Ten science and technology projects to be funded through the Canadian Safety and Security Program (CSSP)
30 July 2015
Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC), in partnership with Public Safety Canada, will support ten innovative projects to develop enhanced tools and knowledge for Canada’s law enforcement, and safety and security community. These projects are part of an overall investment of approximately $12 million in 24 projects under the Canadian Safety and Security Program (CSSP).
Selected Projects
Note that specific funding amounts for each approved project will be formalized following the successful completion of negotiations between project proponents and the Government of Canada.
Youth and Extremism
Project 1
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Surrey, British Columbia) and Ryerson University (Toronto, Ontario) will lead a study that will evaluate challenges and barriers faced by young adults who may be at risk of violence and radicalization, and develop community informed strategies to strengthen their resilience.
- Partner: University of Alberta.
Project 2
Public Safety Canada (Ottawa, Ontario) will lead an effort to improve our understanding of the mechanisms that can lead some Canadians to adopt radical views. This will assist the Government of Canada in managing threats and preventing violent extremism.
Law Enforcement
Project 3
The Canada Border Services Agency (Ottawa, Ontario) will lead a project to assist managers and frontline personnel to visualize and analyze complex data to better understand and optimize the flow of low-risk goods and travelers.
- Partners: Uncharted Software Inc.; and Transport Canada.
Project 4
The National Research Council (Ottawa, Ontario) will lead a project to implement state-of-the-art imaging technology that can assist public safety and security officials in remotely detecting and visualizing illicit radiological and nuclear materials, as well as contribute to accelerating secure cargo screening in a cost-effective manner.
- Partners: Canadian Armed Forces; Canada Border Services Agency; Defence Research and Development Canada; Natural Resources Canada; Royal Canadian Mounted Police; and Radiation Solutions Inc.
Project 5
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) will lead a project, along with the collaboration of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and WorldReach Software Corporation, to demonstrate how Smartphone technologies, in conjunction with ePassports, can enhance the safety and security of Canadians through early screening of travelers to Canada, while preserving and protecting traveller privacy.
- Partners: Ryerson University; and University of Ottawa.
Project 6
The City of Vancouver (British Columbia) and the International Data Corporation (Canada) Limited will lead a study to analyze the use of Cloud-based computing and centralized data storage in law enforcement. The case studies will explore promising approaches and assist Canadian law enforcement in adopting effective data management technologies and shared resources.
- Partner: Birch Forest Projects Inc.; and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police’s Information and Communications Technology Committee
Project 7
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Ottawa, Ontario) will modernize the Suspicious Incident Reporting pilot system, which will enable information sharing at the national and North American level.
- Partners: Critical Infrastructure (CI) stakeholders from the 10 CI sectors designated by Public Safety Canada.
Project 8
Defence Research and Development Canada (Suffield, Alberta) will lead an effort to review the legal implications surrounding intentional or accidental intrusions into restricted airspace by small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and the state of development of UAS and counter-UAS technologies in order to assist law enforcement in developing solutions against these intrusions.
- Partners: Meggitt Training Systems Canada Inc.; and Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Project 9
Defence Research and Development Canada (Suffield, Alberta) and Quanser Consulting Inc. (Markham, Ontario) will lead a project to further enhance the capabilities of an existing telerobotics system, which enables explosives technicians to dismantle Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) from a safe distance.
- Partners: Department of National of Defence; and Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Project 10
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Mercur IT Solutions, Inc. (Ottawa, Ontario) will lead a project to develop and implement a web-crawler to explore anonymous and dark regions of the Internet and identify content of interest to national security and law enforcement communities.
- Partner: Donnybrook Research and Analysis, Inc.
Investing to Achieve Strategic Objectives
CSSP funding supports projects and activities that respond to Canadian public safety and security priorities, and also addresses capability gaps. These gaps are identified in consultation with science and technology (S&T) experts, and safety and security communities of practice, representing policy, operational and intelligence experts.
Ultimately, the goal of the program’s investments is to ensure that Canadians and their institutions have a greater resilience to global and domestic public safety and security threats. These efforts are guided by a set of long-term outcomes:
- Canada’s economic vibrancy and sovereign integrity is maintained through resilient critical infrastructure and the efficient flow of people, goods, and services across its borders and ports of entry;
- A robust, connected and multi-jurisdictional security/intelligence and national emergency management system is in place to provide an effective full-spectrum preventive, protective, responsive and adaptive capability of people, responders and systems from all hazards; and,
- The public is confident that public security threats are being identified, assessed and addressed in a way that keeps pace with the evolving natures of threats, reflects Canadian values, and maintains the integrity of both the criminal justice and national security systems.
About the CSSP
Established in 2012, the CSSP invests in science and technology (S&T) projects that strengthen Canada’s ability to anticipate, prevent, mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recover from natural disasters, serious accidents, crime and terrorism. This is achieved through the convergence of S&T with policy, operations and intelligence.
The CSSP is led by DRDC’s Centre for Security Science (DRDC CSS), in partnership with Public Safety Canada, and supports academic, first responders, federal, provincial or municipal government-led projects in collaboration with response and emergency management organizations, non-governmental agencies, industry and academia.
About DRDC
Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) is the national leader in defence and security S&T. As an agency of Canada’s Department of National Defence (DND), DRDC provides DND, the Canadian Armed Forces and other government departments as well as the public safety and security communities with the knowledge and technology advantage needed to defend and protect Canada’s interests at home and abroad.
About Public Safety Canada
Public Safety’s mandate is to keep Canadians safe from a range of risks such as natural disasters, crime and terrorism. Public Safety works with all levels of government, first responders, community groups, the private sector, non-government organizations and other nations on national security, border strategies, countering crime, emergency management and other safety and security initiatives.
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