WHEREAS in the wake of the disappearance of three-year-old Kienan Hebert, of Sparwood, BC and the horrific stories we read about of children nationwide who vanish, are sexually assaulted and murdered, Port Edward Council strongly supports the City of Greenwood, in the protection of innocent children; AND WHEREAS offenders have rights too, but once they repeat their offences, they should forfeit their right and their name be displayed in a public registry: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that UBCM lobby the federal government to make the necessary changes to the Criminal Code of Canada in order that the repeat sexual offenders registry be made public.
Public Safety Canada With regard to the National Sex Offender Registry, please be assured that our Government is committed to strengthening the criminal justice system and has taken action to better protect our communities from sex offenders. Our reforms to the National Sex Offender Registry in 2011 play an important role in this regard as this database contains information on convicted sex offenders that can assist the police in preventing and investigating crimes of a sexual nature. In establishing safeguards for access, use and disclosure of offender information in the National Sex Offender Registry, the Sex Offender Information Registration Act strikes an appropriate balance between the need to ensure police have information that helps them in protecting the public, and the need to facilitate the reintegration of sex offenders into the community as law-abiding citizens. To ensure the public is made aware of high-risk offenders living in the community, a public notification system currently operates under the responsibility of provinces and territories. Existing provincial and territorial legislation and policies and the federal Privacy Act allow local police forces across Canada to issue website and media advisories with photos of high-risk offenders who are living in their respective communities. This enables members of the public to take appropriate precautionary measures when a higher risk is presented. The provinces and territories have the responsibility for monitoring high-risk offenders through the respective local police services or Royal Canadian Mounted Police and taking action as necessary to protect the public, for example, in cases where an offender breaches a release condition and must be returned to custody.