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Executive Summary
The 2005 CISC Annual Report on Organized Crime in Canada is published to inform and educate the public. In recognition of the changing and increasingly complex dynamics of organized crime and its activities, CISC has shifted the focus of this report.The report is divided into two principal sections.The first section focuses on the characteristics of and the methods used by organized crime groups, while the second section highlights various criminal markets in Canada. Combined, both sections seek to provide the public with a better understanding of the direct and indirect negative effects of organized crime and its illegal activities on the lives of Canadians and their communities.
By its very nature, organized crime in Canada takes advantage of a multitude of opportunities that will bring them profit.They are as a result increasingly networked, often engaging in co-operative criminal ventures based upon mutual need. Organized crime also employ key methods, such as violence and technology, which help facilitate their various ventures and ensure their success over the long term.Violence and intimidation remain important elements as organized crime members and associates regularly use them to protect and promote the group’s criminal identity, interests, territory and activities.
That many organized crime groups have the capacity to move commodities both into and out of Canada, whether through any of the land, air and marine border areas, is reflective of their level of sophistication. Many of the more powerful organized crime groups are able to exert their influence and facilitate connections between regions and the national and international criminal marketplace. Organized crime’s presence in certain major metropolitan areas, including southern Quebec and Ontario, the B.C. Lower Mainland, as well as other urban centres with access to major transportation routes remain key in facilitating criminal operations throughout the country.
Organized crime’s business largely surrounds their involvement in criminal markets. Criminal markets are dynamic and evolve over time as they react to market forces that also include competition from other organized crime groups, technological innovation, and law enforcement action. Many criminal markets emerge when organized crime identifies and exploits loopholes in legal markets (i.e. regulatory) that then become profitable market niches for it.There are also purely criminal markets, with no equivalents in the legitimate economy, such as the one in illicit drugs that involves providing illegal goods and services. It is the current scope and dynamics of organized criminal activity within Canada, and the degree to which they impact society, that are of concern to law enforcement and expressed within this report.
Criminal markets often involve illegally moving commodities, such as tobacco and firearms across borders, whether at a inter-provincial, national or international level. Due to the particularly lucrative nature of the illicit drugs market, organized crime remains extensively involved. Organized crime either directly controls or indirectly influences all aspects of the illicit drug industry whether it be cultivation, manufacture, importation or distribution.
Financial crimes, including money laundering, intellectual property rights crime and identity theft, are facilitated in large measure by technological advances, specifically in information and communication technologies. These types of crimes in particular take advantage of processes and institutions within the legitimate economy. Certain financial crimes, such as money laundering and identity theft are also used as vehicles to facilitate other crimes, particularly fraud. Information and communication technologies have also helped to facilitate the sexual exploitation of children (SEOC) by fostering connections between like-minded individuals and identifying potential victims, as well as a way to exchange and store vast amounts of data.
Additional criminal markets highlighted within this report, in which organized crime is involved and operate at an international level, are the export of stolen motor vehicles, migrant smuggling, and to a lesser extent, the trafficking in persons.
The potential criminal exploitation of Canada’s diamond industry is an example of a natural resource that could be attractive to both foreign and domestic organized crime, of which law enforcement is aware and proactively monitoring. Furthermore, while organized crime is more actively involved in environmental crimes internationally than in Canada, it is an example of a criminal market in which organized crime in Canada could become more involved.
Canadians experience the negative socio-economic effects of organized crime to varying degrees.These range from public health and safety issues to financial loss either on a personal, or on a larger economic sector level.
Violence and intimidation are key elements in the Canadian criminal marketplace. More violent criminal activities such as assaults, home invasions, break-and-enters and homicides, contribute to a culture of fear in some communities, fostering a general sense of insecurity. Moreover, the frequent use of illicit firearms by organized crime can also have a dramatic and direct impact on individuals through intended and unintended homicides, attempted homicides and assaults.
Profits generated by organized crime’s involvement in numerous criminal markets and the successful laundering of these proceeds promote and finance the commission of other organized crime activities, and may also help to sustain or expand the reach and scope of an organized crime group. Such increased capacities help organized crime to continue to pose threats to the Canadian economy and the public’s health and safety.
The illicit drug market affects all communities, whether that be rural, suburban and urban, in Canada to varying degrees. Illicit drug use can often spur criminal activities, such as robberies, break-and-enters, fraud and violence against individuals to support habits.The sale of illicit drugs in communities can also lead to violence, be it between individual users, between competing organized crime groups supplying the market, or between users and their dealers. Moreover, the manufacturing of illicit drugs, specifically synthetic drugs and marihuana, pose threats to the environment, public safety, law enforcement and the health services sector due to the improper disposal of toxic waste that could contaminate the soil and water supplies. Marihuana grow operations also pose danger to nearby residences from the increased threat of fire from electrical bypasses.
Direct and indirect losses from identity theft in Canada are significant. There are considerable financial costs to financial institutions, businesses and consumers alike.Victims are often left with damaged credit ratings and disrupted personal and financial records.
Crimes facilitated by technology are often costly, complex, multijurisdictional (and even multi-national) and thus difficult to investigate and often harder to prosecute. Some crimes, such as identity theft are complicated by the multiple jurisdictions involved, to the extent that the crime, victim and offender are often found within and between different countries.
Whether apparent or hidden, the adverse effects of organized criminal activity touch all Canadians.This report has sought to highlight only some of the innumerable ways in which organized crime directly or indirectly affects Canada, its institutions, its citizens and communities. Intelligence-led policing, guided by the CISC community, is Canada’s best tool to combat organized crime.
