Cybertip.ca Marks Fifth Annual Awareness Day

Canada’s tipline for reporting online sexual exploitation of children launches national campaign to encourage Canadians to take action and report concerning online behaviour


For Immediate Release

Winnipeg, MB: Today marks the fifth annual awareness day for Cybertip.ca, Canada’s tipline for reporting the online sexual exploitation of children, operated by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (Canadian Centre).

Cybertip.ca receives an average of more than 3,300 reports per month and encourages Canadians to protect children from offenders by taking action and reporting concerning online behaviour.

In support of Cybertip.ca Awareness Day 2016, the Canadian Centre has launched a national campaign to raise awareness about the online sexual exploitation of children and to demonstrate how tips from Canadians can help protect children from sexual abuse.

“While this is certainly a global problem, the sad reality is that these crimes are also happening in homes across Canada,” said Lianna McDonald, Executive Director of the Canadian Centre. “Anytime we see a report of a child who has been sexually abused, there should be immediate consideration that the abuse has been recorded and shared online.”

A recent study conducted by the Canadian Centre examined close to 152,000 reports, including 43,762 unique images and videos classified as child pornography. Nearly 80 per cent of the images assessed by Cybertip.ca depicted very young, pre-pubescent children, under 12 years of age. One of the most alarming and under recognized facts is that almost 70 per cent of these images appeared to have been taken within a home setting.

The Canadian Centre is encouraging parents and adult members of the community to visit Cybertip.ca to view the campaign and to engage in the conversation on social using the hashtag #ctipday2016.

In the coming weeks, the Canadian Centre will bring together experts from around the world to develop global recommendations to support the victims of child pornography.

“We cannot keep tackling the growing problem of online child sexual abuse imagery with outdated approaches,” said McDonald. “That’s why our agency is investing in innovative solutions to address the issue of online child sexual abuse imagery.”

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About the Canadian Centre for Child Protection: The Canadian Centre for Child Protection is a national charity dedicated to the personal safety and protection of children. Our goal is to reduce the sexual abuse and exploitation of children, assist in the location of missing children and to prevent child victimization. The Canadian Centre operates Cybertip.ca – Canada’s national tipline to report child sexual abuse and exploitation on the Internet, as well as other prevention and intervention services to the Canadian public.

About Cybertip.ca: Since its inception in September 2002, Cybertip.ca has evolved as a central component of Canada’s national strategy to protect children from sexual exploitation on the Internet. Working closely with law enforcement across the country, the tipline has responded to 200,000+ child sexual exploitation reports from the public, resulting in at least 514 individuals being arrested, numerous children removed from abusive environments and the protection of countless children both within Canada and abroad. Cybertip.ca also provides education and awareness material to help keep Canadians safe, distributing more than 12 million safety resources free-of-charge to schools, law enforcement, child welfare, industry and other stakeholders over the past 14 years.

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