B.C. is a major hotspot for images of child sex abuse. Experts say the perpetrators are hard to find — and even more difficult to prosecute.
According to Statistics Canada, B.C. accounted for 54 per cent of the country’s 7,141 reported incidents of making and distributing such images in 2021. In 2022, B.C. RCMP dealt with 9,600 cases. In the first three months of this year alone, there were 5,790 cases.
Despite the growing number of incidents, very few proceed to court, said Janine Benedet, a University of B.C. law professor specializing in this area. “Some regions might have a higher number of detections or perhaps a higher number of investigations per capita,” he said. “I’d be utterly shocked if B.C. had higher numbers. This is a pervasive problem that spans socio-economic divisions.”Article content
Leung said she once thought, as did many, that images of child sexual abuse were limited to “creepy old men” on computers. But “the offenders I’ve dealt with for the last seven years have been anyone from 19 to 90.”“There’s just so much more access to the internet and smartphones and devices. That’s our world right now. So, the ability to access, possess and make available and share all that child pornography is at the palm of our hands.
Leung’s RCMP unit includes investigators who go undercover and covertly join groups making and distributing material. Girls aged 12 to 17 are significantly overrepresented as targets of non-consensual distribution of intimate images, and most of the offences against children are cases of luring, where an adult uses computers or technology to arrange an in-person sexual encounter with a child.In Alberta, which has a team of 50 agents, analysts, and support staff, there is enormous growth, says Michael Tucker, director of communications for Alberta’s internet child exploitation unit.
B.C. Public Safety Minister General Mike Farnworth said in an email that B.C. has no such mandatory training on preventing sexual abuse.The highly disturbing nature of child pornography keeps the problem hidden because it’s difficult for news media to cover cases that don’t result in convictions, said Sinclair.
Level 1 is images depicting erotic posing with no sexual activity. Level 2 is sexual activity between children or solo masturbation by a child. Level 3 is non-penetrative sexual activity between adults and children. Level 4 is penetrative sexual activity between children and adults. The most egregious, Level 5, is images of child sexual abuse depicting sadism, he said.Article content
“In Canada, there are important fundamental freedoms in terms of privacy, and those rights, I think, need to be jealously protected. It’s a conflict between privacy protection and protecting children,” he said.Professor Janine Benedet says police investigations of images of child sexual abuse are incredibly difficult.Limiting young people’s access to social media, where most of offences start, would help solve the problem, said Benedet.
It is not an expensive product if you want to purchase a photo, with some images selling for as little as $50. Ten years ago, underage prostitutes were moved by handlers, pimps or abusers onto social media platforms like Facebook and away from the street, she said.“We’re now seeing gangs and human traffickers utilize Snapchat and Instagram specifically to connect with these kids. We’ve eliminated this big step that leads to trafficking, and grooming, which is now being done by social media and society.
Jimenez hopes changing the name, like changing the age of consent, will drive more public awareness and better define how serious the problem is. “She was very naive. And I can’t remember the exact number, but within the first night, she had sex with multiple men. That’s how quickly it happened,” she said.
St. Germain says the lives of children and their futures will continue to be at risk unless meaningful solutions are found.
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