House passes sex offender registry. Creation of new database gets rare all-party approval in the Commons, despite Minister's view existing system can work.

March 14, 2001

OTTAWA - The Liberal government agreed yesterday to support an opposition motion for a national sex offenders registry, but suggested it is looking no further than expanding an existing system, which critics say falls short of what is needed to improve public safety.

All 255 MPs who turned up for the vote shortly before 6 p.m. endorsed the opposition motion -- a rare show of unanimous support in the House of Commons that will see the establishment of a national registry by next January.

But the government's support was quickly dismissed as a political stunt after Lawrence MacAulay, the Solicitor-General, insisted the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) already serves the same function.

"They have missed the whole point. This isn't good enough," Randy White, the Alliance MP who put forward the motion, told the House of Commons.

The Alliance proposal would require all convicted sex offenders, once they have been released into the community, to register their whereabouts at a police station at least once a year and whenever they move.

Failure to comply could see the offender returned to jail.

The existing computer database, CPIC, provides police with information on all convicted offenders, but does not require notification of local police when a sex offender moves into a community.

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Source: National Post Online