Transition Binder: 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; domestic and 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 Mandate Letter 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 since its launch in 2019, 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 is currently working to unlock ongoing funding under the National Strategy for April 2025 and onwards ($8.5M/year). An evaluation was completed in June 2024, demonstrating continued need for the National Strategy to prevent the trafficking of individuals, support victims and survivors, and improve Canadian law enforcement's ability to apprehend and prosecute perpetrators. In June 2024, it was announced that PS would work on the new iteration of the Strategy. PS is currently consulting with federal partners, survivors, law enforcement, provinces and territories, Indigenous groups, and private sector and civil society stakeholders involved in anti-human trafficking efforts, both within Canada and internationally, to inform the development of a renewed National Strategy, anticipated to be released Spring 2025.

PS also funds the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking, which operates Canada's Human Trafficking Hotline ($2.5M/year).

Online Child Sexual Exploitation (OCSE) continues to be on the rise in Canada. The latest Statistics Canada publication on OCSE funded by PS, reported that the overall rate of all OCSE offence cases has increased by 217% from 2014 to 2022. The majority of victims of police-reported online sexual offences against children were girls. Cybertip.ca, Canada's tipline for reporting online child sexual abuse and exploitation, reported an alarming 815% increase in reports of online luring in the last five years and an 85% increase in sextortion reports between September 2022 and 2023.

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. An evaluation report concluded in May 2022 that the National Strategy had contributed to protecting children from online sexual exploitation through enhanced law enforcement investigative capacity, increased knowledge and awareness and detection of Child Sexual Abuse Material online. Budget 2022 committed $41.6 million over five years, and $8.9 million ongoing to PS to better protect children from online sexual exploitation. This funding supports PS' efforts to prevent and raise awareness of this serious issue, reduce the stigma associated with reporting, increase Canada's ability to pursue offenders, enhance knowledge and understanding of the crime type, and advance collaboration with partners and stakeholders.

Budget 2024 approved an additional $2.5 million to further support C3P in enhancing their programs and services. Canada, represented by PS works closely with Five Eyes partners to combat this borderless crime and currently leads the G7 Child Sexual Exploitation Working Group.

Forced and Child labour in Supply Chains

The Minister of Public Safety — in collaboration with the Minister of Public Services and Procurement and the Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development — is mandated to support the Minister of Labour to introduce legislation to help eradicate forced labour from Canadian supply chains and ensure that Canadian businesses operating abroad do not contribute to human rights abuses. Budget 2023 announced the Government's commitment and intent to introduce comprehensive supply chain legislation in 2024. This commitment was reinforced in Budget 2024 and in the 2024 Fall Economic Statement.

Former Bill S-211, An Act to enact the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act and to amend the Customs Tariff (the Supply Chains Act) received Royal Assent on May 11, 2023, and came into force on January 1, 2024, with a view to increasing industry awareness and transparency about forced labour and child labour. The Supply Chains Act imposes an obligation on certain entities and government institutions to submit an annual report to the Minister of Public Safety by May 31 of each year on the steps taken during the previous financial year to prevent and reduce the risk that forced labour or child labour is used in their supply chains. Reports are to be made available to the public on Public Safety Canada's website. Further, the Minister of Public Safety must table an annual report to Parliament summarizing the reports received, by September 30 of each year. The Act also amends the Customs Tariff to expand the prohibition on the importation of goods mined, manufactured or produced by forced labour, to also include child labour; this is led by CBSA.

Organized Crime, Opioids and Money Laundering

PS works with other government departments and agencies, provinces and territories, and international partners to identify and address domestic and transnational organized crime groups (OCGs) and the threats they pose. OCGs are powerful and know no bounds in their pursuit of profit and influence, especially through the use of intimidation and violence. Motivated by low risk and high profit in their criminal activities, OCGs are becoming more sophisticated, increasingly fluid in how they are structured, and supported by substantial levels of financing for their domestic and global criminal enterprises. OCGs seek to exploit our borders, particularly the Canada-U.S. border, to traffic drugs, guns and people into our communities, ensuring multiple sources of revenue. These criminal activities have negative impacts on Canada's public safety, border, cyber, economic and national security, as well as Canada's reputation on the world stage.

To protect Canadians from the dangers associated with illegal drugs and synthetic drugs, in particular, PS develops policy options to fight organized drug crime and supports law enforcement efforts in the same vein. PS also supports efforts to provide people who use drugs with access to important services, including helping to reduce the stigma they face, and diverting them away from the criminal justice system.

In 2023, the Government of Canada renewed the Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy, which is informed by a robust evidence base, and centres prevention and education, services and supports, and substance controls. Within this structure, the PS Portfolio is leading efforts to combat the production and trafficking of illegal drugs. PS works closely with domestic and international partners to counter the synthetic drug threat through numerous fora and initiatives. One of our key partners is the United States. Canada engages with the U.S. through the Cross-Border Crime Forum (CBCF) and the Canada-U.S. Opioids Action Plan (OAP) to improve information sharing, coordinate operational and policy responses and conduct joint activities to address the overdose crisis, including within the areas of law enforcement and border security. Canada and the U.S. also work with Mexico to address continental drug threats through the North American Leaders' Summit, Trilateral Fentanyl Committee and North American Drug Dialogue.

Budget 2023 provided $4.6M in new funding over five years, for PS to pilot in up to three Canadian jurisdictions, the US-based Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program, which provides near-real time overdose surveillance data to first responders, resulting in the ability to better identify respond to sudden "spikes" in overdoses.

PS's Financial Crime Coordination Centre (FC3) advances the Minister's and Department's priorities for countering financial crime and supports broader federal efforts to address financial crime through its strategic policy and knowledge transfer functions. FC3 focuses on advancing policy solutions, supporting coordination within Canada's Anti-Money Laundering/Anti-Terrorist Financing (AML/ATF) Regime and with provincial and territorial partners and other stakeholders, and fostering a strong community of practice, in the highest impact financial crime areas. FC3 hosts an online access-restricted portal that connects public sector professionals with educational resources and subject matter expertise. FC3 also organizes an annual AML "Spin Cycle" conference which represents Canada's largest gathering of public sector professionals to discuss enforcement efforts and share best practices.

Canada's AML/ATF Regime will undergo an evaluation by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international AML/ATF standard setting body, in 2025-2026. The evaluation will focus on Canada's ability to counter ML and TF activity and will result in the release of a public report in late 2026.

Mass Casualty Commission Final Report and Progress Monitoring Committee

On March 30, 2023, the Mass Casualty Commission (MCC) released its Final Report – Turning the Tide Together on the tragic events that claimed 22 lives in Nova Scotia in 2021. The Report contains 130 recommendations directed to the Governments of Canada and Nova Scotia and others, that are intended to improve areas such as policing, mental health, and community safety and well-being.

The MCC Final Report also called for the establishment of an independent body to monitor progress as Canada and Nova Scotia assume the responsibility of carrying out the important work of the Commission, and its recommendations. As a result, the Progress Monitoring Committee (PMC) was jointly established in 2023 by the Governments of Canada and Nova Scotia to provide a mechanism for monitoring, reporting on, creating mutual accountability, and exchanging knowledge and information.

In October 2023, Ministers responsible for Justice and Public Safety agreed to work together to address the underlying issues outlined in the MCC Final Report, including a need for enhanced intergovernmental collaboration and coordination. Public Safety Canada and Nova Scotia are leading strategic consultations with federal-provincial-territorial partners, including working with partners from other portfolios to identify actions taken to advance the MCC recommendations, and opportunities for further consultations on priority areas of mutual interest. Public Safety Canada intends to take stock of these efforts and update the Progress Monitoring Committee as well as FPT Justice and Public Safety tables.

Online Harms, Radicalization to Violence and Community Engagement

Over the last five years, hate-motivated crimes and incidents have been on the rise in Canada, taking many forms (i.e. hate crimes, organized hate groups, online hate, and hate speech). In response, the department is working with partners on countering hate through the development of a new program to increase training on hate crimes delivered to provincial, territorial and municipal police services; collaborating with Canadian Heritage on Canada's Action Plan on Combatting Hate; and delivering the Canada Community Security Program (formerly the Security Infrastructure Program), which provides financial assistance to private, non-profit organizations to enhance the security of community gathering spaces that serve communities at risk of being targeted by hate motivated crime.

With support from other federal departments including Canadian Heritage, the PS 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.

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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