Federal Enforcement Program

The Federal Enforcement Program is a component of RCMP Border Integrity and encompasses three distinct federal mandates: the Federal Enforcement mandate, the War Crimes mandate, and the Airport Federal Enforcement Program mandate.

Federal Enforcement Mandate:

The Federal Enforcement mandate encompasses numerous federal statutes and regulations. It is enforced through a combination of proactive and reactive strategies implemented within community-based policing principles. The proactive program is a well-balanced approach of prevention, education and enforcement measures partnered with affected client communities. Reactive investigations are initiated in response to requests for RCMP assistance received from other federal departments. These requests could be in relation to any one of 118 federal statutes and are contingent on the provisions of approximately 18 Memoranda of Understanding with other government departments. This mandate is enforced through four sub-programs:

• Public Safety
• Environmental Crime and Wildlife
• Financial Loss to the Federal Government
• Consumer Protection - For more information on intellectual property crime (counterfeit goods) go to : http://www.rcmp.ca/fio/intellectual_e.htm

The Public Safety sub-program is responsible for operational policy pertaining to safe boating on Canadian waters, safe transportation of dangerous goods, safe transportation in air, rail, water and by pipeline and the safe storage and handling of explosives in magazines. The main statutes under this sub-program include the Canada Shipping Act, Migratory Birds Convention Act and the National Capital Act.

The Environmental Crime and Wildlife sub-program - is responsible for operational policy pertaining to environmental protection including coastal fisheries, waste disposal and the dumping of pollutants into the ecosystem. The RCMP works with Environment Canada, for example, to enforce legislation relating to wildlife/endangered species. Another example under this sub-program is the MOU with Parks Canada that defines the roles of the RCMP and Park Wardens regarding the enforcement of laws in Canada’s national parks. Primary statutes under this sub-program include the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, the Quarantine Act, the Canada National Parks Act and the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulations of International and Interprovincial Trade Act.

The Financial Loss to the Federal Government sub-program aims at combating the financial loss to federal government revenues and funds through criminal conspiracies, frauds, forgeries and/or misappropriation of funds. The main statutes that fall under this mandate are: Canada Pension Plan Act, Canada Student Loans Act, Family Orders and Agreements Enforcement Assistance Act and the Old Age Security Act.

The Consumer Protection sub-program is focused on criminal infringement of copyright and trademarks, criminal frauds pertaining to motor vehicle odometer tampering, illegal decoding or theft of television signals by commercial enterprises, retaliatory actions by employers where the employee is the victim (relative to Canadian human rights violations) as well as criminal frauds, forgeries, and conspiracies pertaining to animal pedigrees. The main statutes under this sub-program are the Copyright Act, the Trade-marks Act, the Animal Pedigree Act, the Weights and Measures Act and the Radiocommunication Act.

War Crimes Mandate:

The RCMP works with partners such as Department of Justice (DOJ) and Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to ensure that Canada does not become a safe haven for those involved in crimes against humanity or war crimes. The War Crimes Program includes initiatives aimed at: preventing war criminals from entering Canada, deportation and revocation of citizenship of war criminals in Canada involved in such acts, and criminal prosecution when appropriate.

The main statute under this mandate is the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act (CAHWCAct).

Airport Federal Enforcement Mandate:

RCMP investigators work with their partners and other existing federal authorities at Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal international airports to investigate federal statutes to combat organized criminal groups. Since its inception in 1999, the Airport and Federal Enforcement Program has been very successful and, in conjunction with its partners such as the Canada Border Services Agency, has seized over $500 million in contraband at these three airports.

For general inquiries, please contact:
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Federal Enforcement Branch
1200 Vanier Parkway
Ottawa, ON K1A 0R2
(613) 949-5249