Table 1-A
Police-reported online child sexual exploitation incidents, by type of offence and year, Canada, 2014 to 2024

Table 1-A Police-reported online child sexual exploitation incidents, by type of offence and year, Canada, 2014 to 2024
Table summary
The information is grouped by Year (appearing as row headers), Total online child sexual exploitation4, Online sexual offences against children1, Online child sexual abuse and exploitation material offences2,3, Total online sexual offences against children, Luring a child, Non-consensual distribution of intimate images5, Invitation to sexual touching, Other online sexual offences against children6, Total online child sexual abuse and exploitation material, Possessing or accessing online child sexual abuse and exploitation material and Making or distributing online child sexual abuse and exploitation material, calculated using number units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Year Total online child sexual exploitation Table 1A Note 3 Online sexual offences against children Table 1A Note 1 Online child sexual abuse and exploitation material offences Table 1A Note 2 
Total online sexual offences against children Luring a child Non-consensual distribution of intimate images Table 1A Note 4 Invitation to sexual touching Other online sexual offences against children Table 1A Note 5 Total online child sexual abuse and exploitation material Possessing or accessing online child sexual abuse and exploitation material Making or distributing online child sexual abuse and exploitation material
number
Note ..

not available for a specific reference period

Note 1

Includes online sexual violations against children and other online sexual offences where the victim was identified as being aged 17 years or younger on the first recorded date of the incident.

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Note 2

Online child sexual abuse and exploitation material offences are cybercrime incidents involving offences under section 163.1 of the Criminal Code, which makes it illegal to make, distribute, possess or access child sexual abuse and exploitation material.

Return to note 2 referrer

Note 3

Includes online sexual offences against children and online child sexual abuse and exploitation material offences.

Return to note 3 referrer

Note 4

Non-consensual distribution of intimate images became a Criminal Code (s. 162.1(1)) offence in 2015 under the Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act.

Return to note 4 referrer

Note 5

Other online sexual offences against children is a catch all category that encompasses all other sexual violations against children (excluding online child sexual abuse and exploitation material offences) which were facilitated by, or involved the use of, technology.

Return to note 5 referrer

Note: An incident is flagged as a cybercrime when the crime targets information and communication technology (ICT), or when the crime used ICT to commit the offence. ICT includes, but is not limited to, the Internet, computers, servers, digital technology, digital telecommunications devices, phones and networks. Crimes committed over text and through messages using social media platforms are also considered cybercrime activity. Prior to 2020, the number of cybercrimes is an undercount as some police services were unable to report the cybercrime indicator for all years. The data exclude the Quebec City Police in 2014 and 2015, the municipal police service of Calgary from 2014 to 2016, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) from 2014 to 2017, both the Canadian Forces Military Police from 2014 to 2019 and Dryden, a detachment of the OPP in 2022. For 2023 and 2024, the data exclude Saint John Police Force. Counts are based on the cyber violation which may not be the most serious violation in the incident. Between 2014 and 2024, the cyber violation was the most serious violation in 98% of online child sexual exploitation (OCSE) incidents. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s National Child Exploitation Crime Centre (NCECC) serves as the primary point of contact in Canada for investigations related to the sexual exploitation of children on the Internet. Working in partnership with specialized provincial Internet child exploitation policing units, police services across Canada and internationally, the NCECC forwards suspected cases of OCSE to the appropriate police of jurisdiction for investigation. Due to a substantial increase in the volume and complexity of these cases (many of which involve Generative Aritifical Intelligence), many police services do not have the resources to investigate all cases forwarded by the NCECC. As a result, these data reflect the number of police-reported investigations for the year, accounting for only a subset of suspected OCSE cases within Canada. Includes a small proportion of incidents where victim age was recoded. In some incidents, the victim was aged 17 years or younger at the time of the offence, but was aged 18 years or older when the incident was reported by police. Victim age was recoded to the age of the victim on the first recorded date of the incident.
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, Uniform Crime Reporting Survey.
2014 3,110 1,144 932 .. not available for a specific reference period 160 52 1,966 1,966 .. not available for a specific reference period
2015 3,672 1,066 851 33 109 73 2,606 1,756 850
2016 5,576 1,412 1,081 115 77 139 4,164 1,278 2,886
2017 5,482 1,573 1,087 211 101 174 3,909 1,041 2,868
2018 5,493 1,759 1,226 206 104 223 3,734 621 3,113
2019 7,479 2,104 1,394 323 121 266 5,375 1,133 4,242
2020 9,875 2,378 1,724 264 143 247 7,497 1,598 5,899
2021 9,966 2,532 1,798 280 157 297 7,434 1,903 5,531
2022 12,076 2,734 1,922 359 168 285 9,342 1,755 7,587
2023 19,857 2,697 1,730 496 166 305 17,160 2,298 14,862
2024 16,905 3,927 2,903 488 156 380 12,978 2,192 10,786
Total 99,491 23,326 16,648 2,775 1,462 2,441 76,165 17,541 58,624
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