MLAs pass Hay River man's protection motion

A Hay River, N.W.T. man who suffered sexual abuse as a child and has since advocated tougher laws for sex offenders gained a symbolic victory in the territory's legislature Monday.

The motion drafted by Terry Rideout and passed by MLAs calls for annual criminal record checks on all public employees and volunteers in the Northwest Territories who come into regular contact with children.

"This is one piece in an effort that we need to make to ensure that our children are safe and that they are protected," Hay River South MLA Jane Groenewegen, who presented Rideout's motion, said in the legislature Monday.

All the legislative assembly's 12 regular MLAs voted in favour of the motion, while Premier Joe Handley and the six cabinet MLAs abstained. But Handley said he agrees with the sentiment driving the motion, and the government would explore the idea of implementing mandatory checks.

"This is not the kind of issue where we have to debate and disagreement," Handley said. "It's one that we have to all stand together on."

Although the motion was not binding, it sent a strong message to government, which pleased Rideout.

"I'm just excited. It's a good start," he said. "I mean, in this day and age, we're very lax in the Western world, and I think we need [to] just change and to stand up to the plate and protect our people."

Rideout said he was motivated to speak out about his childhood sexual abuse after hearing news of a convicted sex offender being charged earlier this year with sexually assaulting two children in Rideout's community of Hay River.

Sex offender arrested

John Melanson, a 43-year-old sex offender who was put on probation after his release from prison last year, was arrested in Torontoin Februaryand held in custody for violating a court order.

It was at that time that Hay River RCMP laid a number of charges against Melanson, including two counts of sexual assault and one count of possession of child pornography.

"The pedophile that was in Hay River lit a fire in my belly, and I said, 'Terry I cannot sit back any longer without saying something,'" said Rideout, who added that being an advocate for tougher laws for sex offenders is also part of his own healing process.

"From my own experiences, being sexually abused as a child, I thought it is time to stand up."