STATEMENT: the Strong Borders Act would help streamline Canada’s police response to online crimes against children

Proposed changes by the federal government that would reduce barriers Canadian police face when investigating the growing number of online crimes against children have the full support of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P).

On Tuesday, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree introduced Bill C-2, referred to as the Strong Borders Act. This proposed legislation would, among other things, modernize and clarify the ways law enforcement in Canada gain access to critical information from electronic service providers to help advance investigations into individuals who offend against children using the internet.

Over the last several years, the technology available to offenders has continued to evolve at a breakneck speed and the number of cybercrimes has predictably continued to rise while the legal framework and rules by which police must operate has not kept pace nor functioned with the efficiency necessary to reverse the tide. Our organization has witnessed the consequences of this through our work providing critical support for thousands of young Canadians who have been — and continue to be — victimized online.

Consider that in 2023, Statistics Canada found that charges were laid or recommended in less than 23%¹ of all online sexual offences against children in Canada. This charge rate has been in decline for years and is a reflection of the growing complexity of investigating cross-border cybercrime in our communities. This is a problem we hope this bill will begin to address.

Of special interest to C3P, Bill C-2 includes changes that would:

• Lessen the barriers and streamline the process for police in Canada to lawfully obtain information from electronic service providers to support crime investigations;
• Require that electronic service providers maintain the capacity to act on and fulfill lawful requests for information by Canadian law enforcement;
• Clarify the circumstance under which Canadian law enforcement can make use of electronic data that is publicly accessible or that was provided by an external source; and
• Enhance information sharing related to registered sex offenders with domestic and international authorities.

We look forward to continuing to work with the Government of Canada to support online child protection measures and welcome the opportunity to contribute critical information to further strengthen this bill at the committee stage.

1. 1 https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2025001/article/00003-eng.htm ↩