OTTAWA, January 29, 2008 — The Honourable Stockwell Day, Minister of Public Safety, today announced one of the federal government’s largest investments ever to a national charitable organization which helps to protect children from online adult sexual predators.
Minister Day announced $2 million for the newly-created Canadian Centre for Child Protection, which is a national charitable organization working to reduce child victimization, increase the personal safety of children, and reduce their risk of sexual exploitation. The new funds will help the Centre to:
handle more leads from the public about the suspected online exploitation of children;
raise public awareness to better protect children; and
develop educational materials on issues related to child sexual exploitation.
“This announcement is another concrete action that our government is taking to protect children from online adult sexual predators, and to prevent them from being sexually abused,” said Minister Day. “This funding follows an investment we provided the RCMP to combat child sexual exploitation, as well as legislation we introduced to toughen the penalties against adult sexual predators by raising the age of consent from 14 to 16 years old.”
In addition, at the last G8 Summit of Justice and Public Safety Ministers, Minister Day reinforced how international cooperation is critical to effectively combat organized crime and alarming growth of Internet-facilitated child sexual exploitation.
“Together with our partners, we are achieving real results in targeting those who prey on our children on the Internet and in our communities,” added Lianna McDonald, Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection. “The Centre thanks the Government of Canada for its significant investment, support and leadership in child safety and protection.”
“Partnerships between law enforcement, government, industry and organizations like the Canadian Centre for Child Protection are critical to help us advance our investigations and rescue children that are being sexually abused,” added RCMP Superintendent Earla-Kim McColl, Officer in Charge of the National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre.
Information:
Media Relations
Public Safety Canada
613-991-0657
Mélisa Leclerc
Director of Communications
Office of the Honourable Stockwell Day
Minister of Public Safety
613-991-2863
