Online Child Sexual Exploitation
Classification: Unclassifed
Fully releasable (ATIP)? Yes
Branch / Agency: CSCCB/LEBS/SOCD
Proposed Response:
- The Government of Canada is committed to protecting children from those who wish to do them harm and to preventing the occurrence of child sexual exploitation on the Internet.
- Public Safety Canada has been leading the National Strategy for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation on the Internet since 2004, in partnership with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Justice Canada and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, a not-for-profit organization.
- Budget 2019 included new investments of $22.24 million over three years to support Canada’s efforts to raise awareness of this serious issue, reduce the stigma associated with reporting, increase our ability to pursue and prosecute offenders, and work with digital industry to find new ways to combat this crime.
- This new funding enables the Government to better respond to changes in the nature, scale and complexity of this crime.
- These investments complement ongoing funding which supports a national tip-line called Cybertip.ca where Canadians can report suspected cases of child sexual exploitation online.
- Ongoing funding also supports an expanded RCMP National Child Exploitation Crime Centre, which coordinates national and international law enforcement efforts related to child sexual exploitation online.
Background:
Online child sexual exploitation is one of the digital age’s most pressing safety issues that continues to increase in terms of scope, reach and impacts. The sexual exploitation of children is a heinous crime and is a serious concern for the Government, law enforcement agencies and partners in other orders of government and internationally.
The National Strategy for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation on the Internet (National Strategy) was launched in April 2004 and renewed on an ongoing basis in 2009. Public Safety Canada (PS) is the lead for the National Strategy and partners with the RCMP, Justice Canada (JUS) and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P), a not-for-profit organization responsible for operating Cybertip.ca, the national tip-line.
PS coordinates and oversees the implementation of the National Strategy and leads the development of online child sexual exploitation policy. PS also provides contribution funding to C3P for the operation of Cybertip.ca. The RCMP’s National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre is the national law enforcement arm of the National Strategy. It is the central point of contact for investigations related to the online sexual exploitation of children across the country and internationally when the victim or offender is Canadian. JUS reviews and develops legislation, and provides training, legal advice and support to federal strategy partners and others.
The Strategy aims to:
- Provide coordination and oversight of federal efforts to combat child sexual exploitation online;
- Support law enforcement capacity to combat online child sexual exploitation;
- Enable the reporting of online child sexual exploitation to proper authorities;
- Support victims of online child sexual exploitation online by facilitating the removal of imagery/videos;
- Facilitate research on online child sexual exploitation to increase understanding of the scale/scope of the issue and inform action;
- Increase public awareness and reduce the stigma associated with reporting; and
- Work with digital industry to find new ways of combating this crime.
Some PS and RCMP funding to combat online CSE is provided through the It’s Time: Canada’s Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence (the GBV Strategy).
Key initiatives under the National Strategy have helped to: increase public awareness of this crime; support C3P’s operation of Cybertip.ca and the development of Project Arachnid, a web-crawling technology solution to identify and increase the rate of removal of child sexual abuse material; and expand the RCMP’s National Child Exploitation Crime Centre’s investigation capacity.
Recent investments of $22.24 million over three years, starting in 2019–20, support Public Safety Canada’s enhanced efforts to raise awareness of this serious issue and reduce the stigma associated with reporting, increase Canada’s ability to pursue and prosecute offenders, and work with industry to find new ways to combat the sexual exploitation of children online.
Contacts :
Prepared by: Mathilde Brière-Audet, Senior Policy Advisor, 613-302-3277)
Approved by: Talal Dakalbab, Assistant Deputy Minister, Community Safety and Countering Crime Branch, 613-852-1167
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