Domestic Security

A wide range of criminal activities threaten Canada’s domestic security. These activities include: human and drug trafficking, including opioids; online child sexual exploitation; hate and terrorist propaganda; violent misogynist, extremist and racist content; radicalization to violence motivated by religious, political or ideological factors; transnational organized crime; and money laundering. Public Safety Canada (PS), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA); and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) have policy, programmatic and operational roles in confronting these threats.

Relevant Platform Commitments

Further Information

Human Crimes: Human Trafficking and Online Child Sexual Exploitation

Human Trafficking (HT) involves the recruitment, transportation or harbouring of persons for the purpose of exploitation, generally for sex or forced labour. PS leads the horizontal National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking 2019-2024, in partnership with: Women and Gender Equality Canada; Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada; Public Services and Procurement Canada; Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada; and CBSA. PS funds the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking, which operates Canada’s Human Trafficking Hotline.

Online Child Sexual Exploitation (OCSE) is occurring on many major social media sites and other Internet platforms. PS is the federal lead for the National Strategy for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation on the Internet, which also includes the RCMP, Justice Canada and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P). The RCMP’s National Child Exploitation Crime Centre is the national law enforcement arm of the National Strategy and the central point of contact for investigations related to OCSE across the country and internationally when the victim or offender is Canadian. C3P is a key stakeholder and recipient of PS contribution funding to operate Cybertip.ca, Canada’s tip line for OCSE. Budget 2021 provided $20.7 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, for the RCMP to enhance its ability to pursue OCSE investigations, identify victims and remove them from abusive situations, and bring offenders to justice, including those who offend abroad.

Organized Crime, Opioids and Money Laundering

PS works with other government departments and agencies, provinces and territories, and international partners to identify trends and address transnational organized criminal threats, which comprises internationally connected networks of groups operating to further collective criminal goals. To address the harms caused by illegal substances, in particular synthetic opioids, PS develops policy options and supports law enforcement efforts to disrupt the illegal supply, including curtailing domestic and international drug trafficking and production. To support better access to health and social services, PS supports efforts to reduce the stigma faced by people who use drugs, and divert people who use drugs away from the criminal justice system.

With respect to money laundering, on April 1, 2021, PS launched the Financial Crime Coordination Centre (FC3). FC3 is an integrated unit of experts from across intelligence and law enforcement agencies that is testing a collaborative, public-to-public model to address Anti-Money Laundering (AML) / Anti-Terrorist Financing (ATF). The team is supporting federal engagement into the ongoing Cullen Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in British Columbia (BC). The Cullen Commission is examining the scope of money laundering in the financial, real estate, gaming, corporate and professional sectors in BC.

Online Harms, Radicalization to Violence and Community Engagement

The Portfolio leads and supports efforts to address the growing complexity of online harms (i.e. disinformation, hate propaganda, terrorist propaganda, incitement to violence). This includes supporting civil society and academia to prevent and counter radicalization to violence, and engaging with stakeholders to develop tools that address harmful activity and to better understand the threat landscape. PS also works closely with departments responsible for the legal and regulatory dimensions of online harms and PS portfolio agencies responsible for investigating online criminal activities and threats to national security.

Efforts to counter radicalization to violence (CRV) aim to understand and address the evolving threat landscape, such as broadening efforts to tackle Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremism (IMVE). There are a growing number of frontline CRV programs in Canada with significant experience applying the tools of prevention, including for IMVE, accompanied by research and evaluation about what works. Much of this work is supported by PS’ Canada Centre for Community Engagement and Prevention of Violence (Canada Centre). As key aspects of IMVE connect with certain online harms, the Canada Centre partners with other departments, and works with domestic and international partners to help identify promising practices and effective resources for prevention.

Provincial/Territorial and Key Stakeholder Perspectives

Various sectors have signaled interest in engaging on online harms, a growing area of concern and an issue that involves a wide spectrum of perspectives and interests. Recent public consultations on the Government’s proposed regulation of harmful content on social media platforms indicate that stakeholders view the Portfolio as having a role in addressing online harms.

Concurrent with federal efforts, provincial partners are working to better understand and combat key threats and crimes. The Cullen Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in British Columbia is ongoing. The Commission released its interim report on December 10, 2020 and is expected to provide its final report to the Government of BC on December 15, 2021. The outcome of the Cullen Inquiry is likely to draw public attention to the Government’s capacity to combat money laundering.

Concerns among Provinces and Territories to address crime rates and the impacts of these crimes remains high, especially in light of the recent rise of human trafficking in Atlantic Provinces and urban centres across Canada, along with significant and growing concerns associated with opioids and money laundering in Western provinces.  

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