Ontario Provincial Police arrest 64 suspects in child sexual exploitation investigation
Ontario Provincial Police say 64 suspects are facing a combined 348 charges in connection with a series of child sexual exploitation investigations that spanned the province.
The arrests were announced at a news conference in Scarborough on Wednesday morning as officers provided more details about a multi-jurisdictional investigation, dubbed Project Aquatic.
According to police, the case was launched in February 2024 and included 129 separate investigations from across Ontario involving online sexual abuse material.
Det.- Sgt. Tim Brown told reporters Wednesday that 34 child victims were identified as part of the investigation. Police noted that as a result of Project Aquatic, another 30 children were “safeguarded," which Brown defined as removing children from “a dangerous position” where they could be “offended against.”
More than 600 digital devices were seized as part of the investigation, police said.
“It ranged from teenagers right up to senior citizens, as far as people who were arrested,” Brown said. “We find offenders across the province, every walk of life, every age.”
Police allege that in one case, an individual set up a meeting with undercover investigators with the intention to meet with a child for a sexual purpose. Another suspect, police said, was in possession of approximately 21 terabytes of data containing child sexual abuse material.
Toronto police told CP24 that 13 of the suspects were arrested in in the city and now face a combined 69 criminal charges.
The majority of the investigation, Brown said, was "reactive," with investigators responding to complaints from different electronic service providers.
"We are working tirelessly to continuously apply pressure to those who seek to harm our children," Brown told reporters. "These dangers are not confined to the shadowy corners of the internet. Predators go where children go."
Signy Arnason, the Associate Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, said Canada's tipline for reporting online child sexual abuse and exploitation, Cybertip.ca, receives about 2,000 to 3,000 tips per month.
“Through our work, we have observed growing networks of adults with problematic sexual interest in children. These online communities share child abuse sexual material, encourage one another to share tactics that include how-to manuals,” she said.
“They normalize the sexual abuse and exploitation of children. Many within these communities obsess over certain victims, try to locate them, and even stalk them well into adulthood. Environments like the dark web fester and facilitate this conduct and AI generated images have tipped the scale on an already epidemic-sized issued.”
Arnason said the number of tips involving AI-generated images has skyrocketed in Canada in recent years.
“There is two sides to that equation. There is one where offenders are seeking the tools to take existing child sexual abuse material to create an AI-generated image. You can only imagine the nightmare for those victims… now there is actually new abusive imagery of them,” she said.
“The second layer to this is the nude AI generators that youth get their hands on and think it is funny to produce an AI generated image of a kid in school. That issue has exploded and we are dealing with schools right across the country where all of a sudden they’ve got this problem… We know that this is incredibly traumatizing and damaging to youth in particular.”
She noted that more government action and regulation is needed to deal with the situation.
“We know that police across Canada cannot keep up. And hotlines around the world... are being flooded with reports involving concerns of child sexual abuse material as well as online sexual violence toward youth,” she said.
"This issue requires a commitment from a multitude of sectors; law enforcement, governments, online platforms, educators, parents and organizations like ours are critical in this fight. But more has to be done."
She added that technology companies must also to do more to help protect children.
“We must approach the protection of children online with the same vigour we have rightfully committed to safeguarding children offline. Technology companies have wielded far too much power, for profit, at the expense of children and long gone are the days of expecting companies to prioritize child safety through voluntary action,” she said.
“Upload prevention, expedited removal of child sexual abuse material, and proper moderation and training are equally critical elements in the fight against online exploitation and abuse of children.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton dead following prison attack
Convicted B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton, who preyed on women he lured from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside to his rural pig farm, has died.
'We will go with the majority': Liberals slammed by opposition over proposal to delay next election
The federal Liberal government learned Friday it might have to retreat on a proposal within its electoral reform legislation to delay the next vote by one week, after all opposition parties came out to say they can't support it.
DND moving 1,000 employees out of Ottawa office building due to safety concerns
The Department of National Defence is moving approximately 1,000 employees out of an office building in Ottawa's Lowertown neighbourhood, citing safety concerns for its employees.
Baby dead after being delivered via emergency C-section to woman who was in police custody
A newborn is dead after being delivered via emergency C-section to a woman in police custody.
Biden speaks after Donald Trump's conviction in hush money case
A day after a New York jury delivered a historic guilty verdict in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee held a press conference Friday where he spoke publicly about the conviction and his White House bid.
More counterfeit drugs seized, hot water boiler causes fire: Here are the recalls for this week
Health Canada recalled various items this week, including more unauthorized products, counterfeit drugs and bassinets.
Jennifer Lopez cancels summer tour: 'I am completely heartsick and devastated'
Jennifer Lopez has cancelled her 2024 North American tour, representatives for Live Nation confirmed to The Associated Press.
How did Ontario's bankrupt 'Crypto King' travel the world on Scene+ points?
Newly released documents suggest Ontario’s so-called ‘Crypto King’ paid for months of world travels with $13,000 worth of Scene+ points while bankrupt – but how?
Mediterranean diet helps women live much longer, a large new study finds
Women who closely followed a Mediterranean diet lived much longer than those who did not, according to a new study that followed more than 25,000 women for 25 years.