Quebec needs a public sex offender registry, said Conservative (PCQ) Leader Éric Duhaime as he criticized the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government for not respecting its 2018 campaign promise.
In a press briefing Monday morning before the National Assembly, Duhaime pledged to create such a registry if his party is elected on Oct. 3.
He notes that, during the 2018 election campaign, François Legault and Geneviève Guilbault, who would go on to become public security minister, had committed to creating a public sex offender registry during their government's first mandate.
This has still not been done.
Duhaime made the announcement flanked by lawyer and former justice minister Marc Bellemare, as well as citizen Sophie Dupont, who has been campaigning for this issue since 2004.
Dupont curates a Facebook page that identifies people convicted of sexual offences in the hopes of preventing them from committing other crimes against children.
Bellemare, a former Liberal minister in the Charest government, says his presence with Duhaime does not mean support for the Conservatives, but for the cause he is defending.
A sex offender registry already exists at the federal level, but only law enforcement agencies have access to it.
-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Sept. 12, 2022.
