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Ministers Nicholson and Van Loan Highlight Canada's Crime Fighting and Prevention Efforts at the G8 Meeting of Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs
The Honourable Rob Nicholson, P.C., Q.C., Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and the Honourable Peter Van Loan, Minister of Public Safety, met with their G8 counterparts in Rome, Italy to work together on issues of mutual concern from a global perspective. Highlights of the two-day meeting included discussions on counter-terrorism efforts, advances in the fight against organized crime, combating child sexual exploitation and cyber crime, preventing human smuggling and trafficking in persons, and urban crime.
"I am pleased with the thoughtful and productive nature of the discussions held with our G8 colleagues," said Minister Nicholson. "Given the close international co-operation fostered at this meeting, I am confident that Canada will be able to make even greater progress on our shared concerns of combating world-wide threats - most notably organized crime, sexual exploitation of children, and the alarming growth of child pornography on the Internet."
"Our partnership with the G8 allies reaffirm Canada's commitment to the global fight against organized crime and security threats, which are of concern to us all," said Minister Van Loan. "Only by working together with international partners can we further help Canadians be safe and secure in their communities."
Minister Nicholson and Minister Van Loan shared with their G8 counterparts Canada's progress on activities aimed at combating organized crime, the sexual exploitation of children online, trafficking in persons, and crime prevention.
Over the last year, Canada has introduced a number of important legislative reforms, including those that would:
- Tackle property theft and trafficking in property obtained by crime - including auto theft, which is often linked to organized crime;
- Fight violence associated with organized crime and gangs by toughening Criminal Code provisions;
- Impose mandatory jail time for those who produce and sell illegal drugs;
- Bolster our overall counter-terrorism strategy, by reinstating the Investigative Hearing and the Recognizance with Conditions provisions of the Criminal Code;
- Modernize criminal law procedure in Canada to make the justice system more efficient and effective.
This Government has taken further action to help improve the safety of our communities, including:
- Renewing the National Strategy for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation on the Internet, which helps combat child victimization by increasing our capacity to investigate and track down on-line predators, enhancing public education and awareness, and supporting further research on child sexual exploitation;
- Providing over $17 million in funding since March 2008 under the Government of Canada's National Crime Prevention Strategy in support of community based projects that focus on the risk factors associated with crime, to prevent and reduce crime. Canada is recognized as an international leader in the area of crime prevention;
- Partnering with Crime Stoppers to increase public awareness of trafficking in persons to better inform the public about this global problem.
During the meeting with their G8 counterparts, Ministers Nicholson and Van Loan had the opportunity to hear from experts on combating maritime piracy, international terrorism, organized crime, the illicit drug trade, cybercrime and child pornography.
For more information on this year's meeting, including the Ministers' concluding declaration, please visit: www.g8italia2009.it :
To view the photo associated with this press release, please visit the following link: www.marketwire.com/library/20090530-pic0530.jpg :
Contacts:
Minister's Office, Department of Justice Canada
Genevieve Breton
Director of Communications
613-992-4621
Department of Justice Canada
Media Relations
613-957-4207
Public Safety Canada
Media Relations
613-991-0657