U.S. wants Canada to share travel information on convicted child sex offenders
The U.S. government says it’s frustrated that Ottawa refuses to routinely notify Washington when Canadians convicted of sexual offences against children travel to the United States, noting that it alerts Canada when the same class of American offenders are heading here.
The Americans say Canada cites federal privacy law as the reason.
RCMP Staff-Sergeant Alain Gagnon, manager of the National Sex Offender Registry, said the database is governed by the Sexual Offender Registry Act. The law forbids the RCMP to share information on convicted sex offenders with another country unless they have evidence an offense is going to be committed.
All federal legislation in Canada must conform to the Privacy Act, which says that information about Canadians cannot be routinely shared.
“We can disclose information to a police service outside Canada when it is necessary to assist them in prevention or investigation of a crime of a sexual nature,” Staff-Sgt. Gagnon said in an interview. “That is really the only thing we can use as authorization to notify another country of a sex offender traveling.”
Damn Canada’s government is more for freedom than our country. Canada is a sovereign nation and Washington should butt out of a country’s business. I wish that kind of thinking would of come down instead of the arctic blasts.
“The US government is frustrated”?? So let the US government suck on frozen lug nuts! 😠
Maybe the US government is just frustrated that other countries protect their citizens better and give them more respect and privacy than America does! 😡
In 4 words As it should be
Whom ever is responsible for that decision should be commended along with evidence upholding why there viewpoints are correct. Canada doesn’t want to go down that path that only causes trouble for everyone, including them.
RESPECT! For our Canadian neighbors.
While the privacy laws may be more favorable up north, the same ignorant attitudes still prevail. Just check out the comments section of the article. Same troll fodder. Sad to see that the majority of people do not use their brains, but it does explain a lot.
Please post your own comments to counteract the trolls. We should ALL be posting comments.
LoL ha suck it United States, Canada is saying to our country!
Canada needs to build a wall along the US-Canada border and send the bill to our politicians’ own pockets. Our government is like a martini without, sorry I can’t say the rest.
I thought Canada had restrictions on RSOs and felons from entering their country?
They do. We Americans that are on the registry cannot enter Canada. They are very strict about this. Even a simple DUI will forbid you from entering Canada… Since with international travel we have to report 21 days in advance i believe. They notify Canada that we are coming. So we would get stopped at the border and refused entry. It does not work the same way for Canadian offenders as Canada does not notify the USA they are coming and unless US customs runs a background check on them then they wont know. Also i believe US Offenders have a mark on their passports that they are a S.O.
There is an opportunity to apply for a certificate of rehabilitation and many, including registrants, have gotten it.
I will look into that certificate. I have not heard of that and i am planning on Moving to Alaska so that will be very helpful. thanks for that.
@Walt
While Canada does restrict those with convictions from entering, as noted here, people can seek entry with a Canadian immigration atty legal work to prove they’re rehabilitated. Also, please don’t spread false info about the passport marking. There’s enough misinformation spread already If you research it, you’re encouraged to by the way on the State Dept website, you’ll see it is for those who have a conviction where a minor was involved and are subject to registration, not just any person who has a conviction under sex offender criminal statutes as you state.
As long as we’re accusing other members of spreading false info…In Fl, it makes no difference whether one’s crime was against a minor or an adult. Either way, one’s intl travel must be registered.
Yes @Jacob, that is true as well as for other states, reservations, and territories too.
What false did i spread? Most on the registry are on there because of involvements with minors. I got my passport 2 days before that law was signed by obama about the markings on the passport so my guess is my passport is invalid and i need to get a new one.