Sex Offender Information Registration Act

Marginal note:Unauthorized persons

• 16 (1) No person shall exercise any function or perform any duty under this Act that they are not authorized under this Act to exercise or perform.

• Marginal note:Unauthorized consultation

  (2) No person shall consult any information that is collected under this Act or registered in the database, unless they are

  • (a) a member or employee of, or a person retained by, a police service who consults the information for the purpose of investigating a specific crime that there are reasonable grounds to suspect is of a sexual nature;

  • (b) a person who collects information at a registration centre designated under this Act in the province in which a sex offender’s main residence is located who consults the information to verify compliance by the sex offender with an order or orders or with an obligation under section 490.019 of the Criminal Code or section 227.06 of the National Defence Act;

  • (b.1) a person who collects information at a registration centre designated under the National Defence Act who consults the information to verify compliance by a sex offender who is subject to the Code of Service Discipline, or who is an officer, or non-commissioned member, of the primary reserve as defined in section 227 of the National Defence Act, with an order or orders or with an obligation under section 490.019 of the Criminal Code or section 227.06 of the National Defence Act;

  • (c) a person who collects or registers information who consults the information in order to exercise the functions or perform the duties assigned to them under this Act;

  • (d) a person who is authorized under section 13 to consult information that is registered in the database for research or statistical purposes and who does so for those purposes;

  • (e) the Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or a person authorized by the Commissioner who consults information that is collected under this Act or registered in the database in order to perform the duties of the Commissioner under this Act, under subsection 490.03(1) or (2) of the Criminal Code or under subsection 227.18(1) or 227.19(1) of the National Defence Act; or

  • (f) a member or employee of, or a person retained by, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who is authorized to consult the information in order to maintain the database and who does so for that purpose.

• Marginal note:Unauthorized comparison of information

  (3) No person shall compare any information that is collected under this Act or registered in the database with any other information unless

  • (a) they compare information that was consulted in accordance with paragraph (2)(a) with other information for the purpose of investigating a specific crime that there are reasonable grounds to suspect is of a sexual nature;

  • (b) they compare information that was consulted in accordance with paragraph (2)(b) or (b.1) with other information to verify compliance by the sex offender with one or more orders or with an obligation under section 490.019 of the Criminal Code or section 227.06 of the National Defence Act, or to investigate an offence under section 490.031 or 490.0311 of the Criminal Code, an offence under either of those provisions that is punishable under section 130 of the National Defence Act, or an offence under section 119.1 of the National Defence Act; or

  • (c) they compare the information in accordance with an authorization under section 13.

• Marginal note:Unauthorized combination or linking of information

  (3.1) No person shall, by electronic means, combine any information that is collected under this Act or registered in the database with, or link it to, any other information contained in a computer system within the meaning of subsection 342.1(2) of the Criminal Code unless

  • (a) they combine the information that is registered in the database with, or link it to, information contained in the sex offender registry established under the Ontario Act, for the purpose of registering information under section 8, 8.1 or 10; or

  • (b) they combine or link information in accordance with an authorization under section 13.

• Marginal note:Unauthorized disclosure

  (4) No person shall disclose any information that is collected under this Act or registered in the database or the fact that information relating to a person is collected under this Act or registered in the database, or allow it to be disclosed,

  • (a) unless the disclosure is to the sex offender, or the person served with a notice under section 490.021 of the Criminal Code or section 227.08 of the National Defence Act, to whom the information relates;

  • (b) unless the disclosure is expressly authorized under this Act, the Criminal Code or the National Defence Act;

  • (c) unless the disclosure is to a member or an employee of, or a person retained by, a police service and is necessary

    • (i) to enable them to investigate an offence under section 17 or to lay a charge for such an offence,

    • (ii) to enable them to investigate a specific crime that there are reasonable grounds to suspect is of a sexual nature, an offence under section 119.1 of the National Defence Act, an offence under section 490.031 or 490.0311 of the Criminal Code or an offence under either of those provisions that is punishable under section 130 of the National Defence Act, or to lay a charge for such an offence, or

    • (iii) to enable them to investigate a criminal offence or a service offence within the meaning of subsection 2(1) of the National Defence Act or to lay a charge for such an offence, as long as the investigation or charge results from an investigation referred to in subparagraph (ii);

  • (d) unless the disclosure is to a prosecutor and is necessary to enable the prosecutor to determine whether a charge for an offence resulting from an investigation referred to in paragraph (c) should be laid;

  • (e) unless the disclosure is to a person who is responsible under the National Defence Act for laying, referring or preferring a charge for a service offence and to a person who provides legal advice with respect to the charge, and the disclosure is necessary to enable them to determine whether a charge for a service offence resulting from an investigation referred to in paragraph (c) should be laid, referred or preferred;

  • (f) unless the disclosure is to a prosecutor, judge or justice in a proceeding relating to an application for a search warrant in connection with an investigation referred to in paragraph (c), and the information is relevant to the application;

  • (g) unless the disclosure is to a person who is authorized under the National Defence Act to issue a search warrant in connection with the investigation of a service offence and to a person who provides legal advice with respect to the issuance of the search warrant, and the information is relevant to an application for a search warrant in connection with an investigation referred to in paragraph (c);

  • (h) unless the information disclosed is relevant to the proceeding, appeal or review and the disclosure is

    • (i) to a prosecutor in connection with a proceeding that results from an investigation referred to in paragraph (c) and that is before a court of criminal jurisdiction or superior court of criminal jurisdiction within the meaning of section 2 of the Criminal Code or a service tribunal within the meaning of subsection 2(1) of the National Defence Act,

    • (ii) to the Attorney General within the meaning of section 2 of the Criminal Code, or the Minister of National Defence or counsel instructed by the Minister, in connection with an appeal of a decision made in such a proceeding,

    • (iii) to the court or service tribunal presiding over the proceeding or appeal and, in the case of a summary trial under the National Defence Act, to a person who provides legal advice to the presiding officer, or

    • (iv) to a review authority under section 249 of the National Defence Act and to a person who provides legal advice to the review authority in connection with its review of a finding of guilty made or punishment imposed in the proceeding or appeal;

  • (i) unless the disclosure to the person is necessary to assist an investigation of any act or omission referred to in subsection 7(4.1) of the Criminal Code by a police service in the state where the act or omission was committed;

  • (j) unless the disclosure is to an employee of, or a person retained by, a person referred to in any of paragraphs (d) to (i) who is authorized by that person to receive information disclosed under that paragraph on their behalf; or

  • (k) unless the disclosure is by a person who is authorized under section 13 to consult information that is registered in the database or to compare or combine that information with, or link it to, other information, the disclosure is for research or statistical purposes and it is not made, or allowed to be made, in a form that could reasonably be expected to identify any individual to whom it relates.

• Marginal note:Unauthorized use

  (5) No person shall use any information that is collected under this Act or registered in the database, or allow it to be used, for a purpose other than that for which it is consulted, compared, combined, linked or disclosed, as the case may be, under this section.