I think the answer, Mr. Chair, is that really it was no more than a drafting oversight. It was always the policy intent of the government to include the capture of these two provisions within the scope of the act.
In respect of the first item, the issue there is that as a sexual offence against a child is defined in the Criminal Code, it essentially includes two broad subsets, under new proposed paragraphs 3(1)(a) and (b). Whereas (a) is a list of clearly sexual offences, (b) includes offences that on the face of them are not sexual offences but where the crown has to prove sexual intent behind a particular offence in order to secure a conviction. An example of that would be something like trespassing at night, under section 162 of the Criminal Code, or voyeurism, for example.
On the face of those two examples, those would not be sexual offences unless the crown had proven intent. We wanted to be absolutely certain that we were not, by consequence, including those convictions where there is no sexual intent whatsoever. It's really just a matter of clarity, to make sure that we're not over-capturing people within the definition.
On the second issue, again with respect to foreign convictions for a sex offence, I would reiterate that this was always the government's policy intent to ensure capture of that group. Those persons who return to Canada, whether at the end of sentence with already an existing obligation to register under SOIRA, the Sex Offender Information Registration Act, or who are transferred through an international transfer of offenders application under the International Transfer of Offenders Act and then also have the same obligation to apply under SOIRA, would still be under the broad capture of SOIRA writ large, but we want to also make sure that those persons with a foreign conviction are included in the information-sharing provisions under Bill C-26. Basically it's with respect to the information-sharing provisions between the national sex offender registry and CBSA.