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Sex-Crime Gap In Quebec School Safety Net
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Although background checks on school employees have been mandatory since 2005, schools in Quebec - following the rules set out by the Education Department - still don't check whether their employees have been pardoned for sex-related offences.
Daycares and hockey teams do. Why not schools?
Parents and police say it's a hole in the protective net around children.
"I don't want to stigmatize these people - they have the right to be rehabilitated in society," said Bernard Tremblay, director of labour relations for the Fédération des commissions scolaires du Québec. "But let's not rehabilitate them in our schools, especially knowing that (pedophilia) is a problem for which we have not yet found a cure. There is always the risk of a repeat offence."
In Canada, convicted pedophiles are routinely pardoned for their crimes 10 years after their release from prison.
The federal government's omnibus crime bill, if passed, will make it impossible for anyone convicted of a sex crime to be pardoned - ever.
The controversial bill, called the Safe Streets and Communities Act, which also encompasses legislation on young offenders, drug offences, justice for victims of terrorism, and the Immigration and Refugee Act, would turn pardons into "record suspensions." Anyone convicted of three indictments, or a sex crime, will no longer be eligible.
The bill, which has passed two readings in the House of Commons, is now with the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights and is expected to pass by the end of the year, or early in 2012.
But what to do about those who have already received their pardons? In 2009-2010, 24,139 pardons were granted in Canada, with a grant rate of 98 per cent - 6,936 of them in Quebec. According to the Parole Board of Canada, 887 of the pardons across Canada were for indictable sexual offences.
It's unknown how many of those were for residents of Quebec, but it's enough to worry police and parents across the province.
Sylvie Bujold heads the section of Montreal police in charge of doing background checks on job applicants on behalf of schools, daycares and non-profit organizations in the city.
For daycares and non-profit organizations - sports teams, for example - the police look at an applicant's criminal record, but will also submit that person's date of birth and gender into the RCMP's database of sexual offenders. (Until July 2010, they would also submit the name, but offenders who changed their name would not appear in the search results.) If there is a match, the applicant is asked to provide fingerprints to check against a database in Ottawa.
But for the schools, applying the Loi sur l'instruction public (the law on public education) the police check only an applicant's criminal record, Bujold said. If they have received a pardon, their record is wiped clean.
Bujold explained that the contract or protocol the Montreal police have with daycares for protecting a "vulnerable population" includes the consent to access the RCMP's database. Daycares fall under the jurisdiction of the family ministry.
The contract with the schools and the Education Department doesn't.
"I agree that a child in daycare or Grade 1 merits the same protection," Bujold said. "Unfortunately, it's not up to the police in Montreal or all the police forces across the province, that have to apply the criteria that is presented to us."
Bujold and Tremblay say the problem with pedophiles being hired in schools is not widespread. The number of people convicted of sexual crimes is small, Bujold said, the number convicted and subsequently pardoned is even smaller. There are also other means to guard against predators in schools, Tremblay said.
Colleagues, parents and children have been sensitized to the problem. Background checks, imposed six years ago, have also proven to be a useful tool.
But both agree that one case of sexual abuse in a school by a convicted pedophile who slipped under the various radars would be one too many.
"The situation was brought to our attention by police who were saying they couldn't talk to us about certain individuals because they had been pardoned," said Tremblay, adding that schools boards have no discretionary power to call for further background checks on their own. "Without knowing the names it's very worrisome."
Tremblay said the school boards passed a resolution last year to have employees, pardoned or not, checked against the list of sexual offenders, and passed it on to the Education Department. They have received no response yet, he said.
Esther Chouinard, a spokesperson for the department, confirmed that the Loi sur l'instruction public calls for all school employees in contact with minors to undergo background checks but does not ask that any crimes for which someone has been pardoned also be declared.
Whether that law should be changed, Chouinard couldn't say. Dave Leclerc, a spokesperson for Education Minister Line Beauchamp, who was in the Saguenay region on Friday, said he could not comment on the issue Friday. He could not be reached Monday.
Corinne Gayola, assistant director of a Montreal daycare, said the issue should be put at the top of the minister's agenda.
"My son goes to school. If they can't even guarantee me that the employees - whether janitors, teachers or principals, have never had a conviction for a crime involving a child, it makes no sense. They should have the same (protocol) as for the daycares - the safety of children should come first."
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