Parliamentary Committee Notes: National Action Plan on Combatting Auto Theft

Issue

Canada is dealing with a rise in vehicle theft, particularly in Ontario and Quebec.  The Government of Canada is taking action to respond more strongly to address this issue.

Proposed Response

• On May 20, 2024, I announced the National Action Plan on Combatting Auto Theft.
• The Government of Canada is cracking down on auto theft with a robust plan to disrupt, dismantle and prosecute the organized crime groups involved.
• It builds on the Government of Canada’s recent actions to tackle auto theft that are already making a difference. It is informed by continued collaboration with our partners following the February 8 National Summit on Combatting Auto Theft.
• Auto theft is a complex problem that requires manufacturers, insurance companies, shippers, law enforcement agencies and governments to work together on solutions. Each partner has a role to play in reducing auto thefts.
• Recognizing the significant impact this issue is having on the lives of Canadians, the Government is moving forward with immediate actions within federal authorities.
• Through the National Action Plan, the Government is moving forward with:
  • proposed legislative and regulatory changes,
  • intelligence and information sharing enhancements, and
  • intervention improvements.
    
• Legislative and regulatory changes include:
  • Proposed amendments to the Criminal Code to put in place tougher penalties for auto theft with ties to violence, organized crime and money laundering.
  • A new aggravating factor applicable at sentencing where there is evidence that an offender involved a young person in committing an offence.
  • Changes to the Radiocommunications Act to regulate devices used to steal cars, as committed in Budget 2024.
  • Transport Canada will review and modernize the Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standards related to theft prevention to ensure they contribute to managing the evolving risk and deter and prevent auto theft.
• We will also enhance intelligence/information sharing between municipal, provincial federal and international police and border officials to support criminal investigations, charges and prosecutions, building on joint efforts that are already under way.
  
• Finally, we will bolster intervention to allow more shipping containers to be examined, through strengthened capacity at the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the integration of new innovative detection tools.
• We will continue to work with our Provincial, Territorial, Municipal and industry partners to make it harder to steal cars and make it harder to move stolen cars to a port. We will target and prosecute the criminals stealing cars and recover stolen vehicles in ports and rail yards.
• We know that criminal networks are quick to adapt, and that is why the Government remains committed to ensuring a comprehensive and agile response this evolving criminal trend.

Background

An estimated 90K cars annually (or one car every six minutes) are stolen in Canada. This results in approximately $1.2B in annual costs to Canadian insurance policy-holders and tax payers. 

Auto theft is viewed as low risk with high profit, and thieves often coordinate a multi-step process to track desirable, newer models of SUVs or trucks from public spaces to owners' homes where they use sophisticated electronic devices to gain access to the vehicle. The theft typically happens at night and can take only a few seconds. Stolen vehicles are then either exported or dismantled for their parts, like catalytic converters that can be worth $800 to $1,200 alone.

According to Équité Association, a national not-for-profit organization that supports Canadian insurers to fight fraud, Quebec and Ontario had the highest number of vehicle thefts in 2023 with more than 7.8K and 15K vehicles, respectively, stolen during the first six months. In 2022, rates of vehicle theft rose by around 50% in Quebec and 48.3% in Ontario compared to the previous year.  

Auto theft is not always just about stealing a vehicle from someone's driveway. Organized crime groups are increasingly using the export of stolen vehicles as a means of transnational money laundering, as compensation for other illicit commodities such as drugs and as part of insurance fraud. 

Rates of vehicle theft are expected to increase as organized crime groups become more skilled in sustaining their revenue flow from stolen vehicles. 

National Action Plan on Auto Theft

On May 20, 2024, the Government of Canada released a National Action Plan on Combatting Auto Theft focused disrupting, dismantling and prosecuting the organized crime groups involved. It builds on the Government of Canada’s recent actions to combat auto theft that are already making a difference.

Auto theft is a complex problem that requires manufacturers, insurance companies, shippers, law enforcement agencies and governments to work together on solutions. Each partner has a role play in reducing auto thefts. Recognizing the significant impact this issue is having on the lives of Canadians, the Government is moving forward with immediate actions that fall within federal authority:

1. Legislative and regulatory changes which include proposed amendments to the Criminal Code to put in place tougher penalties for auto theft with ties to violence, organized crime and money laundering, a new aggravating factor applicable at sentencing where there is evidence that an offender involved a young person in committing an office, as well as changes to the Radiocommunications Act to regulate devices used to steal cars, as committed in Budget 2024.
2. Intelligence/information sharing enhancements between municipal, provincial, federal and international police and customs officials support criminal investigations, charges and prosecutions, building on joint efforts that are already under way.
3. Intervention improvements that will allow more shipping containers to be examined, through increased capacity at the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the integration of new targeting tools.

The National Action Plan is informed by continued collaboration with our partners following the February 8 National Summit on Combatting Auto Theft. The Government of Canada will continue to work with these crucial partners to coordinate our actions and ensure the plan remains current and flexible.

Canada Border Services Agency

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) provides critical support to law enforcement partners to disrupt, investigate and ultimately prosecute these crimes. Upfront, preventative and investigative work—within Canada, ahead of reaching the border—is imperative to reduce auto theft overall.  The CBSA counts on police to provide timely referrals and intelligence, to take swift possession of stolen vehicles, and to successfully prosecute cases to stem vehicle theft at the source. In addition, the CBSA also performs searches based on its own intelligence.

The Government of Canada is increasing the capacity of the CBSA by investing $28 million to detect and search shipping containers for stolen vehicles, as well as enhance collaboration on investigations and intelligence sharing with partners across Canada and internationally. This includes exploring detection technology solutions and the use of advanced analytical tools.

More specifically, the CBSA will use the funding to strengthen intelligence-sharing with Canadian and international law enforcement partners to help identify individuals involved in the stolen vehicle supply chain and support work of the police of jurisdiction to apprehend perpetrators of auto theft. This investment includes exploring detection solutions, such as non-intrusive detection technology, to be deployed to marine ports and intermodal facilities and the use of advanced analytical tools, such as artificial intelligence.

The CBSA is also using advanced data analytics with stolen vehicle (vehicle identification numbers - VIN) to target exporters, shippers and cargo containers to disrupt the flow of stolen vehicles from Canada. 

On April 3, 2024, The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP)-led Provincial Auto Theft and Towing (PATT) Team and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) announced the recovery of 598 vehicles before they were illegally exported as part of Project Vector. Approximately 75 per cent of vehicles recovered from sea containers in Montréal are identified as stolen in Ontario.

To date, CBSA has intercepted 1,024 stolen vehicles in railyards and ports in 2024, which is a 105% increase compared to the same period in 2023.

Public Safety Canada

The Government of Canada is investing $15 million over three years to support law enforcement agencies’ work to combat auto theft through Public Safety Canada’s Contribution Program to Combat Serious and Organized Crime (CPCSOC).

$9.1 million will be extended to provincial, territorial and municipal police forces to enter into multi-year, bilateral contribution agreements to contract additional capacity to increase their capacity to take custody of detained stolen vehicles from the CBSA.

To enhance information sharing and investigative tactics to identify and retrieve stolen vehicles and parts around the world. INTERPOL’s joint transnational vehicle crime project will receive $3.5 million.

In the first six weeks of the integration of stolen motor vehicle records from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP’s) Canadian Police Information Centre with INTERPOL’s Stolen Motor Vehicle Database, there were more than 1,000 international partner queries that matched to Canadian stolen motor vehicle records.

In addition, the Government of Canada will continue to engage its domestic and international partners to ensure a coordinated response to this issue, supported through an investment of $2.4 million.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Local police have the primary responsibility to investigate stolen vehicle offences. The Criminal Intelligence Service Canada, stewarded by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), coordinates criminal intelligence sharing and analysis between federal, provincial and municipal police forces.  

The RCMP leverages port enforcement capacity in select provinces as part of its Border Integrity Program, helping to identify, assess and respond to significant inbound and outbound threats at Canada’s borders, at seaports, airports, land ports of entry and between ports of entry into Canada.

The RCMP works closely with its international partners and maintains strong relationships with law enforcement agencies worldwide. These relationships are essential to Canada’s ability to deal with global threats, such as serious and organized crime.

RCMP liaison officers posted in Italy recently collaborated with Italian authorities when 251 large cars stolen in Canada were seized at an Italian port in January 2024.

Justice Canada

While Canada has a robust criminal law framework to address auto theft at various stages of the crime, as well as its links to organized crime, additional efforts will be made to further strengthen it.

This is why the government announced, through Budget 2024, its intention to put forward legislation to amend the Criminal Code to provide additional tools for law enforcement and prosecutors to address auto theft. These include:

• New offences targeting auto theft and its links to violence and organized crime.
• New offences for possession and distribution of a device used to commit auto theft.
• New offence for laundering proceeds of crime for the benefit of a criminal organization.
• New aggravating factor applicable at sentencing where there is evidence that an offender involved a young person in committing an offence.

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) will work with other government departments, Canadian companies, and the automotive industry, to develop innovative solutions to protect vehicles against theft and to assist with recovery of stolen vehicles.

ISED will pursue all avenues to regulate devices used to steal vehicles by intercepting the wireless signals, allowing for the removal of those devices from the Canadian marketplace through collaboration with law enforcement agencies.

Date modified:

2024-09-26