Canadian and U.S. officials deepen strong and collaborative partnership on issues of mutual concern, including law enforcement information sharing, malign foreign interference, combating gun and drug trafficking, and online and hate crimes

WASHINGTON, July 12, 2024 /CNW/ – The United States (U.S.) and Canada have a longstanding and enduring security, law enforcement, and intelligence partnership that is centered on protecting public safety, consistent with rights protected by law. Today, to advance our shared goals, U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas hosted Canada’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Arif Virani, and Canada’s Minister of Public Safety, Dominic LeBlanc, in Washington, DC for the U.S.–Canada Cross Border Crime Forum (CBCF). This meeting is the third CBCF since it was reestablished by President Biden’s and Prime Minister Trudeau’s 2021 Roadmap for a Renewed U.S.-Canada Partnership.

Building on the success of previous CBCF meetings, including the Statement of Partnership to Prevent, Investigate, Prosecute, and Disrupt Cross-Border Crime, which was signed at last year’s meeting, the four U.S. and Canadian Officials (hereinafter “the Ministers”) discussed ways to enhance collaboration in the following areas:

Foreign Interference/National Security

The Ministers acknowledged the threat from hostile foreign actors, including in the context of electoral interference. Malign actors may seek to influence outcomes and undermine public confidence in elections in many ways. They may deploy efforts to subvert democratic processes, such as engaging in cyber-attacks and other interference activities against election campaigns and election infrastructure to disrupt election processes. They may seek to influence elections, including by covertly exploiting and fueling divisions within society; and this, in turn, may also help fuel coercive activity and harassment, and threats of violence toward voters, candidates, and election personnel. Both Canada and the U.S. agreed that fair and secure elections are cornerstones of democracy and emphasized the need to work together to combat any threats that seek to undermine it.

Malign foreign actors also have demonstrated an intent and willingness to use insiders, computer intrusion, or other means to steal trade secrets and sensitive technologies. This global problem requires a global response and Canada and the U.S. will continue to investigate and, where appropriate, prosecute espionage that threatens our economies and export control violations. In this vein, the Ministers agreed on the need to preserve the cross-border flow of data between allies and partners that is critical to our economic well-being, while maintaining the security of sensitive personal data.

The Ministers similarly reaffirmed their united front in protecting our democracies and the democratic process. A key tool in combatting the threat of transnational repression, as well as malign foreign influence and interference generally, is transparency through foreign agent registries; the U.S. discussed the use of its Foreign Agents Registration Act and related statutes, while Canada highlighted its newly passed legislation in this area, Bill C-70, An Act respecting countering foreign interference, which will establish a Foreign Influence Transparency Registry and update criminal law tools to better safeguard democracy. These efforts, along with investigations and prosecutions of transnational repression-related cases, will further enhance the ability of the U.S. and Canada to protect those living within our borders.

Law Enforcement Cooperation and Information Sharing

Canada and the U.S. continue to combat the devastation caused by fentanyl and synthetic opioids, by working together at disrupting the illicit supply chain, to include production and distribution and the importation of illicit precursor chemicals from China and elsewhere. Similarly, the violence wrought by firearms smuggled across the U.S.-Canada border requires continued efforts to target those responsible, including shippers and receivers, by seizing illicit firearms and tracing their origins.

Key in all these counter opioid and firearm efforts is enhanced information sharing between Canadian and U.S. law enforcement agencies, which has already led to successful operations. The Ministers applauded the advances in cooperation between U.S. and Canadian law enforcement since the last CBCF and underscored the need to build on and further operationalize prior Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs). The Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to provide clear policy direction and training to ensure that institutional policies and practices maximize information sharing within the context of each other’s laws and regulations, and in accordance with recent MOUs. They plan to continue to work together to improve the operationalization and systemization of intelligence and law enforcement sharing at the border, with the goals of supporting interdictions and investigations, countering transnational organized crime, continuing to build the global coalition against synthetic drug threats, and disrupting the synthetic opioid and firearm supply chains.

In the context of enhancing information sharing, the Ministers also discussed the challenges associated with cross-border human smuggling that is occurring in both directions, and challenges in related investigations. Accordingly, the Ministers called on their officials to continue strengthening ways to gather and share information for the detection and investigation of organized crime groups and networks that target vulnerable people and engage in human smuggling. They also tasked officials to review information sharing case studies of border incidents and identify opportunities to further improve intelligence sharing, detection, and interdiction, in order to disrupt cross-border smuggling and investigate and hold accountable those involved.

With respect to law enforcement cooperation and information sharing at the border, the Ministers also considered their respective country’s approach to providing advance notification of sex offender travel, which remains a key tool in making informed admission decisions. Both countries will seek to maximize the sharing of sex offender travel notifications, in the interest of ensuring public safety.

Online Crime and Hate Crimes

The Ministers began their discussion of online crime by acknowledging the need to maintain tightly-controlled lawful access to communications content that is vital to the investigation and prosecution of serious crimes, including terrorism and online child sexual exploitation and abuse. 

The Ministers then turned to collective efforts to address the increasing prevalence of online child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The Ministers noted the increase in both countries of artificial intelligence (AI)-generated CSAM and the need for international engagement to combat this threat, to include law enforcement, non-governmental organizations, the technology industry, and others.

With respect to AI more generally, the Ministers acknowledged the benefits and risks posed by AI technology. Moreover, the Ministers recognized that AI crosses over multiple government equities, including criminal law, civil rights, and antitrust law, and recommended that this continue to be a focus of study by the CBCF. 

The need for strategic and coordinated engagement between and among international partners was also discussed in the context of elder fraud and romance scams. The Ministers discussed avenues available to collectively identify and disrupt such schemes to prevent further victimization.

Canada and the U.S. also acknowledged the ways in which hate crimes erode communities. The Ministers noted with concern the increased number of attacks motivated by anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of bias on both sides of the border and pledged to work together to address this issue.

The Ministers also welcomed the outcomes of the strengthened collaboration between their respective Access to Justice Offices over the past year, including on strategies to overcome systemic inequality and discrimination, as part of efforts to increase access to – and strengthen confidence in – the justice system. 

Conclusion

The Ministers plan to continue their close contact on all these critical issues, both in the context of the CBCF, and in other bilateral exchanges. They reiterated the strength, success, and depth of the security and law enforcement relationships along the Canada-U.S. border and the need to remain aligned.

SOURCE Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada