Prohibit Making Public Allegations of Criminality & Child Abuse Prior to being Convicted in a Court of Law.

To the Honourable the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, in Legislature Assembled:

The Petition of the undersigned, Jolene Johnson, of National Risk Management Group Ltd, of the city of Burnaby, in the Province of British Columbia, states that:

A Bill should be passed prohibiting the publication or make any way known of an individual’s name, photo, and nature of criminal offence prior to that individual being convicted by an independent and impartial tribunal.

The bill further should address the release of information from the PRIME system and the Court Services Online website, in relation to any entries pertaining to any individual, and information from a Child Protection database or file, where an individual has been accused of a criminal offence to which has not been tried in a court of law.

In respect to Law Enforcement who require to publicize a photo of an individual for investigative purposes, it should be limited to the photo only and not the nature of the offence and should not be worded where negative adverse effects could occur against that individual, and then should be removed from public view when the Law Enforcement Agency, has completed their investigation.

Law Enforcement should further be permitted to withhold a vulnerable sector check while a party has been charged with a sexual offence until the matter proceeds through trial for the protection of the public.

This Bill is not intended to silence victims it is intended to protect the rights of all Canadians who have the right of being presumed innocent until proven guilty.  Within the Bill, the public and media will be able to report that a matter went to court and the story associated with it however they would be prohibited from naming the individuals. 

The purpose of the Bill is to protect the individual’s rights under the: 

Charter Rights, under the Charter of

Rights and Freedoms, section 11. (d) to which Any person charged with an offence has

the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law in a fair and public

hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal.

This Bill is necessary to protect the rights of all Canadians, as many Canadians are

having adverse ramifications due to the releasing of this information when the

allegations have never been tried in a court or tribunal. Canadians are losing

employment opportunities, having issues with travel, housing and volunteering.

When information is released that is contained on the PRIME system, and the Child

Protection System, when the allegations have not been proven, these allegations are

prohibiting Canadians from being licensed professionally, from working in various

occupations. 

This goes against the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and is causing huge barriers to

Canadians. PRIME entries are utilized by Professional Regulators to make licensing

decisions, and many times these entries have never been tried in court, and in some

cases the individual may not even know they exist as they have never been contacted.

Your petitioners respectfully request that the Honourable House urges to take such

action as may be deemed appropriate to protect all Canadians.

The Petition of the undersigned, Jolene Johnson, of National Risk Management Group Ltd, of the city of Burnaby, in the Province of British Columbia, states that:    Contact the author of the petition