Federal action on combatting auto theft

Canada Border Services Agency

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) provides critical support to law enforcement partners to disrupt, investigate and ultimately prosecute these crimes. Upfront, preventative and investigative work—within Canada, ahead of reaching the border—is imperative to reduce auto theft overall. The CBSA acts on 100% of referrals from local police and works closely with governments and jurisdictions to intercept stolen vehicles and identify criminal activity within the supply chain.

In addition, the Government of Canada is increasing the capacity of the CBSA by investing $28 million to conduct more investigations and examinations of stolen vehicles, as well as enhance collaboration on investigations and intelligence sharing with partners across Canada and Internationally. This includes exploring detection technology solutions, and exploring the use of advanced analytical tools, such as artificial intelligence.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Local police have the primary responsibility to investigate stolen vehicle offences. The Criminal Intelligence Service Canada, stewarded by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), coordinates criminal intelligence sharing and analysis between federal, provincial and municipal police forces.  

The RCMP leverages port enforcement capacity in select provinces as part of its Border Integrity Program, helping to identify, assess and respond to significant inbound and outbound threats at Canada’s borders, at seaports, airports, land ports of entry and between ports of entry into Canada.

The RCMP works closely with its international partners and maintains strong relationships with law enforcement agencies worldwide. These relationships are essential to Canada’s ability to deal with global threats, such as serious and organized crime.

Justice Canada

Ensuring people in Canada feel safe in their communities is a top priority. Canada has a robust criminal law framework to address auto theft at various stages of the crime, as well as its links to organized crime. The Department of Justice Canada will, in consultation with provinces and territories, examine potential amendments to the Criminal Code to further strengthen the legal framework related to auto theft, including by reviewing existing offences and penalties.

Transport Canada

Transport Canada will modernize the Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standards to ensure they consider technological advancements to deter and prevent auto theft. The Department will also work with public safety partners to identify cargo handling vulnerabilities through targeted security assessments of port facilities. Based on the assessments, the Department will work with port facilities on corrective actions and to implement updated security plans.

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED)

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada will work with Canadian companies, and the automotive industry, to develop new solutions to protect vehicles against theft and to assist with recovery of stolen vehicles.

ISED will pursue all avenues to ban devices used to steal vehicles by copying the wireless signals for remote keyless entry, such as the Flipper Zero, which would allow for the removal of those devices from the Canadian marketplace through collaboration with law enforcement agencies.