"Unfortunately this is not the first website of its kind we've heard of," said Sgt. Ian Lafreniere of the Montreal police while confirming the origins of the website will be looked into. "We'll see what can be done about it. We take this very seriously."

The webpage provides a link to the city of Montreal's website devoted to the festival, scheduled for August 18 and 19 at Jean Drapeau Park. The festival has grown in popularity since it began in 1999. In its first year it attracted more than 30,000 visitors. Last year it drew more than 200,000.

City of Montreal spokesperson Bernard Larin, said the city contacted the police as soon as it was made aware of the webpage and learned it was already being investigated.

"The (city's) administration is taking this very seriously," he said.

The webpage - part of a website apparently based in Amsterdam that claims most pedophiles are misunderstood - encourages "little girl watching" but is careful not to recommend approaching children.

The webpage posts recommendations for events where children are expected to be in great numbers and prompts visitors to offer their opinions on other events. The city of Montreal's Children's Festival is mentioned in a recommendation that reads: "a single (girl-lover) on his own might be slightly suspicious. Be sure to watch carefully, there are always plenty of little girls at this event."

The only two other recommendations posted on the webpage concern events scheduled in California.

The webpage describes itself as being "inspired" by Jack McClellan, a self-described pedophile who has set up  websites about "little girl watching." McClellan was living in Washington State when his website was removed by an American service provider in May. He caused a stir in Montreal in May after it was revealed he moved the website to a controversial local host. At the time a Sret du Qubec spokesperson said websites like McClellan's go around the law but don't actually violate the Criminal Code.

According to a recent New York Times article, McClellan now lives in Los Angeles and was planning to move his website to a Dutch host. According to the article, parents of children in Los Angeles have begun websites of their own where they post McClella's photos and note events where he has been sighted.

It was after watching a news report about McClellan that Ottawa resident Tim Meehan, a former Montrealer, searched the internet and noticed the website encouraging "girl-lovers" to go to the Montreal festival.

"When I saw the Montreal connection I became very alarmed," Meehan said.

Meehan reported the webpage to www.cybertip.ca, Canada's national tipline for reports on potential online child sexual abuse.

"This is not an uncommon site for us and there are certainly a number of sites like it that promote pedophelic activity," said Signy Arnason, director of cybertip!ca. "Certainly it is highly concerning and disturbing so if the public does come across this we absolutely would want them to forward it in for us to take a look at it and deal with the police when necessary."

Arnason said that since launching the site in 2005 cybertip!ca has received more than 20,000 reports about sites. The tips have resulted in 28 arrests and almost 3,000 websites being shut down.

pcherry@thegazette.canwest.com