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Ministry of the Attorney General	Ministère du Procureur général

CIVIL ASSET FORFEITURE

The Remedies for Organized Crime and Other Unlawful Activities Act (Civil Remedies Act) enables the Attorney General to ask the court for an order forfeiting the proceeds of unlawful activity to the Crown. The law permits a court, at the request of the Attorney General, to freeze, seize, and forfeit to the Crown assets that are determined to be the proceeds or instruments of unlawful activity.

Under the legislation, the court can grant an interim order to freeze assets pending the outcome of the forfeiture proceeding. Government lawyers go to court, and if they can prove that the assets in question are the proceeds or instruments of unlawful activity, the court can issue orders forfeiting the assets to the Crown.

In addition to forfeiture provisions, the act allows the court to grant an order for damages or any order necessary to prevent or reduce the risk of injury to the public, where the court finds a conspiracy to engage in unlawful activity that has or likely will cause injury to the public.

Civil asset forfeiture focuses solely on the connection between property and unlawful activity, and is not based on any criminal conviction. By contrast, criminal asset forfeiture permits forfeiture of assets obtained by or used in the commission of an offence following the conviction of an individual.

Forfeited assets are liquidated and deposited into a special purpose account. The legislation enables direct victims of the unlawful activity, the Crown, municipal corporations and prescribed public bodies to submit a claim for compensation or cost recovery against the forfeited assets.

The Civil Remedies for Illicit Activities Office (CRIA) of the Ministry of the Attorney General is responsible for enforcing the Civil Remedies Act. CRIA is recognized nationally and internationally for its precedent-setting work. CRIA has successfully argued all of its forfeiture cases to date.

Almost a Quarter of a Million Dollars in Cash Seized in the Thunder Bay Area Under the Civil Remedies Act

A total of $227,821 in cash from eight separate cases in the Thunder Bay area has been forfeited to the Crown, under the Civil Remedies Act, since 2003. In all cases, the court found that the money was a proceed of unlawful activity. Seven cases involved money found during searches of vehicles stopped by police. One case involved a house search.

Most of the cases were brought to the CRIA Office by the Tri-Force Drug Unit, which consists of the Thunder Bay Police, Ontario Provincial Police and the RCMP. Other cases were brought forward by the Thunder Bay Police Service or the OPP.

Police say that those involved in unlawful activities, such as drug trafficking, can accumulate large amounts of cash as profit. They will try to disguise the illegitimate origins of the money, and convert the cash to a legitimate use. It is estimated that between $5 and $17 billion is laundered in Canada every year.

In Ontario, the proceeds of unlawful activity including fraud, Internet and telemarketing scams, drug trafficking, and marijuana grow operations could be subject to the Civil Remedies Act.

Some examples of forfeitures under the Civil Remedies Act this year include: forfeiture of a Hamilton crack house, $120,130 in cash seized near Marathon, and $99,000 in cash seized near Kirkland Lake. The Attorney General also oversaw the destruction of two street racing cars in the York Region, forfeited as instruments of unlawful activity.

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