WINNIPEG -- A Manitoba committee tasked with determining if the public needs to be notified about a sex offender has released a report giving the province a look at the offenders and the victims involved.

The Community Notification Advisory Committee (CNAC) is a group of representatives from Manitoba Justice, corrections and Manitoba police agencies, along with medical or therapeutic practitioners and civilian members.

The committee was created in 1995 to review sex offender cases referred to it by police agencies, and recommend if the public should be notified about a sex offender.

On Friday, the committee released its report giving Manitobans a look at the cases it has reviewed.

MULTIPLE REPEAT OFFENDERS REPORTED TO CNAC

CNAC has had 210 cases referred to it between June 1995 and the end of December 2019, which include 167 offenders – all of whom were men ranging from the ages of 16 to 81. Most had extensive criminal records involving sexual assaults or other violent crimes.

Of these men, 23 were referred to CNAC two times, eight were referred three times, and one person was referred to CNAC five times.

Most of the offenders (90) were labelled as sexual aggressors – someone whose victims are mostly adults. There were 73 who were labelled as pedophiles, and four were labelled as incest offenders – someone who targets relatives who are usually children.

In the majority (110) of the cases, the offenders were still incarcerated when the CNAC made its recommendations – though in one of the cases referred to the NAC was thrown out because the offender had left the province, and three other cases were not considered after being withdrawn by the lead police agency.

Of the 210 cases, CNAC has recommended full public notification in 113 cases, limited notification in 22 cases, targeted 39 cases, and no notification in 31 cases.

CNAC said there were other measures recommended in two cases, and three cases were withdrawn.

MAJORITY OF VICTIMS WOMEN AND YOUNG GIRLS, MANY KNEW THEIR OFFENDER

CNAC said there were 435 different victims in these cases, 300 of whom were women or young girls.

The report shows 187 victims in the cases referred to the agency were children 11-years-old or younger – 98 of whom were girls and 89 of whom were boys.

There were 120 cases involving youth victims between the ages of 12 and 17 – including 93 girls and 27 boys. The report shows there 98 cases involving adult victims, including 95 women and three men. There were 30 cases were the age is unknown.

CNAC said in most of the cases (59 per cent), the offenders knew their victims at the time. In 50 cases, the offenders were a stranger to their victims, and in 15 cases, the victims included both people the offenders knew and others they did not.

THE MOST RECENT CASES REFERRED TO CNAC

The report provided information on the cases referred to CNAC in 2018 and 2019 – the most recent information available.

There were eight cases in 2018, and four cases in 2019. CNAC recommended the public be notified about each of these cases.

While the committee makes recommendations, it said police agencies are not required to follow them.

The offenders in these cases – all of whom were men ranging in the ages of 24 to 55 – were expected to live in or around Winnipeg.

You can read the full report here: