Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to share my time this afternoon with my colleague from Battlefords—Lloydminster.
I am pleased to contribute to the important debate on the national sex offender registry. There cannot be more than a handful of people who would be opposed to such a registry in Canada, but I know there are millions of Canadians who do not know how ineffective the registry will be as it is proposed.
Sex offences are unlike any other crime. They are attacks on the person, not on a person's property. They violate the person in unimaginable ways. These crimes change their victims for life and the victims' families and communities. They violate the most basic level of trust we have between ourselves and our neighbours.
Canadians have demanded that their government take these crimes more seriously than others. They have demanded that we protect them from rapists and pedophiles, especially when we know who the criminals are. They have demanded that we put partisan politics aside for the safety and security of their families and themselves.
I was optimistic at first when the Canadian Alliance proposed the registry and the Liberals agreed to implement one. Unfortunately, the devil is in the details.
If an average Canadian were to put together a registry, one would expect that all known sex offenders would be included. Their whereabouts would be updated regularly and the list would be comprehensive. Unfortunately, the list will not contain the name of one known sex offender when it begins. Their whereabouts are updated annually and there are a number of loopholes that will allow rapists and pedophiles to remain off the registry.
Do registries work? I believe they do when there is full support and compliance with them. Other registries prove ineffective because they are not enforceable, are unreasonable or serve no purpose.
Let us take a look at the handgun registry. This registry, requiring all handguns in Canada to be registered, has been in place since 1932. In 71 years it has not proven effective in preventing a single crime. Even worse is the fact that handguns remain a serious problem across Canada.
What did the Liberals do in response? They said that guns should be registered. Canadians rightfully questioned the initiative because of the proven ineffectiveness of the handgun registry. If a purpose cannot be shown for a registry and if it cannot be made comprehensive, people will not adhere to it.
If we look at other registries, they have proven more effective because they are enforceable and people see a purpose in registering. The registration of cars, telecommunications devices and fishing permits come to mind.
What can Canadians expect the first day the sex offender registry is in place? What will be better than the day before? Unfortunately, the answer is nothing. The registry will not be grandfathered, meaning that known sex offenders will not be included. Only those who are convicted after the registry is in place will be included. It is unbelievable that the Paul Bernardos and Karla Homolkas of the world will not be placed on the list. If we can grandfather the firearms registry, why can we not grandfather the sex offender registry?
Who are the real criminals? Why are the Liberals trying to protect rapists and pedophiles? Every living person who has been convicted of a sex crime should be included on the registry for life. I am looking forward to hearing the Liberal reasoning why they should not be. The intention of the registry is to keep track of those deemed to be a potential threat to the public. That way if there is a sex crime committed, police have a headstart in tracking down potential suspects.
To be effective, the registry must accurately know the whereabouts of those individuals. While we are not suggesting they each call in by the hour to let us know where they are, I feel an annual update is too infrequent to be effective or reliable. If we called our families once a year to update our addresses, how much would that reveal about our whereabouts for the other 364 days of the year?
Most provinces have strict rules about updating one's driver's licence and address within days of moving. Why should the requirements of convicted sex offenders be any less stringent? I think a lot more could be done to keep track of these individuals. If they leave a prescribed region, they should have to report. If they want to leave the country, they should have to report and get permission.
If anyone has a problem with the rules, they simply should remember that they chose to put themselves on the list by committing a serious crime.
Many may wonder what the serious penalty must be for not keeping one's listing updated or reporting every 365 days. It is punishable by a maximum, yes as maximum, of six months in prison. The penalties for not registering a firearm, a car, a first fishing permit and a number of other things are much worse. Once again we have to ask, what message are we sending?
Shockingly, not all of the convicted sex offenders would be required to remain registered for life. Sex offenders would be required to remain registered for one of three periods: 10 years for summary conviction offences with two to five year maximums; 20 years for offences with 10 to 14 year maximums; and lifetime for offences with a maximum life sentence or where there has been a prior conviction for a sex offence.
But wait, it gets even more interesting. These registration periods are not ironclad orders. These criminals can get off the list, or even avoid getting on it in the first place, if they can successfully argue that being on the list will do them more harm than public good.
We could imagine the lineup of sex offenders who will try to get off the list through this loophole. I can imagine that our traditionally soft judicial system would be more than happy to comply with the wishes of rapists and pedophiles.
With such soft requirements and such large loopholes, is the registry going to do anything? Will it be worth the effort? Unfortunately I think that the registry in its proposed form will be ineffective. It will be a great Liberal public relations exercise but will do nothing to protect the public. It will do little to track sex offenders and will tie up the courts with pedophiles and rapists trying to get off the list. It will frustrate police and give the public a false sense of security. It will end up being another Liberal boondoggle.
This is very unfortunate because we are wasting an opportunity to really make a difference, an opportunity to make necessary changes to protect Canadians, especially our children.
If we would put half as much effort and resources into the sex offender registry as were put into the firearms registry, we would be much further ahead. Why is the government not putting as much effort into registering known criminals as it is in registering law-abiding citizens?
I have trouble telling my constituents that the registry will start with a blank page and may or may not have the names of known sex offenders. I also have a problem telling them that a rapist or pedophile is roaming in their community and is only required to report once a year. But I will tell my constituents that the Liberals did not seize the opportunity and the chance they had to protect them, that the Liberals tried to pull the wool over their eyes, that the Liberals misled them into a false sense of security. I will be honest with my constituents even if the Liberals are not honest with theirs.