National Overview

The sexual exploitation of children pertains to any one or a combination of child pornography, child prostitution, sex tourism, abduction for sexual purposes, missing children and the activities of paedophiles and sexual predators. In 1993, legislation made the importation and possession of child pornography a criminal offence in Canada.

Since 1998 a national coordinated law enforcement strategy against the sexual exploitation of children has been in place.

The expansion and evolution of the Internet has played an unprecedented role in the proliferation of child pornography distribution. The average growth rate for an Internet pornography site is approximately four hundred per cent annually.

The Internet offers diverse opportunities in the creation and distribution of pornography. Discussion and news groups, Internet Relay Chat (IRC - the cyberspace equivalent of a telephone conference call) and electronic bulletin boards enable paedophiles to obtain and disseminate child pornography anonymously. Many paedophile networks, such as the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), predate the Internet, but make extensive use of it to disseminate their message and to augment their membership. Pedowatch, an organization set up in 1998, estimates that approximately 1500 paedophiles make contact and exchange material daily via IRC. Beyond this, the increasing numbers of young people using the Internet has transformed cyberspace into a paedophile hunting ground.

Chat rooms provide a forum for interactive conversations. Visitors use handles (a name adopted to protect their real identity) to ensure anonymity. This environment creates a forum for paedophiles to communicate, meet other paedophiles and prey on children. Some paedophiles portray themselves as young people while online to encourage more intimate conversations with children. Victims become commodities to be shared internationally.

Morphing, a method of fusing pictures to create a new image, is increasingly popular with paedophiles. To date, there is no technology to detect morphing in electronic photographs.

One operation, coordinated by the National Crime Squad in the United Kingdom, and involving 12 countries including Canada, investigated an international child pornography ring resulting in the arrest of more than 40 people in the fall of 1998. Investigations are ongoing. No Canadian citizens have been arrested to date. The ring under investigation was based in the United States but originally detected by the Sussex Police in southern England. The National Crime Squad coordinated raids internationally, including in Canada, which resulted in the seizure of computer equipment, and over 750,000 computer images and videos of children. Some of the club members simply exchanged material, but others produced videos and pictures.

Another operation, originating in Germany with operations extending to other European countries as well as the United States and Canada, led to the identification of two suspects in Canada. Investigations by the Sûreté du Quebec resulted in the arrest of one of those individuals.

A multi-agency transnational project aimed at identifying traveling child sex abusers, and linking border control and customs activity to other domestic agencies, was conducted in Canada by Revenue Canada Customs in 1998. Points of entry into Canada were targeted in an effort to stop the physical distribution of child pornography. This resulted in the arrest of 10 previously unknown child sex abusers in certain of the nine participating countries .

Regional Overview

Two of the top ten global commercial Internet pornography sites are located in Vancouver.

In June 1999, the British Columbia Court of Appeal upheld a lower court ruling that sections of Canada's child pornography law contravene the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The judgement is not binding in other provinces and is expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada. The earlier ruling dealt only with possession, and did not affect laws prohibiting the manufacture and distribution of child pornography.

In October 1998 representatives from law enforcement and regulatory agencies in Alberta met to discuss the pooling of resources and adoption of a unified approach to combating the sexual exploitation of children. A protocol for the exchange of information has been established. The Alberta police community is prepared to examine issues related to legislative changes involving paedophile activity.

Saskatchewan has experienced activity in this area as well. Evidence of child sexual exploitation has been uncovered through the servicing of computers, or reporting by parents whose children have inadvertently developed chat line relationships with individuals seeking sexual encounters. Revenue Canada Customs Border Services have also intercepted packages of print material and videos depicting child pornography en route to Saskatchewan. To date, however, the sexual exploitation of children and child pornography remains an area of criminal activity that is largely undetected or not reported.

In Manitoba, in the last year, the Winnipeg Police Service conducted four investigations dealing with child pornography on the Internet that resulted in charges being laid.

Since 1993 law enforcement in Ontario has been actively investigating the sexual exploitation of children over the Internet. Unlike adult pornography, which is a very lucrative industry, most child pornography is distributed freely on the Internet. The electronic environment in which they operate has given rise to a feeling of security among paedophiles, particularly with the technology of encryption and anonymous re-mailers. This feeling of security has encouraged paedophiles to establish contact with one another and to collect massive quantities of child pornography.

Project "P", managed by the Ontario Provincial Police, has been investigating cases of child victimization and exploitation since 1975. This unit coordinates the majority of child pornography cases in the province involving the Internet. The Project "P" unit assists other law enforcement agencies with charges against paedophiles.

Since January 1997 the Montreal Urban Community Police has opened 57 files to investigate child sexual exploitation in its jurisdiction. The Sûreté du Québec has received over 48 requests for investigation in this area. Of this number, 18 resulted in arrest.

In the Halifax area, law enforcement agencies established a local working group on the sexual exploitation of children. The working group, comprising Halifax Regional Police, the RCMP, Revenue Canada Customs and other agencies, meets to share information and present ideas to combat this problem. They estimate that some ten to twenty persons are involved in the possession or distribution of child pornography on or through the Internet in their area.

In response to the national coordinated law enforcement strategy against the exploitation of children, a project was created in Newfoundland to monitor activity at the provincial level. Both the RCMP and the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary are involved in this initiative in an attempt to prevent further abuse and exploitation.
 

Outlook The distribution of child pornography will increase, facilitated by the Internet.    The number of international paedophile rings will increase as the global community connects through chat rooms and other Internet services.    Canadians engaged in sex tourism will continue to be a concern for law enforcement.

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