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Sexual offenders in Ontario now have to register with police.

Critics push for national sex offender registry 
Sexual offenders in Ontario will now have to register with police. The country's first sexual offence registry took effect April 23, making it mandatory for sexual offenders to register with police within 15 days of their release. The Ontario registry is the first in Canada. British Columbia says it supports the idea of a database as well. David Turnbull, Ontario's solicitor general, says the registry will help save lives. "We know that if a child, for example, is abducted, often as much 44 per cent of all the cases of death occur within the first hour. So being able to very very quickly pinpoint to location of likely perpetrators is absolutely vital to the police," said Turnbull. Christopher Stephenson The Ontario registry is called 'Christopher's Law' named after Christopher Stephenson. In 1988, 11-year-old Christopher was murdered by a convicted pedophile who was released on parole. An inquest into Christopher's death recommended a national sexual offender registry should be set up. Police forces across Ontario also support the registry. So too do the four opposition parties in Ottawa. In fact, Canadian Alliance MP Randy White wants the federal government to bring in a national registry. White says having a registry in only Ontario isn't good enough. "When people who are on the registry in Ontario move to Saskatchewan or wherever, they're not registered again," says White. "So they can escape the registry just by leaving Ontario. Unless you have a national registry with guidelines, it's not going to work as well." Many Liberal MPs support the national registry. But the federal solicitor general does not. Lawrence Macaulay says there's no need for a separate database. He says it would only duplicate the information already on file about convicted sexual offenders. 
Written by CBC News Online staff

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