Police in B.C. will soon have more tools to enhance their efforts in protecting children online and strengthen abilities to pursue, disrupt and prosecute offenders.

“Children and youth are spending more time online than ever. Sadly, that increases their vulnerability to predators looking to take advantage of them,” said Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General. “Online child exploitation happens every single day, and as social media platforms continue to grow, we must ensure our children are protected from those trying to hurt them. That’s why we continue to work with the federal government to equip police with the necessary tools to support units tasked with the very difficult job of investigating these horrendous crimes.”

Through the Federal Contribution Program to Combat Serious and Organized Crime, Public Safety Canada has allocated $3.5 million over three years to B.C. to bolster the efforts of municipal police departments in combating online child sexual exploitation. The funds will be used for staffing, equipment and training, to strengthen investigation capabilities in collaboration with the B.C. RCMP’s Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit.

Many police departments throughout the province complete ICE investigations, but they do not have resources solely dedicated to internet child-exploitation files. Until recently, the Vancouver Police Department was the only independent municipal police department in B.C. with a dedicated ICE Unit. In 2021 as part of a pilot project, the Victoria,  Esquimalt, Saanich, Central Saanich and Oak Bay police departments developed an integrated Capital Regional District (CRD) ICE Team. This funding will increase the capacity of both ICE teams and will enable all municipal police departments to increase the training and capacity of officers conducting ICE investigations. This will allow for more ICE investigations, and will help support efforts to raise awareness, reduce stigma around reporting, and increase B.C. and Canada’s ability to pursue and prosecute offenders.

Reported incidents of online exploitation rose significantly during the COVID-19 public-health emergency and has continued post-pandemic. B.C. ICE has noted a substantial increase in reports of exploitation incidents, such as child luring, grooming and child sexual exploitation material with more than 28,000 investigations opened between 2020 and 2023.

In September 2024, the Province will host a one-day forum featuring experts from the B.C. ICE Unit, and other relevant police investigators, B.C. Prosecution Service and Community Safety and Victim Services that will engage in roundtable discussions about finding solutions to keep children safe online. The discussions will focus on “sextortion” in B.C., family perspectives from people affected by this violence, a national perspective, prevention, education and training resources, and supports for victims affected by exploitation.

Quotes:

Niki Sharma, Minster of Attorney General –

“Crimes like online sexual exploitation can have devastating impacts on young people’s lives. We will continue to take action to keep our young people safe and protect them from these vile predators.”

Grace Lore, Minister of Children and Family Development –

“Every child and youth deserves to be safe both online and in community and the victimization or exploitation of one young person is one too many. Predators who distribute sexualized, nude or harmful images cause trauma and pain for youth and their families, and our government is doing everything we can to stop them and fight back.”

Deputy Chief Kevin Hackett, Central Saanich Police Service, on behalf of municipal-area police chiefs –

“On behalf of the municipal-area police chiefs, we acknowledge that this funding will allow our regional ICE team to continue in their efforts to protect children from predators who exploit and harm them. Our collaborative, co-ordinated and integrated approach proved to be successful in our previous pilot project, and we are confident that this new funding will help us to further build on those successes. We are encouraged by this opportunity and look forward to enhancing the safety and protection of our most vulnerable.”

Insp. Sally Davies, Vancouver Police Department –

“Online child sexual exploitation is a crime that has devastating and long-lasting impacts for the young victims and their families. The prevalence of these types of crimes continue to grow every day as technology makes it both easier to access victims and for perpetrators to hide their activities. The Vancouver Police Department is grateful for the financial support provided by the Province, which will provide an increase in staffing, advanced software and hardware as well as training to advance these investigations.”

Quick Facts:

• The B.C. government supports a wide range of programs and services focused on prevention, response and victim support, including specialized police units, as well as the many local organizations serving child and youth survivors in their journey to healing.
• Government provides more than $40 million annually to support over 400 victim service and violence against women programs throughout the province that serve victims, including victims of child and youth sexual exploitation.
• The Province also supports school districts through the expect respect and a safe education (erase) website, which covers online safety, technology, addiction and supporting healthy habits among many other important supports and resources aimed toward building safe and caring school communities.

Learn More:

Funding is being made available under the National Strategy for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation on the Internet and through the Contribution Program to Combat Serious and Organized Crime: https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/cntrng-crm/hmn-trffckng/cntrbtn-prgrm-cmbt-trms-en.aspx 

To learn more about supports for school districts promoting online child safety, visit: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/erase

If you or someone you know is a victim of online sexual exploitation, there are services and programs available here: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/justice/criminal-justice/bcs-criminal-justice-system/understanding-criminal-justice/key-parts/victim-services

A backgrounder follows.