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Criminal - Christopher's Law. Ontario (Attorney General) v. G.
In Ontario (Attorney General) v. G. (SCC, 2020) the Supreme Court of Canada reviews Ontario's 'Christopher's Law':IV. Christopher’s Law
[22] Christopher’s Law establishes a registry containing, among other things, the names, dates of birth, addresses, personal and business phone numbers, employers, descriptions, and photographs of Ontario residents who have been convicted or found NCRMD in respect of a sexual offence, along with the sexual offence in question (s. 2; Christopher’s Law (Sex Offender Registry), 2000, O. Reg. 69/01 (Christopher’s Law Regulation), s. 2).
[23] Christopher’s Law imposes three distinct types of burdens on registrants. First, registrants must comply with initial reporting requirements that, broadly, apply upon release into the community. Second, registrants must continue to report at least once a year and within seven days of specified events, such as changing their addresses or names. Third, registrants’ information persists in the registry, subject to removal only in the event that a registrant receives a free pardon (s. 9.1; Christopher’s Law Regulation, s. 2(3)). I explain these burdens in more detail below.
[24] Registrants must present themselves in person at a police station or other designated place to comply with their initial reporting requirements within seven days of release from custody, release on parole, release following absolute or conditional discharge after being found NCRMD, and becoming resident in Ontario (s. 3(1); Christopher’s Law Regulation, s. 1.2). This initial in‑person reporting obligation takes 45‑60 minutes to complete at a police station.
[25] Registrants must present themselves at least once a year to fulfil their ongoing reporting obligations (s. 3(1)(f) and (g)). They must provide a wide variety of information identified in the regulations, including their name and any present or past aliases, their addresses, their personal and business phone numbers, the name of their employers, their photograph, their physical description, their driver’s licence number, their licence plate number, the characteristics of the car they regularly use, and the educational institutions in which they are enrolled (s. 3(2); Christopher’s Law Regulation, s. 2). It takes 30‑60 minutes to fulfil the annual reporting obligation. Registrants are also required to report every time they change their address, change their name, and become or cease to be an Ontario resident.
[26] Registrants must comply with the reporting obligations for 10 years if the maximum sentence for the sexual offence of which they were convicted or found NCRMD is 10 years or less (s. 7(1)(a)). They must comply for life if the maximum sentence is greater than 10 years or if they were convicted or found NCRMD of more than one sexual offence (s. 7(1)(b) and (c)).
[27] There is no reporting obligation for those who receive conditional or absolute discharges under s. 730 of the Criminal Code, because s. 730(3) deems those individuals not to have been convicted of the offence, and s. 3 of Christopher’s Law only captures persons who have been convicted or found NCRMD of an offence.
[28] Under s. 7(4) of Christopher’s Law, a registrant is no longer required to report upon receiving either a free pardon or a criminal record suspension. A free pardon deems the recipient to have never committed the offence of which they were convicted (Criminal Code, s. 748(3)). A free pardon may be granted either under the Crown’s prerogative of mercy or under s. 748 of the Criminal Code. Historically, the prerogative of mercy and the free pardon, one of the remedies the prerogative can provide, have been exercised to correct wrongful convictions and to compassionately ameliorate the impacts of convictions (Hinse v. Canada (Attorney General), 2015 SCC 35, [2015] 2 S.C.R. 621, at para. 28; G. T. Trotter, “Justice, Politics and the Royal Prerogative of Mercy: Examining the Self‑Defence Review” (2001), 26 Queen’s L.J. 339). A record suspension is granted by the National Parole Board to those who have been convicted of an offence. Good conduct in the period since the end of imprisonment or probation is among the circumstances to be considered in granting a record suspension (Criminal Records Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C‑47, ss. 4 and 4.1).
[29] Under s. 9.1 of Christopher’s Law, a registrant will be removed from the registry upon receiving a free pardon. At the time of G’s registration, s. 9.1 also provided that a registrant would be removed from the registry upon receiving what is now referred to as a record suspension. However, while a record suspension removes the reporting requirement, it no longer leads to removal from the registry (Christopher’s Law (Sex Offender Registry) Amendment Act, 2011, S.O. 2011, c. 8, ss. 1(1) and 6). Finally, there is no mechanism for removing registrants’ information upon a successful appeal, nor when they pass away. Instead, the registrant’s date of death is added to the registry (Christopher’s Law Regulation, s. 2(1) 10).
[30] Information contained in the registry can be disclosed to police forces within and outside Canada for crime prevention and law enforcement purposes, and disclosed publically by a chief of police or designate under certain circumstances (s. 10(2) and (3); Police Services Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.15, s. 41(1.1) and (1.2)).
[31] Significantly, Christopher’s Law requires police forces to make reasonable efforts to verify an offender’s address at least once a year, which may consist of attending at a registrant’s home (s. 4(2)). It does not set limits on the number of checks that can be conducted for verification purposes and does not require police forces to give registrants notice of verification efforts.
[32] Registrants who fail to comply with Christopher’s Law are subject to a maximum fine of $25,000 or up to a year’s imprisonment for a first offence and a maximum fine of $25,000 or up to two years’ imprisonment less a day for a subsequent offence (s. 11).
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