44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 4, 2023 02:00PM
Mr. Speaker, we are here today talking about a very uncomfortable topic: sexual crimes, the way we deal with offenders and the way we protect victims. We acknowledge as a society that sexual crimes are heinous or injurious and have long-lasting effects, sometimes for the rest of the life of the victim. We recognize that the majority of victims of sexual crimes are women and children. We also acknowledge as a society that, based on the data we have, many sexual offenders will reoffend.
The Liberal government under Prime Minister Martin back in 2004 brought in a new tool for law enforcement to give it investigative and preventative tools. The 2004 Sex Offender Information Registration Act created the national sex offender registry and gave the courts the power and authority to order that people convicted of a sexual crime have their name and further particulars added to this registry. It was intended to be an enforcement tool. It was not available to the public, only to police agencies. The bill passed through the House of Commons unanimously.
However, there was a problem with that legislation, as it left it to the discretion of judges to decide whether or not a person had to have their name added to the registry; it was not done automatically. Some more lenient judges felt that the sentence itself was enough punishment and that the offender did not have to have their name added to the registry. However, of course, the mistake there is that the registry was never intended as punishment but as an investigative and preventative tool. The result of leaving this to the discretion of the judges is that up to one-half of all convicted criminals did not have their names added to the national registry, which completely undermined the efficacy and usefulness of it as a tool. If half the data is missing, what good is the registry?
In 2011, the Harper government remedied that gap with legislation that would make registration to the national sex offender registry mandatory. The registration was to be tied to the duration of the sentence, and for people who were repeat offenders or who were charged with and convicted of more than one offence, it was a lifetime registration. That legislation passed unanimously.
Now fast-forward a decade to October 28, 2022, or 11 months and one week ago. In 2015, Eugene Ndhlovu was convicted of two counts of sexual assault and sentenced to six months in prison with three years of probation. His name was entered into the registry for life because of the two convictions. However, he challenged the validity of these two provisions of the Criminal Code, and the Alberta trial court agreed with him and declared those two provisions to be unconstitutional. The Alberta Court of Appeal reversed that decision, and it then went to the Supreme Court of Canada, which reinstated the original finding of the trial judge, with a declaration of invalidity.
It was a split five-four decision of the nine judges sitting on the Supreme Court of Canada. The majority had this to say about section 7 violations: “registration has a serious impact on the freedom of movement and of fundamental choices of people who are not at an increased risk of re-offending.” In other words, if even one person who was not a threat to public safety ended up on the registry because it was automatic, the whole regime was unconstitutional.
The minority of four judges took quite an opposite view. They said that the mandatory registration in the 2011 legislation “is appropriately tailored to its purpose of helping the police prevent and investigate sexual crimes”. They noted that the evidence before the trial judge was clear and that even low-risk sexual offenders, compared to the general prison population, posed a heightened risk of reoffending, at five to eight times more likely.
That was the data the SCC had. Based on that, the minority said this: “It is also clear that it cannot be reliably predicted at the time of sentencing which offenders will reoffend. In the face of that uncertain risk, Parliament was entitled to cast a wide net.” I am thankful to the Supreme Court minority for respecting and deferring to Parliament and the hard work we do in response to what we hear from the public.
It is often said that judicial review of legislation under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is not undemocratic, in that it does not attack parliamentary supremacy. Rather, academic scholars say that the judicial review process is better viewed as a dialogue between Parliament, which makes the law, and the courts, which review the law. Sometimes, as in this recent Supreme Court of Canada case, it feels very much like one-way dialogue, with the courts speaking and Parliament listening and obeying.
It is unfortunate that the four judges in the minority could not have convinced at least one more to come over to pay deference to Parliament. However, here we are having to deal with the majority decision, and we need to respond to that. We need to fix the law. We have been given one year to do it.
That brings me to the bill that is before us, Bill S-12, which has already been through the Senate. The Minister of Justice presented this bill to the House last week, saying it is Parliament's response to that court's decision. In reply to a speech given by my colleague, the member for Kildonan—St. Paul, the Minister of Justice said, “we are enacting what we believe would be the strongest possible regime against sex offenders in compliance with the Supreme Court's [decision]”. In other words, our hands our tied and this is the best that we can do.
He might be right, but that leads me to another issue and that is the rush with which this is being pushed through Parliament. We have a deadline of October 28, which is 24 days from now or three and a half weeks, one week of which will be a constituency week. We will not even be here in Ottawa. How are we going to deal with such an important issue in that amount of time? It is urgent, of course, but we also have to get things right.
At committee yesterday, the Minister of Justice told us that social science supports the legislative intention of the drafters of this legislation. He might be right, but I would very much like to see that social science data. I would like to hear from experts in the field. I would ask the experts whether those convicted of a sexual offence are indeed five to eight times more likely to reoffend, as the minority had said in the Supreme Court decision.
Will there be time? This is important legislation, but it is also important that we get it right. We cannot miss the October 28 deadline, or the police will lose a very important investigative and preventative tool. If we are serious about being charter dialogue partners with the courts, this should have been before Parliament months ago. I blame the Liberal government for dragging its feet on this. It put us in this very difficult position.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to make a brief announcement. The help centre for victims of sexual assault, or CALACS, in Longueuil helps women move forward following a sexual assault. The centre also works on prevention.
On October 15, I will be running 10 kilometres to raise money for CALACS, to help fund a prevention campaign in schools. CALACS staff want to go into high schools and CEGEPs to talk to young women and explain how to prevent this. I just wanted to make that brief announcement. I think it is important.
I have a question for my colleague. Unfortunately, women are still afraid of the justice system. In Quebec, it is estimated that only 5% of women who are victims of assault file a complaint. Even worse, out of 1,000 cases that do go to court, only three result in a conviction. That is appalling. The justice system is scaring women away. Even when cases do go to court, people are not convicted.
Does my colleague have any solutions to put forward?
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, I am going to donate to the cause, so I thank the member for that. It was good work.
The member is absolutely right that the vast majority of victims of sexual assault are women. He is also absolutely right that, as the member for Fundy Royal said, witnesses have told us that the justice system is a legal system and not really a justice system. We heard from witnesses at committee in our victims-of-crime study that they feel like they are on trial. When they are giving evidence under cross-examination about the sexual assault that happened against them, they feel like they are on trial. That is unfair and needs to be fixed.
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Mr. Speaker, I know that the hon. member and I have an unfortunate situation in the Lower Mainland, which we represent, which is sextortion of children. Therefore, the timeliness of this could not be better, and it is important that we protect victims now to make sure that there are not victims in the future.
There was a study. The member said that they would like to see some data, but I understand that there was a study that came out of the justice and human rights committee, and that there was a unanimous recommendation, number 11 of that study, to amend section 486.4 of the Criminal Code to allow for victims of sexual assault to opt out of a publication ban and take back their agency. Given that this is an ask that has long been advocated by victims' rights groups, will my colleague in the Conservative Party vote to support the passing of this bill?
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Mr. Speaker, there are good things in this bill. One of them is to give more voice to victims in publication bans, so we completely support that. However, we need to study the bill. It is too bad that it is going to be so rushed, but our committee is soon going to be seized with this topic. We have already started the investigation into the bill, and we will do the best that we can with it.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the current Liberal government, sex crime has nearly doubled to 82.5%. I would like to remind my colleague of an incident that happened in Alberta on September 16, 2021. Michale Busch and her toddler son Noah McConnell were murdered by a sex offender who was in some strange way permitted, even though he was on the registry, to live anonymously and unknown in the apartment right next door in an apartment complex. They were killed on September 16, 2021 by that sex offender.
I would also like to remind him not only what the risk would be from the government's getting it wrong when it comes to the implementation of the sex offender registry, but also how important it is to get the legislation and the implementation right. This is about lives and about protecting people who are otherwise revictimized all the time. If we do not get it right, there are serious consequences.
Does my colleague have any suggestions for the government regarding what it should change when it comes to this legislation, or should the changes actually be in how it is implemented?
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Mr. Speaker, it is a great question that would take a lot of conversation to fully answer, but it goes to show us how important the sex offender registry is. It is a very useful tool for the police. It is not perfect, but it is another tool.
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to rise and speak to Bill S-12, an act to amend the Criminal Code, the Sex Offender Information Registration Act and the International Transfer of Offenders Act. I will be splitting my time.
This bill makes extensive changes to Canada's sexual assault legislation and the role of the national sex offender registry, or NSOR, particularly those sections of the Criminal Code that were struck down by the Supreme Court, which ruled that they were unconstitutional. These sections required the mandatory registration of anyone found guilty of a sexual offence on the sex offender registry and the registration for life of anyone who committed more than one sexual offence. The bill was introduced in the Senate, and it has made its way through to second reading here in this place.
After eight years under the Prime Minister, sex-related crime has nearly doubled. In 2021, under the current government, the rate of sexual assaults went up by 18% from the year prior. With this pressing public safety concern, it is more important than ever for Canadians to be safe and protected from sexual offenders.
The national sex offender registry plays a key role for law enforcement to stay up to date regarding convicted sex offenders across the country. It also allows proper tools of investigation if an offender reoffends.
Although this legislation is a step toward protecting victims and the public, it needs to be strengthened with amendments. We must consider the fundamental issue at the heart of this debate: the safety and security of our citizens. We believe that, to protect our most vulnerable people, all sex offenders, regardless of the specifics of their cases, must be listed on the national sex offender registry.
Historically, the Conservative Party has taken a strong position regarding sentencing and enforcement related to sexual crimes. Our previous Conservative government introduced and passed Bill S-2, making it mandatory for those convicted of any sexual offence to be placed on the registry and for those convicted of two or more sexual crimes to be registered on the offender's list for life.
This was a significant change from the Sex Offender Information Registration Act, or SOIRA, put in place by the Liberal government under Paul Martin, in that enrolment on the registry was no longer at the discretion of the judge. This change was made to address concerns at that time that the registry's effectiveness was being compromised, given that nearly half of all convicted sex offenders were excluded.
At that time, the bill garnered support from all parties, enhancing public safety across Canada. Last year, the Supreme Court struck down the law in the Ndhlovu case ruling, deeming it unconstitutional.
In 2015, Eugene Ndhlovu pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault against two women, which took place at a house party in Edmonton in 2011. Prior to the ruling, with Harper’s bill, Ndhlovu was automatically registered on the national sex offender registry for life.
After the Supreme Court deemed the ruling unconstitutional, he was dropped from the list. The courts gave the government one year to change the affected provisions. That was a year ago, and the deadline, which is the end of October, is fast approaching.
Sexual violence is a heinous and degrading form of violence that has devastating impacts on the victims. More specifically, we know that sexual assault is a gendered crime, with the majority of sexual crimes being committed against women and girls.
It seems to me that a so-called feminist government would have acted quickly in response to the Supreme Court's ruling. However, the Liberal government continued to drag its heels when protection for vulnerable victims was needed the most.
It no longer comes as a surprise, though, that we see the Liberal government repeatedly fail to act on measures of public safety. For example, and most notably, the Prime Minister did absolutely nothing to reverse the decision to transfer one of the worst serial killers in Canadian history, Paul Bernardo, to a lower-security prison.
If this legislation is not passed before the affected provisions expire, this could open the possibility of sex offenders escaping registration, all thanks to the Liberal government's incompetence. Unregistered sex offenders would not have to report annually to registration centres or declare changes in their residence, leaving the surrounding residents in the dark. Without proper identifiable provisions for previous sex offenders, they would be able to go back to life as normal. Survivors of these crimes would suffer as they live in fear, knowing their abusers are not being held accountable.
Conservatives believe all sex offenders must be listed on the NSOR and will work to ensure mandatory registration is in place for as many individuals convicted of sexual offences as possible. Four justices of the Supreme Court agree with our position, highlighting the pressing public safety concern that justifies this move.
In their dissent on the Ndhlovu case, they stated that the law was constitutional and accused the majority of cherry-picking examples to rationalize their flawed reasoning. In their minority written opinion, they stated, “The evidence is clear that even low risk sex offenders, relative to the general criminal population, pose a heightened risk to commit another sexual offence.”
The previous system of judicial discretion, which was brought in 2004, already showed it was tremendously flawed, with data resulting in up to 50% of sex offenders staying off the registry.
Based on these justices' expert opinion, we recognize this is a pressing public safety concern, but our concerns extend beyond mandatory registration. There are other aspects of Bill S-12 that require careful consideration and potential amendments.
As my colleague from Kildonan—St. Paul highlighted in her excellent speech, while there are some cases or circumstances where enrolment on the NSOR would be automatic, those that would be discretionary include, but are not limited to, sexual assault with a weapon, sexual exploitation of a person with a disability and aggravated sexual assault with the use of a firearm. Knowing there will be cases such as these that would not be automatically added, but would be discretionary, is deeply concerning given that the system, prior to 2011, resulted in up to half of sex offenders never being registered.
Furthermore, while the costs associated with increased sex offender registration may be negligible, we must also allocate the necessary resources to support law enforcement agencies in effectively monitoring and managing the registry.
In conclusion, Bill S-12 represents a significant step forward in responding to the Supreme Court's ruling and improving the criminal justice system's responsiveness to the needs of victims. However, it falls short on what is necessary to protect our communities adequately.
The Conservative Party of Canada believes all sex offenders must be listed on the national sex offender registry. The safety of our citizens, particularly women and children, who are disproportionately victimized by sexual offenders, must be our top priority.
I look forward to this bill going to committee, where I am sure all members will work together to strengthen Bill S-12 so victims of sexual crimes can have confidence in our justice system and to ensure the safety of our communities. Only through collective effort can we ensure our justice system serves the best interests of all Canadians.
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Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo. I want to recognize a veteran in my riding who is 100 years old. I wish a happy birthday to Zack Bourque, who bravely fought for Canada and has recently celebrated his 100th birthday.
I am not allowed to point people out in the gallery, so I will not, but I also want to recognize that My Voice, My Choice is likely listening to this debate with great eagerness.
I thank my colleague for her speech. The unfortunate thing is that people who suffer sexual offences are often in a psychological life sentence, yet I do not believe we have seen the Liberal government act quickly with respect to sexual offences. I wonder if my colleague agrees with this, and what message that is sending to victims.
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- Oct/4/23 4:52:04 p.m.
- Watch
The hon. member, with tongue in cheek, said that people might be here or might not be here. I just need to remind all members that we should not be mentioning those who might be here watching. That is a full reminder to all members of the House of Commons.
The hon. member for Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his work on this issue. I listened to the speech he gave recently on this very topic.
I would simply say that the government has shown that it is not really taking this issue seriously. It waited six months to present this legislation. There was a Supreme Court ruling in October. The government introduced the legislation in April, and now here we are, in the eleventh hour, trying to quickly get this bill passed.
If the Liberals truly believed that this was a pressing issue, they would not have waited so long to present this legislation to address the Supreme Court's decision.
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Mr. Speaker, I am a little concerned about the somewhat partisan aspect of this. I will provide an example. In 1988, young girls were assaulted by a man who was known to be violent and to have assaulted his own children. Those crimes still happened. That was in 1988. A lot of time has passed since then. Many governments have come and gone. Bills have been brought before parliamentarians, and yet here we are in 2023, still discussing this. We could put an end to partisanship and finally move things forward.
What does my colleague think of that?
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her question and simply say that I reject the premise of the question about partisanship. We demonstrated, back in 2011, that we were taking this issue seriously when we introduced legislation to ensure that mandatory registration was in place.
I see the current government responding to the Supreme Court's ruling, and we are simply encouraging it to make sure that as many convicted sex offenders as possible are on that registry to ensure that victims can rest assured that their community is safe.
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Uqaqtittiji, I would like to thank the member for her intervention. I would be remiss to not acknowledge the great work that the member for Victoria did in addressing some of the issues in this bill.
Does the member agree that Bill S-12 balances the constitutional guaranteed rights of all Canadians and the need to maintain public safety?
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Mr. Speaker, I think that is absolutely the responsibility of all of us here in this place. It is to ensure that individual rights are balanced with the overall public safety of Canadians.
I suggest that this legislation, which is in response to a Supreme Court ruling, goes a long way, but I would also suggest that there should be amendments to this bill, as many of my colleagues have already pointed out. Those serving on the committee are going to have the opportunity to study this bill once it gets there, and make amendments to make it even better to ensure the very things she raised.
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Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour and a privilege to rise in the House to speak to a bill on behalf of the fine residents of Brantford—Brant.
I know there are many victim advocacy groups that are watching this particular debate, not necessarily me, but certainly the debate itself. I know one such passionate group, My Voice, My Choice, would also be watching this and taking an active interest.
After eight years of the NDP-Liberal government, sex-related crime has nearly doubled up to 82.5%. This so-called feminist government has dragged its heels on this issue, and this legislation may not be passed before the effective provisions expire, which is 24 days from now, on October 28, 2023. The impact of that is that sex offenders could escape registration because of the Liberal government's complete incompetence.
Canada's Conservatives are supportive of this legislation, and I will say that at the outset, that would protect the public from sexual offenders, but the bill does not go far enough. Conservatives believe that all sex offenders must be listed on the national sex offender registry, and we would amend the legislation to ensure this. We know that women and children are disproportionately victimized by sexual offenders, and this bill would make it harder for law enforcement to prevent and investigate sexual offences.
It is important that I give a brief historical overview of this particular legislation in this area. The legislation known as SOIRA was first passed by the Liberal government in 2004, with all parties supporting it. It introduced the idea that registered sex offenders were required to report annually to registration centres, as well as declare any changes of residence, travel plans or changes. However, the enrolment on the registry was at the discretion of the prosecution, and the registry's efficacy was compromised by the exclusion of nearly half of all convicted sex offenders.
As a result, the Harper government, in 2011, introduced and passed Bill S-2 with unanimous support, which made inclusion in the registry mandatory for those convicted of any sexual offence and made inclusion for life mandatory for those convicted of multiple offences.
All of this was changed by the Supreme Court of Canada on October 28, 2022, in the R. v. Ndhlovu decision, which struck down two key sections of the Criminal Code. By way of facts, the accused, the offender, was 19 when he sexually assaulted two women at a party, resulting in two separate sexual offences for which he served six months in jail. He was added to the sex offender registry for life.
Now, by a five-four split decision, the court struck down the provisions that anyone found guilty of a sexual offence would be automatically registered. By a nine-zero decision, they also struck down the mandatory registration for life for those who commit more than one such offence.
What does Bill S-12 do to correct this? Bill S-12 would create judicial discretion to add offenders to the registry, one, in cases where child sex offenders are sentenced to two years or more in prison where the Crown proceeded by indictment, and, two, for any repeat offender who has previously been convicted of a sexual offence. The bill would allow judges the ability to impose lifetime registration for sexual offenders who are found guilty of more than one offence at the same time, if the offender poses a risk of reoffending, but that is with judicial discretion.
The bill focuses squarely on the offence of sexual assault. It is important that I spend a little time talking about the unique challenges of this offence. Sex assault is the most unreported violent crime in Canada. People with disabilities are at greater risk of victimization and are even less likely to engage with the criminal justice system. Class, ethnicity, religion, nation of origin, community, age, sexual orientation and gender identity may make reporting more difficult.
Sex assault usually occurs in private. It is a profound invasion of its victims' physical and psychological boundaries. In most cases, the perpetrator is known to the victim. The attack often leaves no outward injury, but can devastate its victims, who may suffer in isolation and often in silence.
Sex assault complainants and victims have long felt a lack of confidence in the criminal justice system's ability to protect them and to hold offenders accountable. Conviction rates have not improved, and the fear of revictimization during the course of the prosecution remains.
Reporting rates of sexual offences to police hover around 5%, with 41% of those cases resulting in a charge being laid. Data for the last 35 years suggests that there is a significant statistical decline in conviction rates during the last 15 years. In Canada alone, that conviction rate went from 26.5% to 14%.
Another key feature of the bill relates to the rights of victims. Specifically, I am going to draw upon some material that I received from the victims advocacy group My Voice, My Choice:
Victim-complainants of sexual offences have the right to request a publication ban under section 486.4 of the [current state of the law].
The purpose of this type of publication is to encourage reporting and has the effect of providing victim complainants with protection from being publicly identified. There are considerable issues with respect to how victims and complainants are informed of their pub bans under that section and whether they are provided the necessary information about how to comply with the terms of the ban and eventually have it removed should they desire.
The material continues:
In reality, many prosecutors [, such as myself during my time as a prosecutor,] ask the judge or justice for a section 486.4 publication ban upon the first appearance of the accused in court, long before a victim-complainant is involved and participates in proceedings.
I also want to share with the House the frustration many victims have with respect to this particular provision and also the penalties they are experiencing currently because of the publication ban.
In March 2021, a victim in Kitchener–Waterloo was charged, prosecuted and convicted of breaching the terms of her publication ban for emailing a court transcript to her close supporters. The conviction was later overturned on appeal due to a technicality, but this example shows how prosecutors do not understand the purpose of a section 486.4 ban.
Here is another case. In May of 2021, a victim in Ottawa asked her Crown attorney in court to remove the ban, but the prosecutor said that she was not sure of the process or policy, or if the Crown would consent to the removal. After asking the judge directly herself while in the sentencing hearing, the complainant was told that the judge was no longer functus and could not help. When a third Crown attorney eventually applied to have the publication ban removed, the defence attorney opposed the application and was permitted to make submissions as to why the ban should not be removed. She never consented to having a publication ban.
These are just a few examples of the frustrations victims have had across this country not only when trying to get advice and information from the Crown so they can participate in the process, but also when trying to remove the ban.
Lastly, I wish to talk about the dissenting opinion in the Supreme Court of Canada decision, because I think the language is really illustrative of the problem we have here. I am quoting from the dissent, which states that:
But the exercise of discretion was the very problem that prompted Parliament to amend the Criminal Code to provide for automatic registration of sex offenders...(“SOIRA”). Specifically.... The evidence is clear that even low risk sex offenders, relative to the general criminal population, pose a heightened risk to commit another sexual offence. It is also clear that it cannot be reliably predicted at the time of sentencing which offenders will reoffend. In the face of that uncertain risk, Parliament was entitled to cast a wide net.
It is in that particular wide net that we are asking for, by way of amendment, to include all those who are convicted of sex offences, particularly against children. There ought not to be a discretionary exercise by way of a justice.
Canada's Conservatives are supportive of legislation that will protect the public from sex offenders, but the bill does not go far enough. We believe all sex offenders must be listed on the registry and we would amend the legislation to ensure this. Conservatives would end the government's soft-on-crime approach and bring home safe streets for Canadians and particularly for the victims of sexual assault across this country.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Brantford—Brant for bringing forward all of the knowledge he has and for supporting women who have been victims of violence. I had the opportunity to take him to the London Abused Women's Centre and do round tables with him. I really appreciate his advocacy on behalf of all victims of crime.
One of the biggest things when looking at victims of crime, and the member talked about this near the end of his speech and it was one thing that we really worked on at the status of women committee, is ensuring there is justice training. I am thinking of Keira's Law. We saw 53 different court orders and unfortunately still lost this young life because there was not really an understanding.
My question is this. There is a concern that things might slip through the cracks—I guess I answered my question—so why should there be mandatory reporting onto the sex offenders list?
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Mr. Speaker, my friend has hit the nail on the head. Mandatory training applies not only to judges who clearly need it. Clearly we have judges who do. I need only cite a number of cases from across this country where judges, particularly more experienced judges, have often relied upon some rape myths to try to establish the rationale as to why an individual was acquitted. Too many judges follow through with that trapped line of thinking, which is archaic, which is wrong and which completely revictimizes the victims. As such, training is essential, not only for justices, but Crown attorneys, defence counsel and all participants in the criminal justice system to ensure that victims are treated as fairly as the accused.
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Mr. Speaker, I always appreciate the speeches from my hon. colleague. It is a pleasure to join him in the justice committee.
I have a question related to his articulation of the argument for automatic registration for all sexual offenders. While I think we might agree with that proposition, did the court not strike down exactly that requirement in a recent case? How does the member propose to accomplish that to make it charter-compliant?
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Mr. Speaker, it is very simple: It is the notwithstanding clause. If I had a full 20-minute speech and an opportunity to share all the relevant details of the dissenting report, I would encourage my colleague to actually spend some time, because the language is so instructive on that particular question.
All sex offenders, particularly against children, pose a heightened risk to reoffend. The concern that we Conservatives had is that now, where Crowns can proceed by way of summary conviction as opposed to indictment, we would be giving that power to judges to do the right thing in the exercise of their discretion. We would be giving an opportunity for the sexual offender to justify why he ought not be registered, because his privacy may be invaded in some fashion, at the expense of the victim.
As such, I would encourage my friend to actually read the dissenting opinion. I am sure his opinion would be the same as mine, that all individuals convicted of sex offences, whether by indictment or by summary conviction, ought to be placed on the registry for the protection of the public.
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