It is extremely difficult for any parent to imagine their child missing, let alone have it actually happen. However, more than 50,000 children are reported missing each year in Canada, leaving families torn and distraught while they desperately hope for their child to be returned home safely. Unfortunately, not every missing child case has a happy ending, but thanks to the efforts of exceptional organizations like the Canadian Centre for Child Protection and its new website: www.MissingKids.ca, the odds of missing children being returned to their families will hopefully be increased and the number of children who go missing will be reduced.
The Canadian Centre for Child Protection is a non-profit, charitable organization dedicated to the personal safety of all children. The organization aims to reduce child victimization by offering programs and services to Canadians. This is done by public awareness activities, a personal safety education program, a national tip line to report online sexual abuse of children (Cybertip.ca), and a program to help organizations prevent child sexual abuse.
The latest service offered by the Centre is the MissingKids.ca website. It is an essential tool for families of missing children and is also an important resource for law enforcement agencies across Canada. It is designed to: a) assist in the location of missing children; b) provide educational materials to help prevent children from going missing; c) be an information resource centre on missing children; and d) co-ordinate efforts and assist stakeholders in the delivery of missing children services. Furthermore, the website acts as a portal where communities and law enforcement can immediately access and/or share information on missing or abducted children, including Amber Alerts.
Our Government congratulates the tremendous work of the Centre and on its launch of the new website. We are also proud to work with this group and others like it, to keep Canadian children safe. Since 2006, our Government has made tackling crime a priority, as well as ensuring our streets and communities are safer for all Canadians, including our children. We have passed a number of significant measures to protect Canadian children and to hold criminals accountable, which include:
• Raising the age of consent to 16 years, to better protect 14- and 15-year olds from sexual predators;
• Strengthening the National Sex Offender Registry and the National DNA Data Bank, to better protect our children and our communities from sexual predators;
• Strengthening measures to protect children from online sexual exploitation; and
• Limiting the granting of pardons, to better reflect the severity of the crimes committed, especially sexual offences against children.
MissingKids.ca is an invaluable resource for both families of missing children and law enforcement. Our Government is pleased to welcome this website which will contribute to reducing the number of children who go missing in Canada every year. We will also continue our efforts to support victims and to ensure our streets and communities are safe.
