Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to rise today on Bill C-284 and speak in support of my colleague.
My opening remarks were not going to concern what I have just heard across the floor of this House. I would be remiss if I did not comment on the speeches which were just related to us.
I look out as I have never done before in this House. I am looking right at the camera asking Canadians who are watching today to put down the iron for a few minutes, put down those books, put down whatever it is they are doing for a minute and listen to what is going on in this House.
We have had two speeches with a certain amount of humour in them on an issue which does not have any humour in it. This bill is about protecting our children and our future, the future of Canada.
To the member for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, I would say that this great Liberal compassion, this great idea that the Liberals are going to stand up for everyone has turned out in my experience since coming to this House in September, to be in essence a falsehood.
There are two examples. We have been dealing with hepatitis C for some time. Where is the compassion? Where is the understanding? Where is the government taking care of our people, the people in need? I look at our military people, the junior ranks, not the senior ranks. Where oh where is the compassion and understanding for them? I will speak to the cameras again. It is a sad commentary.
All we are asking with this bill is for support from all members of the House for one more tool to protect our children. We are not asking for the abuse of the rights of Canadian citizens. When criminals commit acts of violence, sexual abuse against children and so on, whether anybody likes it or not, the system is set up so that they do lose some of their rights.
The parliamentary secretary to the justice minister was going on about the fact that some organization did not want a registry. They felt that the screening manual that was developed would be sufficient or a step in the right direction and I have to agree very much.
Organizations have to use due diligence in determining who their employees are, whether or not they are capable of the job and whether or not they are a danger to the recipients of their service. In this case it is children and their mothers and fathers.
I say yes, I agree with that screening manual. I agree with all the education. But why would anyone be opposed to having one more tool, a vital tool? That tool would be the right to find out if someone has had a previous conviction record of sexual abuse against children. If in fact they had been pardoned, that record could be opened up as it pertains to their record of sexual abuse against children.
This bill is that simple. There should be no reason why members on all sides, the Liberals, the NDP, the Conservatives, the Bloc, cannot support this bill. It is a small step but it is a very important one.
We are not saying, as the parliamentary secretary tried to indicate, that we only believe this one item is what the whole world will rest on, that a check of the criminal record is sufficient to protect our children. It is not. However it definitely is one step in the right direction.
I would like to talk for just a minute about who commits these offences. Certainly the term pedophiles has been mentioned. Obviously that term is used for a reason because it has to do with sexual offences against children. I have heard different members, including members of my own party, talk about 31% of sex offenders released from prisons reviolate within three years and this kind of thing.
I spent 30 years in the police force and I certainly did not spend all my time working on child abuse cases. However for every time a criminal is caught for doing an act he or she has done—and let us not misunderstand the idea in that there are also female sex abusers of children—the fact is that an offender will normally commit many offences before he actually gets caught. A lot of offenders go through a good part of their lifetime never getting caught for the offences they commit.
In the case of using 31% of sex offenders released from federal correctional institutions reviolating, that is understated. When that person reviolates, he will only be charged for that one reviolation. He will not be charged with all the ones for which there is no evidence or insufficient evidence.
The problem we are looking at here is being understated by people who use statistics to try to say there are only a few cases and it is not so bad. We only have to look at the milk cartons and all the police files that show missing child after missing child. We know from the convictions of people who were caught for this that they commit multiple offences. It is not the kind of crime where they do it once. That is what is so serious about this.
I believe that whatever we can do as a government and as parliamentarians we should take that step. We can all support Bill C-284. It is right and there is no reason why we should not give our full support to it.
I plead today for the government which has a majority in the House and can control what goes on to at least have a free vote on this and let backbenchers say what they would like to see happen to this bill. I am sure a lot would support the bill.
I have come out strongly in favour of this bill. It is definitely right for my grandchild's protection. I ask everyone to support it.