale, ON
That's not what's proposed in Bill C-26. It's just those who are high risk to reoffend.
6 p.m.
Member, National Criminal Justice Section, Canadian Bar Association
No, it's those proposed in Bill C-26—
6 p.m.
Member, National Criminal Justice Section, Canadian Bar Association
But as was pointed out previously, in proposed section 11, “The Governor in Council may make regulations”, and we have no idea what they are or what criteria could possibly—
6 p.m.
Conservative
Bob Dechert Conservative Mississauga—Erindale, ON
Okay. Specifically, because time is short, the Canadian Bar Association has made the statement that “a well-crafted and administered registry could contribute positively to crime prevention”. What would that look like? How would it be crafted and how should it be administered in a way that would prevent crime?
6 p.m.
Member, National Criminal Justice Section, Canadian Bar Association
The first thing is that it should not be public. As you can see from our submission, various officers have all said that public registries actually create more danger.
6 p.m.
Conservative
Bob Dechert Conservative Mississauga—Erindale, ON
Would it be any different from what already exists, though? There already is a national sex offender registry to which the police have access. What would be different?
6 p.m.
Member, National Criminal Justice Section, Canadian Bar Association
It should only be police registered. It should be used for—
6 p.m.
Conservative