PETITIONS

Protests started forming around courthouses and known offenders’ homes, the courts didn’t appreciate this and neither did some of the communities filled with angry shouting strangers. Seeing this, we felt there had to be a better way, a way to involve these communities to invoke change for their communities in a safe and effective manner. After a lot of research and consulting with a lawyer, we learned that community concern is often taken into consideration in court matters. The problem was, getting everyone to sit down and write a letter of concern to the courts in order to express that, so this is where we started with our first community petition. Petitioning to revoke bail of an adult who was charged with kidnapping and sexually assaulting a child, and then released on bail back into the same community as that child, only a couple of doors down from the child’s school and community playground. The community came together, the petitions were submitted, and that offender was remanded and remained there until he was convicted almost 2 years later.
 
Word got out, and we were contacted by another victim’s family in a similar situation, and then another, and another. That was when we decided that we need to lobby to change legislation with Federal Petitions. Our team put together our first Federal Petition specific to adults charged with a sexual offence against a minor and on bail release until their trial date. We’re asking for mandatory distances that they can reside from a playground, school or their victim as currently there are no requirements in Canada for these crimes. We’re asking for mandatory monitoring like a surety who is well vetted by the court to help ensure compliance with bail release conditions or GPS monitoring, currently there are no requirements in Canada for these crimes. And we’re asking for a graduated system for repeat offenders so that the distances and monitoring would increase, currently, there are no requirements in Canada for these crimes. This was modelled off of a current system already in place for other criminal offences such as a DUI, we are just asking for something similar to also apply to adults who are charged with a sexual offence against a minor.
 
We are now providing community petitions to help with sentencing for high profile and/or repeat offenders, as well as dangerous offenders designations for repeat offenders. These petitions are specific to a matter currently before the courts and are submitted directly to the courts by our team. All of our petitions are paper petitions that are signed in person, correlated, and submitted on behalf of concerned citizens.
 
Soon, we will have petitions available that can be downloaded, printed, signed (in person) and mailed to:
 
Survivors Fighting for Change Foundation (SFC)
PO Box 70066 Londonderry
Edmonton, AB  Canada T5C 3R6
 
Alternatively, check out our Event Calendar and stop by to say hello and sign in person.
Event Calendar
Canvassers Needed – Volunteer Today!
Canvassers are very important in helping us get our petitions into as many hands locally and across Canada as possible. The more people who are aware of the changes we are seeking, the more support we can get, which increases the likelihood of our petitions making real changes to better protect children locally and across Canada. Canvassers collect signatures for our petitions at their own discretion. SFC provides instructions and petitions, and canvassers are free to collect signatures from friends, family, coworkers, neighbours, etc. Canvassers then mail the original copies back to SFC to be submitted to be certified. 
 
Please use our online contact form to contact our team to get started.