Help keep youth and children safe from online sexual exploitation

WINNIPEG, MB: On Friday, September 26, 2014, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection’s Cybertip.ca tipline (Canada’s national tipline for reporting the online sexual exploitation of children), is acknowledging its 12th anniversary, as well as the third annual Cybertip.ca Awareness Day. To mark the anniversary, Canadian Centre is raising awareness of the Cybertip.ca tipline, and reminding Canadians to visit cybertip.ca to access current, age-appropriate information and resources to help keep children and youth safe while online.

“Cybertip.ca has made important advancements over the past 12 years in the protection of children,” says Lianna McDonald, Executive Director, Canadian Centre for Child Protection (Canadian Centre). “As a result of Canadians taking the time to report their concerns to Cybertip.ca, many offenders have been arrested and numerous children have been removed from abusive environments. We urge Canadians to get involved in the fight against online child sexual exploitation.”

Public participation and reporting can make all the difference. Recently, Cybertip.ca analysts saw a concerning rise in reports about sextortion - adults posing as teens and secretly recording teens exposing themselves on live video chat and then threatening to share the content online if the teens did not pay them money. In response to these reports, Cybertip.ca issued a Cybertip.ca ALERT to warn the public and developed a new safety sheet for parents and educators to talk with youth about this sensitive subject.

“I would like to commend the valuable work that Cybertip.ca has done in the past 12 years, and offer my sincere best wishes for continued success,” said Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Minister Steven Blaney. "Our government believes that the safety of Canadians is not only a common responsibility, but also a common value. We all deserve to be safe and secure in our own homes and in our own communities – and that applies especially to our young people.”

Canadian Centre is asking Canadians to take four key steps that will help protect Canada’s children:

1. Report to Cybertip.ca – The number one thing Canadians can do to help better protect children, is report concerns about online child sexual exploitation to Cybertip.ca and/or law enforcement.
2. Stay up to date with Cybertip.ca Alerts – Stay informed about emerging online issues -including sextortion, and learn how to increase the safety of teens by signing up for Cybertip.ca ALERTS at www.cybertip.ca.
3. Tell friends, family and followers – Help Cybertip.ca raise awareness by posting today using the following #hashtags:
   • #ctipday2014
   • #youtharenotalone
4. Learn more – For information on how parents can keep teens and children safe from online sexual exploitation, check out and download our online resources at cybertip.ca.

Since its inception in September 2002, the Cybertip.ca tipline has evolved as a central component of Canada’s national strategy to protect children from sexual exploitation on the Internet. In connection with a Cybertip report, at least 440 arrests have been executed by law enforcement, 468 children have been removed from abusive environments, and countless other children have been protected from online sexual exploitation.