BACKGROUNDER

FEDERAL ACTION AGAINST ORGANIZED CRIME

Consensus for action

In October 1998, Federal, Provincial and Territorial Ministers Responsible for Justice endorsed a Joint Statement on Organized Crime. The Statement emphasized the federal government's national leadership role, the need for partnership and co-operation at all levels, the need to develop crime prevention strategies, and the need to keep legislative and regulatory rules up to date.

In September 2000, Ministers of Justice declared organized crime a national priority to be dealt with at all levels through a multi-disciplinary approach. Ministers endorsed a National Agenda on Organized Crime, with very tight timeframes in four areas including national and regional co-ordination, research and analysis, legislative and regulatory tools, communications and public education. Ministers agreed to combat organized crime on a number of fronts such as illegal drugs, outlaw motorcycle gangs, economic crime and fraud, money laundering, high-tech crimes and crime on the Internet, and illegal immigration, including prostitution and trafficking in human beings. The Deputy Ministers' Steering Committee on Organized Crime co-chaired by the Deputy Solicitor General and a provincial counterpart, co-ordinates the work of officials and reports annually to Ministers on the progress achieved under each priority. The next progress report is due in the fall of 2001.

In the 2001 Speech from the Throne, the Government of Canada committed to focus on safeguarding Canadians from new and emerging forms of crime. It promised to take aggressive steps to combat organized crime, including the creation of stronger anti-gang laws and measures to protect members of the justice system from intimidation. The government also pledged to provide law enforcement tools to deal with emerging threats such as cybercrime.

Enhancing legislation against criminal organizations

Within the last four years alone, the federal government enacted legislation to provide law enforcement authorities with the tools they need to fight organized crime, including the following:

• Bill C-17, Criminal Law Improvement Act, enacted in 1997, enhanced police search powers and provided for more restrictive bail provisions.
  
• Bill C-95, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (criminal organizations) and to amend other Acts in consequence, enacted in 1997, implemented a number of important anti-gang measures, including making participation in a criminal organization an indictable offence, punishable by up to 14 years in prison. The bill enhanced police investigative powers, for example, by facilitating the use of electronic surveillance by law enforcement authorities, and improved public safety by providing a reverse onus for persons charged with a criminal organization offence seeking bail. A new peace bond was also introduced which may be issued against any person where there are reasonable grounds to fear that the person will commit a criminal organization offence.
  
• Bill C-8, Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, also enacted in 1997, modernized Canada's drug laws and together with Police Enforcement Regulations, provided exemptions from liability for police involved in drug investigations and provided for the restraint and forfeiture of offence-related property.
  
• Bill C-51, An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, enacted in 1999, barred those convicted of offences related to organized crime from access to accelerated parole review.
  
• Bill C-20, An Act to amend the Competition Act and to make consequential and related amendments to other Acts, enacted in March 1999, created new offences for deceptive telemarketing. A further amendment defined the new offences as enterprise crimes, which brought them within the scope of the Criminal Code scheme for seizure and forfeiture proceeds. The amendments recognize the seriousness of telemarketing offences that can generate very large proceeds because of the large number of victims who can be targeted.
  
• Bill C-40, the Extradition Act, enacted in June 1999, simplified Canada's extradition procedures, taking into account factors that are commonplace today such as enhanced communications technology and the increased mobility of individuals. The act expanded Canada's power to extradite, responding to the problem of borderless crimes such as organized crime, deceptive telemarketing and Internet fraud.
  
• Bill C-22, the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) Act, enacted in 2000, made mandatory the reporting of suspicious financial transactions by financial entities and intermediaries and cross-border movements of currency. The legislation also created the Financial Transactions Reports Analysis Centre of Canada to receive and manage reported information.
  
• Bill C-11, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, introduced by the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration in February 2001, proposes fines up to $1 million and up to life imprisonment for people-smugglers and traffickers of human beings. Under C-11, it will be an offence to possess or launder property or proceeds resulting from immigration offences such as people-smuggling and trafficking. Foreign nationals will continue to be inadmissible to Canada on grounds of organized criminality.

Legislative proposals introduced in today's organized crime bill will provide additional protection to individuals who play a role in the administration of criminal justice from intimidation directed against them or their families; simplify and enhance the definition of criminal organization; and create three new offences relating to participation in the activities of criminal organizations and their leaders. Moreover, amendments to the Criminal Code will also protect law enforcement officers from criminal liability for certain acts that would otherwise be considered illegal, when committed in the course of an investigation, and broaden the application of proceeds of crime provisions to cover most indictable offences.

Strengthening the RCMP and other agencies

The federal government has taken a number of recent actions to strengthen the capacity of the RCMP and other key agencies:

• In 1997, thirteen Integrated Proceeds of Crime Units were created to target organized crime groups and seize their ill-gotten assets – to date, over $100 million in criminal assets have been forfeited as well as fines imposed. More than $180 million in assets has been seized and is subject to court proceedings and possible forfeiture. These units combine the resources of the RCMP, local and provincial police officers, Canada Customs and Revenue Agency officials, Crown counsel and forensic accountants.
  
• In April 1999, $115 million was provided to the RCMP to modernize the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC), the computerized information system for Canadian law enforcement. CPIC contains millions of records on criminals, missing persons, vehicles, stolen property, registered firearms and crime scene information. It is the primary tool used to identify suspects, to access outstanding warrants and restraining orders, to screen out sex offenders from jobs that involve contact with children, and to flag files of dangerous offenders. It serves over 60,000 law enforcement officials in every province and territory, handling over 100 million queries from 15,000 points of access. CPIC is linked to over 400 criminal justice agencies nationally and internationally.
  
• In June 1999, approximately $15 million was allocated to the RCMP to fight organized crime at Canada's three largest international airports – Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. The initiative added 100 RCMP members to target organized criminals who use these airports as points of entry into Canada.
  
• In June 1999, another $78 million was allocated over the following four years to the Anti-Smuggling Initiative to provide resources for the RCMP, Justice Canada and the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency to target smuggling and distribution networks at the border, in our ports and across the country. This initiative has led to 17,000 smuggling-related charges in excess of $113 million, and $118 million in evaded taxes and duties has been identified.
  
• The 2000 federal budget provided the RCMP with $584 million over 3 years (2000-2003) for organized crime enforcement, improved National Police Services and new communications systems. These investments are also improving the capacity of the RCMP and other police forces to combat organized crime in a co-ordinated way.
  
• The Witness Protection Program Act came into force in 1996. It established a formal, national program to protect those who risk their lives to assist police investigations.

Today, the federal government announced funding of $200 million to implement new legislation and prosecution and enforcement strategies. Among the proposals is the creation of an Intensive Federal Organized Crime Prosecution Strategy that would see dedicated Justice prosecutors providing prompt and expert legal advice and guidance to organized crime police units at the front end of their investigations. The proposal recognizes the complex and evolving legal environment in which investigations of criminal organizations take place and the necessity for specialized prosecution teams of seasoned and experienced prosecutors to respond to organized crime prosecutions involving federal offences such as drug trafficking and smuggling of human beings.

International action

Canada is working with international partners to make significant progress in combatting cross-border and transnational crime:

The Canada-United States Accord on Our Shared Border (ASB) was announced on February 25, 1995 by Prime Minister Chrétien and President Clinton. The Accord is a blueprint that allows Canada and the United States to strengthen their partnership by offering citizens new and innovative joint programs and services.

Since 1995, the two countries have collaborated to develop and implement a number of Accord initiatives. A Co-ordinating Committee, made up of representatives from the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the United States Customs Service and the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service was established to guide the implementation of these initiatives.

Canada and the United States have a strong bilateral relationship and continue to work together on a daily basis to enhance border clearance procedures. Our co-operative efforts under the auspices of the ASB, have improved service and provided enhanced border protection. This is highlighted in the joint implementation of various initiatives such as NEXUS, the CANPASS permit program for pre-approved, low-risk travellers; remote ports; the "In-transit Highway Simplification Project"; the development and sharing of detection equipment; joint facilities; liaison officer exchange; and the commercial vehicle processing centre.

In 1997, Canada and the United States established a Cross-Border Crime Forum to strengthen co-operation and information sharing and to focus law enforcement efforts on such issues as cross-border crimes, telemarketing fraud, money laundering, missing and abducted children and high-tech crime. Under the direction of the Solicitor General of Canada and the United States Attorney General, the Forum meets annually to examine issues and to set priorities to combat organized crime.

Last year, Canada and the U.S. announced the creation of an Integrated Border Enforcement Team (IBET) on the East Coast, which combines the expertise of Canadian and U.S. police and immigration and customs officials working with local, state and provincial enforcement agencies. The IBET in B.C. and Washington state, on which the East Coast team is modelled, has been highly successful, averaging seizures of about $1 million per month of illicit drugs, weapons, tobacco, alcohol and vehicles.

In 1997, Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service began developing a strategic, regional approach to migration issues through the Border Vision process. The initiative aims at strengthening the integrity of the border while furthering its facilitative character through information- and intelligence-sharing, policy co-ordination and joint overseas and border co-operation.

Canada played a key role within the United Nations in the development of the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (TOC), signed in December 2000. The TOC Convention, with its related protocols on migrant smuggling and trafficking in women and children, provides countries with a shared framework and legal tools to enhance international co-operation. Canada and Japan are leading efforts in finalizing a third protocol to limit trafficking in firearms. The TOC Convention calls on countries to assist each other in implementing the convention and in developing the capacity to deal with organized crime.

Canada put organized crime on the G-8 agenda at the Halifax Summit in 1995 and has been active on the issue since. At the 2000 G-8 Summit in Okinawa, leaders agreed to assist countries to build capacity to deal with organized crime in an effort to eliminate gaps in the global framework to fight this problem. Canada will chair the Summit in 2002.

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Department of Justice
April 5, 2001