Child Sexual Exploitation Online
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Fully releasable: Yes
Branch / Agency: CSCCB/LESBS/SOC
Issue:
National Strategy for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation on the Internet (including funding from the Gender-Based Violence Strategy).
Proposed Response:
- The Government of Canada is committed to protecting children from those who wish to do them harm and preventing 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.
- Of this funding, $15 million is dedicated to enhance the capacity of local Internet Child Exploitation Units in municipal and provincial police services.
- The new investments complement ongoing funding of over $18 million annually, which includes support for the Canadian Centre for Child Protection to manage Project Arachnid and Cybertip.ca, the national tip-line 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 (CSE) is a heinous crime and is a serious concern for the Government of Canada, 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 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.
Public Safety coordinates and oversees the implementation of the National Strategy and leads the development of online CSE policy. The Department also provides contribution funding to C3P for the operation of Cybertip.ca. The RCMP’s National Child Exploitation Crime Centre is the national law enforcement arm of the National Strategy; it is the central point of contact for investigations related to online CSE 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:
- Coordinate and oversee federal efforts to combat online CSE;
- Support law enforcement capacity to combat online CSE;
- Enable the reporting of online CSE to proper authorities;
- Support victims of online CSE by facilitating the removal of imagery/videos;
- Facilitate research on online CSE 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.
Ongoing investments under the National Strategy total over $18 million per year. Some Public Safety and RCMP funding included in the $18 million was provided through the It’s Time: Canada’s Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence (the GBV Strategy). Through the GBV Strategy, the Department received funding of $1.3 million annually in Budget 2017 to:
- Develop further public awareness;
- Enhance policy coordination and research; and,
- Enhance C3P’s capacity to support, through Project Arachnid, an increased rate of removal of online CSE material.
Budget 2018 announced investment for the GBV Strategy of $5.8 million annually to enhance the RCMP’s National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre’s investigation, operational research and intelligence capacities.
Key initiatives under the National Strategy have contributed to increasing public awareness of this crime, supporting 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 CSE material, and the expansion of the RCMP’s National Child Exploitation Crime Centre’s investigation, operational research and intelligence capacities.
Recent investments of $22.24 million over three years, starting in 2019-20, support Public Safety’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 online CSE.
Of this funding, $15 million is dedicated to supporting the capacity of local Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) units in municipal and provincial police forces. To date, Public Safety Canada has agreements in place with Alberta ($ 1.2 million over two years), British Columbia ($800K over two years), Ontario ($5 million over three years), and Québec ($3 million over three years).
Canadian Centre for Child Protection
C3P is a not-for-profit organization responsible for operating Cybertip.ca, the national tip line. C3P receives $2.76 million per year (representing 76% of total project funding) from Public Safety. This funding supports the operation of Cybertip.ca, the national tip-line where Canadian can report suspected cases of online child sexual exploitation, as well as $857k per year for Project Arachnid, a web-crawling tool to identify CSE material online. Funding also supports other C3P activities such as the production and dissemination of awareness and education materials and supports to victims.
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
- Date modified: