OTTAWA—Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says provincial and municipal police forces will receive $15 million to combat the exploitation of children online.
The Liberal government committed about $22 million over three years to the cause in this year’s federal budget, and are detailing how the majority of the spending will go to local police internet child exploitation units.
The rest of the money will go towards raising awareness, strengthening the judicial system, and engaging with online companies to make sure their platforms do not host child pornography and related content.
The announcement follows a meeting last month that Goodale attended with his counterparts from Canada’s Five Eyes intelligence allies—the United States, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand.
At the meeting, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft adopted a set of rules the governments proposed to remove child pornography from the internet more quickly.
Goodale says just over $2.1 million of the money in this year’s budget will go towards ensuring the companies maintain their focus.
