Evidence of meeting #131 for Justice and Human Rights in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was offence.
A video is available from Parliament.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
I have a question, and then I would like to speak briefly to the motion.
Ms. Morency, if a person is listed on the sex offender registry, is that something that can be checked by community organizations at all, or is this purely an internal tool for the police?
Director General and Senior General Counsel, Criminal Law Policy Section, Policy Sector, Department of Justice
It's accessible only by law enforcement.
There are provisions in the code to permit an individual—if there's a change in circumstances— to apply to have the registration buried. There is a clear process that's in place to provide the checks and balances.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
I largely agree with what Mr. MacKenzie said, that the sex offender registry, by definition, has people on it who have committed a sex offence, and a person who has committed bestiality has committed a sex offence.
Frankly, there are a number of parallels, even without looking at hard empirical evidence. If someone will take advantage of a vulnerable creature in secret and violate that creature in a sexual way—I think it's just a matter of common sense—it tells me something about the nature of that person. I would think that in this case we would want to err on the side of giving our police every tool they can have.
I realize that an animal is not necessarily the same as a child, but there are similarities. I mean, they're both vulnerable. There's a vulnerability to that: an adult taking advantage of something not capable of giving real consent.
Finally, I understand, as was pointed out by Ms. Morency, that there was evidence heard at committee that violence or mistreatment of animals can be an indicator of further violence towards children or a partner. I think we know that. There has been a link made in terms of domestic violence. Often it starts with people who are mistreating animals.
In this case, I would support the amendment.
Liberal
Colin Fraser Liberal West Nova, NS
Mr. Chair, I thank all my colleagues for their contributions, and Ms. Morency for her input.
I'm in favour of the amendment as well.
Parkdale—High Park, Lib.
Can I clarify something, Ms. Morency?
In the context of the registry, we hear a lot about vulnerable sector checks—for instance, people who want to work in a day care, a school, or as a camp counsellor at an overnight camp for children.
Is this the kind of registry that is checked to ascertain whether that person is appropriate for that kind of job, dealing with children?
Director General and Senior General Counsel, Criminal Law Policy Section, Policy Sector, Department of Justice
With those types of checks, before a volunteer can be accepted by the organization to volunteer, the person will have to present themselves to the municipal police force and submit a request to have a check done. The police organization itself does the check, and they will check the SOIRA and other sources. They'll go through them to see if there's a conviction that's been registered against a person with that name at that point in time.
Beaches—East York, Lib.
I have just one last question.
You mentioned “evidence” and that when there were previous attempts to update the sex offender registry, maybe there wasn't enough evidence to add this to it.
However, we heard evidence—specifically from the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association and Humane Canada—on the strong link of sexual abuse of animals leading to sexual abuse of children. The evidence we heard as a committee in the course of this study would suggest that it does make sense and it's consistent to add this.
Director General and Senior General Counsel, Criminal Law Policy Section, Policy Sector, Department of Justice
While I wasn't privy to the evidence that was available at the time it was originally enacted, it's certainly my review of the transcripts.... I wasn't able to access all of the studies that were provided to the committee. I always think that is a great idea if the committee is able to make those types of things available.
However, certainly on the transcript, the committee had a number of witnesses who spoke about the linkages between people abusing animals, in whatever form, and going on to commit other forms of violence against persons, whether sexual or other violence.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Anthony Housefather
Okay, I don't think there is any more discussion on CPC-2.
(Amendment agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])
I guess my legislative adviser is smarter than I am. As I understand, he says we don't have to adopt clause 4 because by adopting the amendment we would create clause 4. I always think that we then still have to do clause 4, but we don't, so clause 4 carries because the amendment carried.
Shall the title of the bill carry?
Liberal
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Anthony Housefather
Shall we order a reprint of the bill as amended for the use of the House at report stage?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Anthony Housefather
You're all good with it.
Colleagues, I'm just going to ask you to stay behind for a brief two-minute meeting. I'll ask everyone else to leave. I'm sorry. I just want to report on the agenda and to have a discussion about what we're going to do on Tuesday next week.
Thank you so much for coming. We'll have another meeting at 10:45 that I think you'll find very interesting.
The meeting is suspended until we clear the room.
[Proceedings continue in camera]