Justice committee  In the 455 cases, human trafficking-specific charges were laid. Of those, 433 were domestic; 22 were international; and 118 have successfully resulted in human trafficking-specific or related convictions. Again, of that, 296 are still before the courts.

Justice committee  In policing we partner with victims' service, various social services, including housing, and various departments, even through the identification of sex trade workers who are at risk as well—the project that I referred to. We work with partners during that project to make sure t

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's my pleasure to appear before the committee as part of its review of the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act. As part of our mandate to protect Canada's economic integrity, financial crime has long been a federal policing p

Finance committee  It is not as much hindrances to convictions, but hindrances to the investigations themselves. They're very complex and multi-layered, and as I mentioned, there is a list of different items that hinder our investigations, such as a lack of beneficial ownership. I can certainly go

Finance committee  I wouldn't have an answer for that overall. Obviously it would change from year to year. Currently we have 53 investigations outstanding, either in the court system or in the process of being investigated, but I wouldn't be able to say how many are concluded each year.

Finance committee  It would be. Recognizing that an investigation may take many years, it might start in one year, but it wouldn't conclude until two or three years later. That's possible, or it could also conclude the same year.

Finance committee  Certainly with regard to FINTRAC, we do receive a significant amount of information from them, and we have no issues with the type of information we're receiving. If we ever need clarification, we have a very good partnership with FINTRAC.

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, if I may, it's certainly possible that there would be cases in which we would receive information and charges would not be laid. That's correct.

Finance committee  Money laundering is certainly a significant issue. It's a risk to our economy. It's a risk internally across Canada for investors, as well as externally. When we look at foreign partners and foreign investment in Canada, money laundering is certainly a risk, in that it's taking a

Finance committee  Certainly. With regard to my comment on the number of files, I should have prefaced my remarks by saying the number I cited is strictly within federal policing by the RCMP. It doesn't include investigations that have started outside of federal policing, with a municipal agency

Finance committee  It would be adding a provision for recklessness, for example, that shows that someone knowingly was investing without asking questions, without finding out why they were doing the investing, where they were moving the money to, so that it doesn't have to be linked to that predica

Finance committee  I can't say I would necessarily agree with that comment. We have a very good working relationship with the banks. We have a very strong partnership with them. We have working groups that involve the major banks. No, I wouldn't say that's an issue.

Finance committee  They certainly have their own investigative teams. I'm not aware of what the threshold would be for them to report to the police based on what their own investigative teams would be looking at. I'm guessing they do have a threshold, but I wouldn't know.

Finance committee  I think we're doing very well in that area. Working with our partners over the last year, in particular in reviewing the regime and the act, we've been looking at what we could be doing better. It's been a strong focus of our training right across the board, not just within law e

Finance committee  I would refer to the paper that was produced by the Department of Finance. I believe there are some quotes in there with regard to estimations. I certainly do not have any estimations of that from within the RCMP that we could say have any accuracy.