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Disgraced former Vancouver Whitecaps women’s soccer coach Bob Birarda will not be placed on Canada’s sex offender registry following his sentencing for sexual offences against teenaged girls.
Birarda, 56, was sentenced in November to two years in custody – including 16 months in jail and eight months of a conditional sentence – for sexual offences involving teenaged soccer players he coached over a 20-year period between 1988 and 2008.
During those two decades, Birarda was a prominent figure in the soccer community, running a soccer academy in the Lower Mainland and coaching at both provincial and national levels.
For the past decade, offenders sentenced for sexual crimes have been automatically required to register in Canada’s sex offender registry.
Just days before Birarda was sentenced, however, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down mandatory registration of all sexual offenders, ruling the law was unconstitutional, because it imposed onerous conditions on people who did not pose a high risk to reoffend.
The Supreme Court suspended its decision for a year but left the door open to offenders to apply in the interim for an exemption to the sex offender registry.
Birarda’s lawyers sought that exemption, arguing that Birarda has been deemed a low risk to reoffend by psychological assessments, has taken steps towards rehabilitation and made “significant efforts” to understand the actions that led to his convictions.
Defence lawyers added there is no evidence that Birarda is a pedophile and that at least 14 years have passed since his most recent offence.
The Crown prosecutor had argued that Birarda should be placed on the sex offender registry for 20 years.
On Friday in North Vancouver provincial court, Judge Deanne Gaffar granted the exemption sought by Birarda, ruling the former soccer coach will not be required to register as a sexual offender.
In handing down her decision, Gaffar noted that inclusion in the registry is not imposed as punishment for offences but is meant to help police prevent and investigate sex crimes.
Gaffar noted the requirements of the registry involve ongoing reporting of extensive information and continuous state monitoring of those registered, representing a serious impact on their liberty.
Gaffar said central questions included whether Birarda is at increased risk for committing another sexual offence and whether the information contained in a sexual offender registry would ever prove useful to police.
In granting Birarda an exemption, Gaffar noted psychological assessments had found Birarda was at a low risk of reoffending. Other factors, including a lack of any other offences over a lengthy period, extensive counselling, family support, and shame over the very public nature of his convictions also made the risk of Birarda’s reoffending low, the judge said.
“While a low risk to sexually reoffend may still represent a risk, it does not qualify as an increased risk,” Gaffar said.
She added it was “remote or implausible” that the information in the registry would be ever needed by police to find Birarda, given his strong personal and professional connections in the Lower Mainland and wide public knowledge of the case.
In striking down the mandatory lifetime registration for sex offenders last October, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that provision was unconstitutional because it included people who did not present a lifetime risk of reoffending.
The court gave the government one year to fix the problems it identified as unconstitutional in the registry.
Most recently, the government has proposed legislation that would limit automatic registration in the registry to repeat sexual offenders, and serious child sexual offenders. Others convicted of one of the crimes listed in the sex offender registry law can apply for exemptions if they can prove they do not pose a risk to the community.
