Backgrounder

Sex Offender Registry

A Tim Hudak Government Will Not Allow Sex Offenders to Hide in Ontario: A Tim Hudak government will keep Ontario families and children safe by making a website available to the public listing the names and addresses of registered sex offenders who are living in Ontario. There are over 14,000 people on the Ontario sex offender registry that was created under Christophers Law. It is a provincial registration system for sex offenders who have been released into the community. It captures information including: name, address, date of birth, and list of offences. Dalton McGuinty currently limits access to the registry to only the police and staff at the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services. He opposes making the registry available to the public. Section 3 of Ontarios Sex Offender Registry Act stipulates that a sex offender must report to police within 15 days of: getting out of prison, changing their name or address, or moving to Ontario. These laws already govern sex offenders, and will continue to be enforced. Jurisdictions across North America already have public and searchable sex offender registries, including Alberta, all 50 U.S. states, and the U.S. Department of Justice - but Ontario does not.

Sarah Dahle Case: Sarah Dahle was convicted for sexual exploitation, as well as making and publishing child pornography, for crimes committed in 2009. In May 2011, she was released on parole. Part of her parole is a lifetime ban from public parks, daycare centres, school grounds, playgrounds, community centres and swimming areas where people under the age of 16 are present. Knowing she is forbidden from stepping foot on school grounds, the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services still placed Dahle in a home directly adjacent to St. Louis elementary school in Leamington, Ontario. After months of protests from concerned local parents, Dahle left Leamington for London, Ontario. Police cannot release the exact whereabouts of this high risk to reoffend sex offender.

A Tim Hudak Government Will Get Tough on Crime: In addition to developing a public online sex offender registry, a Tim Hudak government will: Toughen our treatment of criminals. We will require provincial prisoners to work up to 40 hours per week of manual labour. This includes picking up litter, raking leaves, cutting grass, and other tasks. These tasks will provide an extra means of giving back to society.

Use GPS technology to monitor registered sex offenders and other high risk offenders. Police will be able to monitor them and, if needed, react immediately to protect the community. Fight for victims of crime. We will remove bureaucracy standing in the way of victims and justice. For example, while victims suffered in silence, the government sat on a $31 million surplus in the Victims Justice Fund meant to help those victims. We will direct all funds to victims and improve the services they deserve. At the same time, we will ensure the definition the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board uses to award compensation reflects the real needs of victims, who will be given significant representation on the Board itself. Create a provincial registry of houses previously used as grow ops and meth labs. In order to protect hardworking Ontario families when they are purchasing a new home, we will establish a registry to allow realtors and future homeowners to know whether or not a property was ever used as a grow op or meth lab.

CONTACT: Pema Lhalungpa | 647-966-7136 | pema.lhalungpa@timhudak.ca