History of Cybertip.ca

In 1999, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (formerly known as Child Find Manitoba) recognized a gap in the area of child protection. The Internet was becoming increasingly popular, but there was no simple mechanism for Canadians to report potentially illegal activity they encountered online. As a result, the Canadian Centre set out to establish a tipline to accept reports relating to online child sexual exploitation.

Before establishing Cybertip.ca, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection did extensive research into effective program design. In particular, Cybertip.ca modeled its early operations on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s CyberTipline in the United States (established in 1998) and the Internet Watch Foundation in the United Kingdom (established in 1996). Cybertip.ca also worked in consultation with the following entities:

• The Government of Manitoba
• The Children Online Protection Committee
• The Government of Canada
• A National Law Enforcement Advisory Committee
• A Federal Task Force and Steering Committees
• A Technical Committee
• An Educational Standards Task Force

On September 26, 2002, Cybertip.ca was officially launched as a Manitoba pilot project. In its first years, the tipline’s technical capacity and operations were refined, and public awareness activities were undertaken with a mostly provincial focus. Throughout this time, the tipline was also working on establishing relationships with other provincial governments, law enforcement agencies, and private sector companies. Letters of support for Cybertip.ca were sent from every province and territory to the federal government.

In May 2004, the Government of Canada recognized and announced Cybertip.ca as Canada’s national tipline for the public reporting online child sexual exploitation. It was one of three components of the National Strategy to Protect Children from Sexual Exploitation on the Internet, along with funding for public awareness and the RCMP’s National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre (NCECC), which coordinates and supports national child sexual exploitation investigations.

Shortly thereafter, Cybertip.ca coordinated a meeting with Internet services providers, federal and provincial departments, and law enforcement agencies to discuss a coordinated, voluntary, and broad-based strategy to address, in particular, child pornography. The meeting resulted in the formation of the Canadian Coalition Against Internet Child Exploitation (CCAICE). For more information, please click here.

Cybertip.ca was officially launched nationally at a press conference in Ottawa on January 24, 2005. Present at the national launch was the Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan and Ministers of Justice and Attorney Generals from across Canada.

The tipline has continued to grow and improve its operations since it public launch. In 2005, Cybertip.ca was voted in as a member of the International Association of Hotline Providers (INHOPE), building partnerships with similar hotlines around the world. Similarly, Cybertip.ca has worked hard at forming strong partnerships with law enforcement agencies across Canada. The tipline is supported by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, the RCMP, the RCMP’s National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre, and Criminal Intelligence Service Canada. For more information, please click here.

On April 15, 2009, mandatory reporting of child pornography was proclaimed in Manitoba. The Child and Family Services Act was amended to include child pornography in the definition of child abuse and the legislation obligates all people in Manitoba to report suspected child pornography to Cybertip.ca for assessment.

When Bill C-22, An Act respecting the mandatory reporting of Internet child pornography by persons who provide an Internet service, came into force on December 8, 2011, Cybertip.ca was named the designated reporting entity under section 2. This federal legislation requires all persons who provide an Internet service to report any incident of Internet child pornography.

The Canadian Centre for Child Protection will continue to build upon the success of Cybertip.ca and work toward ensuring that children are protected and safe.

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