Today, the Honourable David J. McGuinty, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, announced $39.7 million in federal funding to protect children and youth from online sexual exploitation.
Local Internet Child Exploitation Units in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Alberta, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick are now receiving up to $21.5 million through to 2027 via the Contribution Program to Combat Serious and Organized Crime to support their investigative capacity.
Police across the country work tirelessly to prevent these crimes against children, and bring perpetrators to justice. With this funding, Internet Child Exploitation Units will be able to hire and train more staff and purchase the specialized tools and equipment necessary to support their investigations.
In addition, $18.2 million through to 2029, will be provided to the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P) to continue its vital work in protecting children from online sexual exploitation and respond to increasing demand for its services.
C3P provides public education and assists survivors and their families through advocacy, research, and resources. It has been a key partner under the National Strategy for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation on the Internet(National Strategy) since its inception in 2004.
The Government of Canada, through the National Strategy, is committed to protecting children from sexual exploitation of any kind. This investment and our continued partnership with law enforcement agencies and organizations like C3P are crucial to Canada’s fight against this heinous crime.
“Online child sexual exploitation and abuse is a heinous crime with devastating consequences for victims and survivors. We are committed to ensuring that partners like C3P and our law enforcement agencies have the resources they need to continue their critical work to keep our children safe.”
- The Honourable David J. McGuinty, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
"Public Safety Canada's ongoing support has been central to our organization's ability to provide critical services and education to tens of thousands of Canadian children and their families who have been sexually victimized on the internet. These funds enable us to not only operate Cybertip.ca as a lifeline for young Canadians, but also to be a strong voice in the push for safer digital spaces."
- Lianna McDonald, Executive Director, Canadian Centre for Child Protection
Public Safety Canada leads the National Strategy for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation on the Internet, in partnership with the RCMP, Justice Canada and C3P.
Through the National Strategy, the Government of Canada invests over $27 million per year to combat online child sexual exploitation.
Online child pornography incidents accounted for 87% of all police-reported online child sexual exploitation incidents in 2023.
Internet Child Exploitation Units that received federal support reported a decrease in backlog as a result of being able to hire and train more staff and purchase equipment to support investigations.
C3P operates Cybertip.ca, the national tipline for reporting suspected cases of online sexual abuse and exploitation of children, and Project Arachnid, a tool that crawls the web in search of images of child sexual abuse and flags them for removal.
Cybertip.ca has received a total of 421,413 reports from the public, as of March 2024. Since inception, the tipline has been made aware of at least 635 arrests executed by law enforcement and at least 550 children removed from abusive environments.
Project Arachnid processed more than 173 billion images and issued over 47 million takedown notices to Electronic Service Providers (ESPs), spanning nearly 100 countries worldwide, as of March 2024. Approximately 90% of material flagged to ESPs is removed with 24 hours of issuing the takedown notice.
Public Safety Canada continues to lead a national campaign to raise awareness about online child sexual exploitation, including its prevalence, signs and how to safely report suspected incidents via Cybertip.ca.
