Crime Prevention Branch Overview
Branch Background
The Crime Prevention Branch (CPB) supports the Minister of Public Safety by providing national leadership on policy issues related to policing and firearms, corrections and criminal justice, serious and organized crime, and drugs. CPB works closely with Portfolio departments/agencies, federal-provincial-territorial (FPT) partners, Indigenous organizations, and other stakeholders to provide strategic advice and evidence-based policy in these areas. The Branch also develops and administers programs that support objectives through grants and contributions, targeted partnerships, and collaboration with stakeholders.
CPB is comprised of five Directorates and two secretariats: Policing Policy; Law Enforcement Policy; Community Safety, Corrections and Criminal Justice Policy; Firearms Policy; Program Development and Intergovernmental Affairs; Assault-Style Firearms Compensation Program Secretariat and the Indigenous Affairs Secretariat. The Branch employs 367 full-time employees with an operating budget of $135.64 million and a Grants and Contributions budget of $766.4 million.
Key Files and Responsibilities
Policing Policy Directorate (PPD)
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Governance and Modernization: Provides support to the implementation of the RCMP transformation and oversight agenda, including appointment processes (e.g., ongoing harassment resolution process, support to the Management Advisory Board and Civilian Review and Complaints Commission).
Federal Policing Transformation: Advancing on work done by a dedicated Federal Policing Advisory Team in 2024-2025, PPD will continue to move forward work and proposals to address challenges with and support better outcomes for the RCMP's Federal Policing (FP) mandate. This policy work is complementary to the RCMP's Federal Policing Transformation Office, which is focused on operational changes to RCMP's FP mandate.
Contract Policing Program & Police Services Agreements: This program provides leadership in managing contract policing, negotiating the interpretation and administration of RCMP Police Service Agreements (PSAs), and providing policy analysis on program sustainability and policing transitions. It also develops strategies to resolve issue, service delivery and billing related disputes with certain jurisdictions. PS manages the FPT Contract Management Committee and works closely with contract partners to address concerns and requests, ensure PSA compliance, and generally oversee implementation of the agreements, including their initiation or termination. Renegotiation of the PSA, set to expire in 2032, is already underway.
Parliamentarian Security (PARLSEC): CPB supports Deputy-level participation at the Deputy Minister Protection Committee, which is mandated to oversee the protection and security of individual Ministers, officials, and visiting foreign dignitaries. The Branch also works with the RCMP, the Integrated Threat Assessment Centre, and the Privy Council Office (PCO) on various measures to enhance the security and protection to individuals, including Ministers, Members of Parliament, and public officials.
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Law Enforcement Policy Directorate (LED)
Drug Policy: Provides national leadership, in cooperation with PTs and law enforcement agencies, to develop policy options to fight organized drug crime and protect Canadians from the dangers associated with synthetic drugs, such as through measures to support law enforcement readiness and capacity and reduce organized crime. It also includes collaborating with international partners through numerous fora and initiatives to improve information sharing and address the smuggling of synthetic opioids and precursor chemicals coming into North America; disrupting illegal cannabis markets; supporting policy development, research, data collection and public awareness of the dangers of drug-impaired driving.
Serious and Organized Crime: Focuses on countering serious and organized crime, including the implementation of Canada's National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking, the National Strategy for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation on the Internet, and coordinating Canada's response to the G7 Action Plan to Prevent and Counter the Smuggling of Migrants. This work is advanced through FPT forums, and internationally through bilateral relationships and multilateral forums such as the UN, G7 and Five Country Ministerial.
Mass Casualty Commission (MCC): Provides leadership and federal coordination for the implementation of the recommendations from the MCC's Final Report, Turning the Tide Together. It also ensures that federal actions that deliver on the recommendations of the MCC are communicated to Canadians, particularly the Progress Monitoring Committee – an independent body mandated to monitor and publicly report on the initiatives that Canada and Nova Scotia are undertaking in response to the MCC recommendations. PS supports the Secretariat of the PMC, sustains bilateral collaboration with Nova Scotia and engages with all provincial and territorial partners to encourage multi-jurisdictional collaboration on mutual areas of interest.
Financial Crime Coordination Centre (FC3): FC3 advances federal priorities and efforts to counter financial crime. FC3 focuses on developing policy solutions and knowledge, supporting information exchange and coordination within Canada's Anti-Money Laundering/Anti-Terrorist Financing (AML/ATF) Regime and with PTs and other stakeholders, in the highest impact financial crime areas.
Community Safety, Corrections and Criminal Justice Directorate (CSCCJD)
Community Safety Policy: Provides broad community safety policy direction, including supporting reintegration following incarceration to ensure safer communities and efforts related to restorative justice. This work includes the development and implementation of the Federal Framework to Reduce Recidivism; measures included in Canada's Action Plan on Combatting Hate; and leading sector efforts relating to Canada's Black Justice Strategy and other horizontal criminal justice strategies.
The National Office for Victims (NOV): NOV works to improve victims of crime's experience with the federal corrections and conditional release system; supports correctional policy development to ensure victims' rights under the Canadian Victims' Bill of Rights are upheld; develops information products; and coordinates the Public Safety Victim Portfolio Partners.
Corrections and Criminal Justice: Provides policy advice and support on corrections and criminal justice policy issues (e.g., pardons), including related to key legislation (i.e., Corrections and Conditional Release Act, Criminal Records Act, Sex Offender Information Registration Act, etc.); and supports the external oversight of Structured Intervention Units.
Crime Prevention Policy: Provides policy direction related to the National Crime Prevention Strategy, as well as advancing Community Safety and Well-Being approaches, supporting international policy engagement on crime prevention, and improving security for communities at risk of hate-motivated crime.
Research: Supports policy development in all areas related to reducing the risk of individuals engaging in criminal behaviour, corrections, criminal justice and law enforcement (including firearms, Indigenous policing, policing, cyberbullying, etc.). It represents the PS Portfolio at Statistics Canada's Liaison Officer Committee (LOC).
Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains: Responsible for implementing An Act to enact the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act and to amend the Customs Tariff, requiring certain entities and government institutions to submit an annual report to the Minister of Public Safety on the steps taken to prevent forced or child labour in their supply chains.
Firearms Policy Directorate (FPD)
Firearms Policy: Supports the Minister of Public Safety's responsibilities for the administration of the Firearms Act and to identify and address emerging firearms-related issues relating to lawful possession and use, illegal and prohibited activity and violence prevention. This includes the development and implementation of legislative and regulatory proposals, data collection and reporting, awareness and engagement with provinces, territories, law enforcement, Indigenous organizations, stakeholders, and international partners.
Assault Style Firearms Compensation Program (ASFCP)
The ASFCP, led by the Assistant Deputy Minister, Firearms Program, is supported by approximately 100 employees across the directorates noted below. As the Program is time limited, approximately 67 per cent of employees are in temporary positions.
Policy, Governance and Communications: leads the efforts to identify and secure the policy authorities and funding needed to design and implement the ASFCP as well as supporting key Program governance committees.
Phase 1 – Operations: leads the day-to-day operations of this first phase of the Program with firearm businesses. Leveraging the Case Management System (CMS), the contact centre at Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) and working directly with the destruction service provider.
Phase 2 – Program Design and Implementation: leads the work to plan the delivery of the ASFCP to individual firearm owners, including working with partners on the development of a CMS. This team also engages other jurisdictions and supports operational planning activities with police of jurisdiction to advance the required contribution agreements.
Program Planning and Implementation Office: coordinates all program level activities to ensure Program planning is fully coordinated and communicated to key stakeholders, work packages are well defined and documented for each responsibility centre, and are advanced, updated and implemented in accordance with the approved baseline.
Program Development and Intergovernmental Affairs (PDIAD)
National Strategy to Reduce Gun and Gang Violence: leads the interdepartmental and intergovernmental work to develop a national strategy based on four key areas of work; Investing in Communities, Leadership and Collaboration, Supporting Enforcement-based Activities, and Statutory and Regulatory Initiatives.
Initiative to Take Action Against Gun and Gang Violence (ITAAGGV) Led by PS, in collaboration with CBSA and RCMP, the ITAAGGV invests in communities and enhances law enforcement capacity and federal leadership. Funds are allocated through the Gun and Gang Violence Action Fund (GGVAF) and support enforcement and prevention-related projects identified by PTs.
The Building Safer Communities Fund (BSCF): Launched in March 2022, this $250M initiative seeks to counter social conditions that may lead to criminality by bolstering gang prevention programming through direct funding to municipalities and Indigenous communities. EMPB leads program delivery, which is sunsetting in 2026.
Parliamentary District Policing Program (PDPP): This new contribution program enables the Ottawa Police Service to strengthen its footprint within the Parliamentary District to address security gaps identified in the Report of the Public Inquiry into the 2022 Public Order Emergency.
Auto Theft: Further to establishing contribution agreements to flow funds to the Ontario Provincial Police, Sûreté du Québec, and INTERPOL to assist national efforts to curb auto theft issues, PS is responsible for the coordination of this file, including managing the interdepartmental and FPT governance, and quarterly updates to the National Action Plan.
Nation's Capital Extraordinary Policing Costs Program (NCEPCP): Established in 2015, and expanded in 2020 for a five-year term, the NCEPCP provides annual contributions to reimburse the City of Ottawa for certain costs in recognition of the unique policing environment created by the presence of federal institutions and events in Ottawa. [REDACTED]
FIFA World Cup 2026: Coordination of Federal Essential Safety and Security Services in support of the competent authorities of the Host Cities of Vancouver and Toronto.
Aboriginal Community Safety Planning Initiative (ACSPI): Established in 2010 as a component of the Government of Canada's response to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG), ACSPI supports Indigenous communities to develop Community Safety Plans specific to their unique circumstances.
Indigenous Community Corrections Initiative (ICCI): The ICCI takes a holistic and healing approach to community wellness by providing contribution funding to support community-based alternatives to incarceration and reintegration efforts for Indigenous offenders. ICCI seeks to reduce the overrepresentation of Indigenous offenders in the Canadian Criminal Justice System and is embedded in the Federal Framework to Reduce Recidivism.
The Contribution Program to Combat Serious and Organized Crime (CPCSOC): Supports initiatives, research, partnerships, and specialized police services to combat serious and organized crime through funding allocations related to projects to address human trafficking, child sexual exploitation, auto theft, drug impaired driving, contraband, and gender-based violence.
Major International Event Security Cost Framework (MIESCF): Facilitates cooperation with local jurisdictions by reimbursing incremental, extraordinary, justifiable, and reasonable policing and security-related costs incurred in support of RCMP-led security operations for Prime Minister-led events (e.g., 2025 G-7 Presidency, recent visits of POTUS and Ukraine President).
Intergovernmental Affairs: Leads the planning, coordination, and logistics of intergovernmental meetings, such as the FPT Ministers and DMs Responsible for Justice and Public Safety, as well as the FPT ADM-level Crime Prevention and Policing Committee (CPPC).
Rural Crime: Supports the Deputy Minister as co-chair of the FPT DM Rural Crime Committee, which is responsible for implementing the Pan-Canadian Strategic Framework on Rural Crime.
Indigenous Affairs Secretariat
The Indigenous Affairs Secretariat delivers Public Safety's Indigenous policing programs and provides associated policy analysis and service delivery related to policing and community safety in Indigenous communities. The Indigenous Affairs Secretariat also provides strategic advice to the Department on the integration of Indigenous considerations across the Public Safety mandate, and coordinates Public Safety input on horizontal initiatives in the Policing and Justice Sectors that advance the Government of Canada's reconciliation agenda with First Nations, Inuit and Métis. This includes leading the negotiation of Public Safety-related elements in Modern Treaties, self-government agreements and administration of justice agreements.
Indigenous Policing Programs Division: Delivers the First Nations and Inuit Policing Program (FNIPP) and the First Nation and Inuit Policing Facilities Program (FNIPFP) in collaboration with provinces and territories of jurisdiction. The implementation of both programs in based on a 52% federal – 48% provincial/territorial cost-sharing ratio. These programs currently reach approximately 427, or 2/3 of all First Nations and Inuit communities in Canada.
Indigenous Police Services Division: Supports the modernization of federal funding for First Nations and Inuit police services, which are the primary funding recipients under the FNIPP and the FNIPFP. The Division's work encompasses strategic and operational policy considerations in an highly-charged environment where First Nations and Inuit police services are increasingly bringing forward allegations of discriminatory underfunding to the courts and human rights tribunals.
Policy, Planning and Partnerships Division: Supports the modernization of all other aspects of FNIPP and FNIPFP, informed by past audits and evaluation of the program. This encompasses ongoing work with the RCMP and other CPB divisions related to contract policing and Community Tripartite Agreements. The Division is also responsible for working with the Department of Justice in the management of litigation related to FNIPP and FNIPFP, and working with Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada and other government departments on key Government of Canada horizontal initiatives and modern treaty negotiations.
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