Evidence of meeting #7 for Public Safety and National Security in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was firearms.
A recording is available from Parliament.
1:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Jim Carr
Thank you very much.
Now, for the last slot I will turn to Mr. MacGregor.
You have two and a half minutes. You will take us within a minute or two of the top of the clock.
The floor is yours.
1:55 p.m.
NDP
Alistair MacGregor NDP Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
Thank you so much, Chair.
In April of last year, there was a data breach from the Christian crowdfunding site GiveSendGo. That data breach revealed that there were millions of dollars that had been raised by groups banned from raising funds on other platforms. They had been banned because of episodes of hate speech and violence that had been used on the platforms. Some of the biggest beneficiaries of that had been groups like the Proud Boys, which are a designated terrorist entity.
We only learned of this because of a data breach. I'm just wondering, we as policy-makers have to anticipate the new landscape that's before us. Does FINTRAC have what it needs to capture this, maybe not from a site like GoFundMe but for other platforms that are competing for this space and those dollars?
Are there gaps that we need to plug as policy-makers so that these things can be caught before they end up being just a data breach?
2 p.m.
Deputy Director, Intelligence, Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada
I think it's always good to ask the question and to do an in-depth study, once you're out of a crisis, to determine whether or not there are policy gaps that could be looked at and what is the best way to address those.
From my perspective right now, in the situation that you mentioned—and I've read about the data breach as well—the intersection between the crowdfunding platforms and our financial institutions is a must in order to disburse the money. If the money were going through a Canadian bank, for example, and directed to the Proud Boys, they're a listed terrorist organization. That money would be stopped by the bank and we would also get the STR. They cannot, if there is a listed terrorist organization, facilitate the transfer of that money. It is really the intersection with our banks.
Our banks are well aware of those organizations and the individuals associated with those organizations. They know who they are. They have their sanctions list. They do their monitoring. They do their reporting and they do it well. From my perspective, we have that intersection. Raising [Technical difficulty—Editor] is likely not helpful to those organizations, but we would get the reporting and the funding would be stopped by the banks when it comes to those types of organizations trying to receive money.
2 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Jim Carr
Thank you very much.
On behalf of the committee, I want to thank the witnesses for their very important and thoughtful testimony this morning. It will be very important as we make our way through the complexities of these important and dynamic issues.
Colleagues, we're right on time. Thank you very much for everybody's co-operation.
Does the committee agree that the meeting should be adjourned?
2 p.m.
Some hon. members
Agreed.
2 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Jim Carr
Then the meeting is adjourned. Have a good weekend, everybody. We'll see you on Tuesday. Take care.