Families affected by sexual abuse took part in a march Monday, hoping to push the government to create a public provincial sex offenders registry.
Organizer Sophie Dupont said her battle to create the registry is personal: her seven-year-old daughter was a victim – and she wasn't the aggressor's first.
“If we had known, we could have protected our children,” she said.
Quebec Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu supports the plan.
“It's important to send a strong message to government. What do the words 'protection, prevention' on a police car – what do those words mean?” he said.
A group called Bikers against Child Abuse took part in the protest aspart of an organization that helps to empower young victims.
“Essentially, we tell the kids, ‘If you need us, call us and we'll be there,’” said ‘CC Rider,’ a member of the group.
This isn't the first push for a provincial sex offender registry: a petition with 70,000 signatures was presented to the National Assembly in 2007, but got nowhere.
There is a national sex offender registry, which includes information like names, addresses and passport information. As of Dec. 1, 2016, registered sex offenders must report when they travel outside Canada – but the information is only available to law enforcement.
“It can only be accessed by certain officers and it's only if there's a crime that's committed. There's no prevention,” said Dupont.
Many would like to emulate the Washington State system, where offenders' names, pictures and addresses can be searched online.
“Every case is another reason to create a registry now, before it happens again,” said Dupont.
“It's not just for my children, it's for others,” she said. “I know what it's like to be in the legal system, I know the emotional toll.”
CAQ MNA André Spénard, on hand for the protest, said a public registry would "empower" parents, who could tell their children not to talk to people in their neighbourhood who appear on the register.
Spénard said the CAQ would push for a registry where the address of the sex offender would not be included in the documents, the public would simply kno0w what neighbourhood they live in.
The idea of a public registry is not unanimous. The Association des services de réhabilitation sociale du Québec believes that this would hurt the rehabilitation process for former inmates as they would be considered 'eternal suspects.'
The CAQ countered that sex offenders generally have a high recidivism rate.
With files from The Canadian Press
