Bringing Ontario’s sex offender registry in line

The Ontario government is proposing changes to the provincial sex offender registry, known as ‘Christopher’s Law.’

Community safety minister Jim Bradley wants to align the provincial registry to reflect changes to the federal registry.
The legislation would:

• -remove current offender reporting times of 15 days;
• -add the authority to prescribe the timelines for reporting;
• -require offenders who have been convicted of sex offences outside of Canada, who have been ordered to report to the national registry, to also report to the Ontario registry;
• -allow the registry to maintain the records of registered offenders who receive a pardon under the Criminal Records Act.

The Ontario registry, the first of its kind in Canada, has a 97 percent compliance rate — one of the highest rates of any sex offender registry in North America.