Parents can’t protect their children if they’re kept in the dark about who lives next door, a group of childhood sexual survivors told Niagara-on-the-Lake council.
Survivors of childhood sexual abuse and a parent of a victim addressed council this month urging the town to back a public sex offender registry and warning that secrecy leaves families unable to protect children.
Three delegates asked council to publicly support opening the registry and to help push the provincial and federal governments to make it happen.
One delegate, Alicia Googoo, told council she and her siblings were abused by someone they lived with for years — who, she later discovered, was listed on the registry.
“My abuser resided in our home in a common-law relationship with my mother,” Googoo said. “Had my mother had access to that information, she may have been better able to make decisions to enhance the protection of her small children from his abuse.”
Elizabeth Emerson, another survivor, said she was five years old when a registered sex offender was allowed into her home, where he remained for a decade. “He was trusted,” she said.
“He had access and that matters, because access is everything,” she said. “Predators don’t need force when they have permission.”
Emerson said when abuse is allowed to happen quietly and families lack critical information, fear spreads — not just of offenders, but of a system that puts comfort and silence ahead of safety.
“I request that you table a motion to support a public registry, or that you adapt to the Welland motion that was already previously pushed forward,” she said to council.
Welland council passed a motion in November, calling on provincial and federal governments to make sex offender registries public.
A third delegate, parent Tammy Riley, told council her former husband is on the registry after being convicted of sexually assaulting their child.
“That’s not something any parent ever imagined saying out loud, but it is the reality of my family,” Riley said, arguing “a registry that parents cannot access does not protect children.”
“As you have heard from my team members’ experience, these survivors were victims of registered sex offenders,” she said.
“What makes this even harder to accept is knowing that this harm could have been prevented,” she said. “The registry existed, but it wasn’t accessible.”
“Their mother had no way of knowing the evil they allowed into their homes, unwittingly giving them access to their precious babies,” said Riley.
Councillors thanked the women for speaking out and asked about existing government support for making the registry public.
“Thank you for being brave and coming forward,” Coun. Wendy Cheropita said, asking whether any level of government had expressed support.
Emerson said Premier Doug Ford announced support for a public registry in Ontario and stated he is willing to use the notwithstanding clause to make it happen. But she said provincial action alone is not enough.
“Just because you’ve made the statement doesn’t mean that we’re going to back down,” she said. “I’m not going to back down until I see it nationally.”
Coun. Maria Mavridis also thanked the delegates and asked about other municipalities that have endorsed public access.
“It takes a lot of strength and courage,” she said, referring to the delegations.
Mavridis pointed to Welland’s action and asked staff to provide information on what those endorsements look like “and how we can maybe do something to support.”
Staff said it could distribute that information to council.
Coun. Gary Burroughs said he supports the intent of the request but wants guidance from Niagara Region before the town takes further steps.
“I think most of us are sympathetic to the requests of that group,” Burroughs said, “but I think the region is the best one to give us advice on how and what way to do it.”
He said the region’s social services department “are the experts” who are best positioned to advise council and deal directly with many of the issues raised. “They are the ones that are probably fully aware of what each municipality is doing.”
Burroughs said he believes the town “should be involved,” but wants guidance from the region on “the best method for us to help” the delegates, adding, “I don’t want to see what Welland said, or anybody else has said.”
The town’s chief administrative officer said staff will reach out to the region, gather additional information and include it alongside other material being prepared for council.
