How many more children have to be hurt before we stop protecting predators?

Ontario is the only province in Canada with its own sex offender registry and it is not accessible to the public. This means convicted child predators and violent sex offenders can quietly move into our neighbourhoods, live near schools and daycares, and rebuild lives under new names, while the people around them remain completely unaware.

These individuals can:
- Live near vulnerable spaces, schools, parks, and youth centres without any obligation to notify neighbours or families.  
- Apply to be removed from the registry after only five years, even if sentenced to ten.

This is not a justice system. This is a protection system for offenders not for the innocent.

As a survivor of childhood abuse, I know what it means to grow up unprotected. The cost is lifelong. These crimes don’t end with the act they echo in our bodies, our minds, our relationships, and our ability to trust the world around us.

I am speaking up for the child I once was and for every child in Ontario who deserves to be safe, to be seen, and to never have their innocence stolen by someone the law allowed to disappear in plain sight.

We demand change:
- A publicly accessible sex offender registry in Ontario, so parents and caregivers can make informed choices.  
- The elimination of early removal applications from the registry.  
- Transparent and community first laws that place public safety above criminal privacy in all cases of violent and repeat sexual offences.

We urge the Government of Ontario and our elected officials to recognize this: a child’s right to safety must outweigh a criminal’s right to disappear.

These are not petty crimes. These are life altering violations. The people who commit them should never be granted anonymity.

Please sign. Please share. Please speak out for the children who can’t.

— Rachel Mélanson, Survivor and Advocate