Canada Invests Funding To Combat Child Sexual Exploitation on the Internet

News Release

February 7, 2018
Ottawa, Ontario
Public Safety Canada

The Government of Canada is committed to protecting children from sexual exploitation of any kind. Over the past eight years, the number of child pornography incidents has increased in Canada, rising to 6,245 incidents in 2016, an increase of 41% over the previous year, as reported by Statistics Canada.

Today the Honourable Ralph Goodale, Minister for Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, announced $4,123,000 of funding over five years, and $857,000 a year ongoing, to the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P) to continue its vital work in protecting children from sexual exploitation on the Internet.

This funding, provided under the Government of Canada’s Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence, will allow C3P to continue its important activities to combat child sexual exploitation on the Internet, including:

  • developing and maintaining Arachnid, an automated crawler that detects online child sexual abuse images and videos, and leads to removal at a speed exponentially faster than current methods;
  • identifying victims and improving support for survivors under C3P’s victim support strategy; and,
  • continuing the operation of Cybertip.ca, Canada’s tip-line for reporting the online sexual abuse and exploitation of children.

C3P will also receive an additional $93,616 to establish a survivors’ network, allowing victims to connect with one another and to create tailored support resources for survivors.

C3P has been a key partner in Canada’s fight against online child sexual exploitation. It has received over 305,000 reports of online child sexual exploitation from the public since its launch in 2002, with the number of reports growing significantly each year since then. It has provided the public with educational materials and has developed cutting edge technological tools, such as Arachnid.

If you or someone you know is a victim of online child sexual exploitation, please contact your local police, report to Cybertip.ca or call 1-866-658-9022.

Quotes

“The sexual exploitation of children is an intolerable crime and causes long-lasting harm on its victims. With our partners, like the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, the Government of Canada is committed to putting a stop to these terrible crimes and supporting their victims.”

- The Honourable Ralph Goodale, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

“The terrible reality is that a child who is being sexually abused is also likely being recorded. The additional layer of this trauma can impact every aspect of life. Project Arachnid is fighting fire with fire, using technology to wage war on the years of misuse by offenders. We are very grateful for this important investment from Public Safety Canada which allows us to continue the critical work of helping survivors of this heinous crime and ending the cycle of abuse.” 

- Lianna McDonald, Executive Director, Canadian Centre for Child Protection

"By giving children a voice, by providing them with tools and resources, we will be building up both resiliency and safety in the community.”

- Steve Bell, Deputy Chief, Ottawa Police Service

Quick Facts

  • The Canadian Centre for Child Protection is a national charitable organization dedicated to the personal safety of all children. It offers programs, services and resources for Canadians to help protect children and reduce their risk of victimization.

  • Cybertip.ca currently processes over 7,500 reports per month.

  • The Canadian Centre for Child Protection is also a key partner under the Government of Canada’s National Strategy for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation on the Internet, which was launched in 2004 to help keep children safe from online sexual exploitation.

  • The RCMP’s National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre (NCECC) works in close partnership with C3P and functions as the central point of contact for investigations related to online child sexual exploitation. The Centre provides a number of services to law enforcement agencies across Canada.

  • Canada also works closely with international partners to combat online child exploitation by exchanging intelligence in the tracking of online predators and sharing best practices and lessons learned.

Related Products

Associated Links

Contacts

Scott Bardsley
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
613-998-5681
scott.bardsley@canada.ca

Media Relations

Public Safety Canada
613-991-0657
media@ps-sp.gc.ca

Page details

Date modified: