how many more victims

 how many more victims? children and women deserve protection.

A disturbing Vancouver case raises serious questions about public safety, repeat offenders and our justice system.

A man with a criminal history dating back to 1980 is now facing a dangerous offender hearing in Vancouver.

Gordon James Joseph Leclerc, 75, was convicted in 2025 of aggravated sexual assault against a 76-year-old woman who used a motorized wheelchair.

But this is not his first time in prison.

According to Global News, his history includes sexual offences against children as young as seven, further offences after release, and repeated convictions spanning decades.

The Crown is now seeking dangerous offender status, which could result in an indeterminate prison sentence.

And I have questions. Very serious questions.

How many chances does one person get while their victims get a lifetime of consequences?

How many adults are walking among us today, quietly carrying the horrors of what happened to them as children?

Put yourself in their shoes. Could you survive that? Could you simply go on living as though nothing happened? Would you feel safe? Would you be able to trust, love and build a healthy life without carrying some of that trauma?

How many still struggle with fear, relationships, anxiety and memories they never asked for?

The offender may eventually walk free, but the victims don't necessarily walk away from what happened to them.

Some carry those scars for the rest of their lives.

what do the statistics tell us?

Public Safety Canada published research examining 4,724 adult male sexual offenders across 10 follow-up studies.

The research estimated recorded sexual reoffending at:

• 14% within five years.
• 20% within ten years.
• 24% within fifteen years.

One particularly important finding: offenders with a previous sexual offence conviction had an estimated 37% sexual reoffending rate over 15 years, compared with 19% for those without a previous conviction.

These are historical research findings, not predictions about every offender. They measure recorded offences, and sexual crimes that are never reported cannot be fully counted.

But they demonstrate why repeat offending and individual risk assessments matter.

Source: Public Safety Canada, Sex Offender Recidivism: A Simple Question.

why are we not talking more about the victims?

It seems that almost every day there is another disturbing news report, another police warning, another case involving someone accused or convicted of sexual violence.

And every time, families are left worrying about their children, women are reminded to be cautious, and survivors are reminded of things they may have spent years trying to heal from.

I understand that offenders have legal rights. Our justice system must follow the law, and rehabilitation has a place.

But what about the rights of victims?

What about a child's right to grow up without sexual violence?

What about a woman's right to feel safe walking down the street?

What about seniors who depend on others for care and protection?

Why does the conversation so often seem to revolve around the offender's future while the victims are left to rebuild theirs?

enough is enough. public safety must come first.

This is not about revenge. It is about preventing further harm.

In this particular case, the court must carefully examine the extensive criminal history, the evidence presented and the risk of future offending.

I want to see the dangerous offender application taken extremely seriously.

If the legal criteria are met, I believe he should receive an indeterminate sentence.

We cannot undo what happened to those children, that senior woman or anyone else who has been victimized.

But we can demand a justice system that takes repeat offending seriously and puts the protection of the public at the forefront.

Children deserve childhoods. Women deserve safety. Survivors deserve to be heard.

And the next potential victim deserves protection before another life is damaged.

How many more victims will it take?

questions for those responsible for public safety

1. How many times must someone sexually offend before the justice system recognizes a pattern that cannot be ignored?

2. How many children must be sexually abused before protecting potential victims becomes the priority?

3. Who is accountable when a repeat offender is released and commits another sexual offence?

4. When an offender is released, who is responsible for assessing the risk to children, women and vulnerable seniors?

5. How can someone with decades of sexual offences, including crimes against children, repeatedly return to the community?

6. Are the lifelong consequences for victims being given the same consideration as the legal rights of offenders?

7. Have you ever considered what happens to a seven-year-old child after sexual abuse? What happens when that child grows up carrying the trauma into adulthood?

8. How many survivors live with PTSD, anxiety, depression, damaged relationships and a lifelong struggle to feel safe?

9. When parole or release is granted, who speaks for the potential next victim?

10. What safeguards are actually in place to prevent repeat offenders from accessing vulnerable people?

11. If an offender continues committing sexual offences after multiple prison sentences, what evidence is needed before the system acknowledges that previous interventions have failed?

12. Why should the public have to wait for another victim before action is taken?

13. Do victims and their families ever get the same attention, resources and consideration as the people who harmed them?

14. When a dangerous offender application is made, why has it taken so many offences and so many years to reach this point?

15. To the people responsible for our justice and corrections systems: would you be comfortable knowing your own child, mother or grandmother could be the next victim because a known repeat offender was released?

These are not abstract policy questions. These are human lives.

Who is protecting the people who cannot protect themselves? And who answers when the system fails them?

#ProtectOurChildren

#ProtectWomen

#PublicSafety

#JusticeForVictims

#SexualViolenceAwareness

#ChildProtection

#VictimRights

#DangerousOffender

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#BCJustice