Convicted perverts get name changes approved

I would have thought that if you wanted to change your name, being labelled a dangerous offender or appearing on the sex offender registry would preclude that.

Apparently not.

In the past couple of weeks I’ve become aware of two people with horrific criminal records who were able to change their names in their respective provinces. Is this something we should allow?

In fact, I mistakenly thought this had been dealt with years ago when there was an uproar over child molester and former junior hockey coach Graham James getting a pardon and potentially changing his name.

While the Harper government changed the rules around pardons after that 2010 report, name changes are handled by provincial governments and it seems being a predator that seeks out children for sexual assault won’t keep you from getting a new identity.

On Sunday the Toronto Sun told the story of Adam Laboucan, now known as Tara Desousa. While the Sun went with the titillating headline that read, “Youngest dangerous offender gets DD breast implants” my concern was with the name change.

Laboucan was 17 when he was arrested for a brutal sexual assault on a three-month old baby in Quesnel, B.C. The child was so badly injured reconstructive surgery was needed.

Laboucan became Canada’s youngest person ever to be named a dangerous offender and therefore is held behind bars without any firm release date. So far, Laboucan, now Desousa, has been denied parole thanks to bad behaviour behind bars including prostitution, assault, drugs and threatening to kill a female guard.

British Columbia, where Laboucan/Desousa is held, requires anyone with a criminal record to get finger prints before a name change to allow police to track.

But what about the public?

If you remember Adam Laboucan’s crimes, would you know a thing about Tara Desousa if she moved in next to you?

The other recent case is a man who was under investigation for child pornography offences when his name change was granted. If this was his first offence, officials could be forgiven for allowing this to happen but Kevin Daniel Hudec was already a registered sex offender and designated as a long-term offender when officials in Saskatchewan granted his name change to Gabriel Michael Fisher.

This guy’s name change could have been denied just by Googling him. Hudec has a long history of child pornography convictions, his latest charges include making child pornography meaning he was there as children were abused for his sexual satisfaction.

Why do men like Hudec or Laboucan deserve new identities?

These men have committed horrific crimes against children for their own sexual gratification. Allowing them a name change, even on the grounds of Laboucan’s transgenderism, gives them a shot at a new life, something their victims will not get.

This problem requires action across the country, it requires each province to change their laws to prevent this sort of thing from happening. Some crimes mean you give up your rights for life, I’d say these two have earned that distinction.

The scary part is I doubt these are the only two.

How many more cases like Laboucan, Hudec or Graham James are out there? How much is the process to change your name discussed in the online message boards these perverts use to trade their filth?

It’s time to stop this. Now.

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