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Presentation by the delegation of Canada on the Canadian strategy to combat organized crime
Canadian law enforcement agencies have been collecting intelligence for the past 10 years.
However, in terms of combating criminal organizations, the need to coordinate the efforts of law
enforcement agencies was identified in order to ensure that we are strategic. The Canadian strategy
is two fold in that (1) all law enforcement agencies in Canada need to participate in the intelligence
collection process. Intelligence on criminal organizations is then submitted to an analysis process,
known as Sleipnir, which evaluates each criminal organization based on 19 attributes. This process
allows us to rank order criminal organizations within a defined area (province). The second aspect
of the strategy is the fact that there is a coordination of efforts of law enforcement agencies. This
coordination is done by provincial committees who may assign priorities to law enforcement
agencies or joint force operations within their area of jurisdiction.
The provincial threat assessment process also leads to the identification of national tactical
enforcement priorities. These are criminal organizations which may transcend more than one
province and are usually international in nature. In answer to these, integrated enforcement teams
(known as Combined Enforcement Special Enforcement Units) comprised of municipal, provincial
and federal law enforcement officers; members Customs, Immigration Services; provincial and
federal prosecutors; proceeds of crime investigators; Ministry of Revenue and forensic accountants
are usually part of these teams. The usual approach is to investigate criminal activities using
organized crime legislation and to target the proceeds of crime accrued by the members of the
organization.
Overall, the Canadian strategy is to invest in the intelligence collection and analysis
(Sleipnir) process on one hand and to operationnalize the intelligence by coordinating the efforts of
all law enforcement.
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