Thank you.
At first, I was a little skeptical that a registry of this kind could be useful, but I have to admit to that, during our hearings, the representations on the way in which Ontario's registry works have reassured me to some extent. But I would like people to understand why I am skeptical. It is not because I am against the registry on principle, but because I think that there should be just one registry in which there would be categories and which police could use for their investigations.
I notice that your registry was established after one extremely troubling incident, the murder of young Christopher. We all have our own experiences. In Quebec, we had an extremely troubling incident of our own, the death of a boy called Livernoche who was killed by someone by the name of Bastien. This was the hardest thing I had to deal with when I was minister of public safety, meaning that I was the one responsible for releasing him. He had been released under an employment program that had him looking after children even though there was a psychological report in the files of federal institutions establishing that he was a pedophile. And, in fact, he sexually assaulted and killed a child entrusted to his care. He even took part in the search for the child for a week at least. Finally, he confessed.
I was told at the time—and I have not heard anything different since—that it is not uncommon for arsonists to be pedophiles too. That was the case with Bastien, who had a long criminal record, but for minor offences: uttering threats, mischief, setting small fires in garbage cans, and so on. But he had only one serious conviction, three years for arson, for which he was not released on parole. In the psychiatric examination he underwent, the psychiatrist noted his pedophile tendencies, but when he went back to provincial jail, once more for minor offences, there was some hope as they waited for the time when they had to release him. He was well below average intelligence, a social misfit, you may say, like so many are in provincial prisons, in fact. A family was prepared to take him in, probably without this knowledge of his past. The decision was made to release him a few days before his mandatory release date, so that he would at least have a place and a job to go to. That is when he committed the crime.
I tell myself that, in a case like that, a registry like yours would not have been useful at all. The worst thing is that people from the Commission québécoise des liberations conditionnelles did not have access to the federal file because, at the time, it seems, access was possible only with the person's written consent and by making an appointment at a federal institution. So, clearly, the people in provincial prisons who have to manage 10, 20 or 30 releases a day, do not have the time to do all that. Since that time, legislation has been put in place—I know, because I insisted—that establishes one complete, computerized file, with warnings of categories such as pedophilia, drug problems, domestic violence, fraud, and so on.
I also know that pedophilia is a sexual perversion that is not treatable in the sense that these people will have the impulse for the rest of their lives. That does not mean that they will act on it; the important thing is that they maintain control, as most pedophiles in our society manage to do. There was even a Roman emperor—I think it was Marcus Aurelius— who was a pedophile. The person is absolutely not responsible for the condition. That is why I am against the publication of any such registry except for police purposes. If you stigmatize someone, you undermine his efforts to control himself.
You are telling us that this registry can only be used by police when they have good reason to do so. That is one of the things in this registry's favour that reassures me.
One day, I feel, there will at least have to be a commission of inquiry, or a study more detailed than I am aware of at the moment, to find out whether the link between arson and pedophilia that I am told is possible really exists. I am not talking about those who set fires for the insurance money, I am talking about those who set fires for the pleasure of it. If there really is a link with sexual problems, then clearly that should be included in this registry. I think that this is something that goes beyond investigations.
After all that, I do not really have any questions for you. I am satisfied with the answers that you have given us about the judicious and constructive use of the Ontario registry. According to what our witnesses have told us, it is the most complete and effective registry in Canada.
Thank you, unless you have anything more to say, because I perhaps still have a little time left. It is not often that I have enough time.