Nearly 150 Canadians charged overseas with sex crimes

Nearly 150 Canadians charged overseas with sex crimes

Benjamin Perrin, who teaches at the University of British Columbia, has reviewed information obtained through the Access to Information Act from the Department of Justice on sexual exploitation charges overseas. He found that 146 Canadians were charged with child sex offences overseas from 1993-2007, based on requests for consular support.

However, only one Canadian has been convicted here under laws against child-sex tourism.

Canadian Christopher Paul Neil sits inside a detention cell of the Bangkok Criminal Court March 10, 2008. Neil is facing charges of molesting children in Thailand.
Reuters

"Canada has one of the worst records in the world on enforcing these laws. This is becoming an international sore spot for Canada." he said. "Are we going to back up our tough talk on child sexual exploitation with action?"

Perrin said other countries, such as the U.S. and Australia, have similar laws against citizens travelling overseas and sexually abusing children. Those countries have a much higher number of prosecutions and convictions, he added. About 50 other countries have similar laws.

Very few RCMP officers are posted in embassies overseas to collect evidence against Canadian child abusers, resulting in a lack of enforcement. Instead, Canada relies on foreign countries to supply enough evidence to lay charges, said Perrin.

"The RCMP need to have more resources," he suggested, adding the Department of Justice needs to lay more charges.

In an e-mail, Darren Eke, a spokesman for federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, said the "prosecuting authority" for Canada's child-sex tourism laws falls under provincial jurisdiction.

"Canada's child-sex tourism law reflects international consensus that those who sexually abuse children must be held accountable," he said. "Where the state in which the transgression is alleged to have occurred does not prosecute an accused Canadian, our child-sex tourism provisions enable Canada to undertake the prosecution."

The sex-tourism law was enacted in 1997.

Donald Bakker, the first Canadian to be charged under the laws, pleaded guilty in 2005, and was sentenced to 10 years in jail for cruel and sadistic sexual acts on women and children, including girls between the ages of seven and 12 in Cambodia.

Perrin said charges against Bakker were "essentially accidental," after police arrested him in Vancouver on unrelated charges and stumbled on a cache of videotapes showing the overseas assaults.

Three others have since been charged, including Kenneth Robert Klassen of Burnaby, who is accused of exploiting children in Cambodia, Colombia and the Philippines; and two Quebec humanitarian workers, Armand Huard and Denis Rochefort, who are accused of sexually assaulting children in a Haitian orphanage.

In the Quebec case, Perrin said the accusations had to be brought before the United Nations before they received any attention.

"This is why our record is so poor," he added.

Swirly-faced accused pedophile Christopher Paul Neil, 32, of B.C., was arrested in Thailand last year. Its unclear whether he will be tried in Canada on the sex-tourism laws
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