Though Canada has well developed legal and social institutions and offers its people a high standard of living, the commercial sexual exploitation of children remains a significant problem, with indigenous populations being especially vulnerable. Canada’s large geographic size and federal system of governance lead to policies and practices that diverge significantly across the country and offer varying levels of protection to children, though Canada remains, overall, a strong country with regard to child protection. Canada has ratified all major CSEC-related international treaties, and its domestic laws are mostly harmonised. However, some of these laws are not well enforced, especially extraterritorial provisions targeting travelling Canadian sex offenders. Furthermore, the country remains one of the world’s largest contributors to the global trade in child pornography images. Priority actions for Canada include: the federal government should conduct a national research project to collect data specific to Aboriginal children and trafficking in persons and should pass the “Protecting Children from internet Predators Act” to ensure law enforcement have the necessary tools at their disposal to protect children from exploitation over the internet.
To understand more about the current situation in Canada, you can read the full report here