New Initiatives to Combat Transborder Crime Announced


April 8, 1997
Washington, D.C.

Prime Minister Jean Chrétien announced today that Canada and the United States will launch new initiatives to increase cooperation against transborder crime.

"We will broaden our joint efforts to protect the most vulnerable people in society -- the young and the elderly," said the Prime Minister following his meeting with U.S. President Bill Clinton in Washington. "We want to ensure the border is not a barrier behind which criminals can hide."

The new measures include:

  • Increased cooperation to locate missing and abducted children. A working group, including the U.S. National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children and Canada's "Our Missing Children Program", has been set up to ensure law enforcement agencies in both countries are able to help recover missing and abducted children. Under the Canadian program, some 500 youths have been reunited with their families, nearly half of them American citizens;

  • A binational law enforcement working group to combat crossborder telemarketing fraud. Telemarketing fraud preys especially on the elderly in Canada and the U.S. Law enforcement agencies are to report back within six months on joint progress in fighting this type of crime;

  • A Canada-U.S. consultative mechanism on criminal justice and law enforcement. This high level policy group would prompt government action on problems and pinpoint new issues that must be dealt with cooperatively; and

  • Joint discussions between Canadian and U.S. working groups on cross-border smuggling and law enforcement, an initiative of Solicitor General Herb Gray and U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno. The first meeting of this joint group will be held in Windsor, Ontario in late spring and will involve the U.S. Northeast Border Working Group and the recently-formed Canadian Anti-Smuggling Coordinating Group.

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