Quebec announced $11 million for the creation of a new police unit to fight the sexual exploitation of children on the Internet Thursday.
The government has earmarked $2.2 million a year for five years for the unit.
Minister of Public Security Genevieve Guilbault made the announcement in Montreal accompanied by the Acting Director-General of the SQ, Mario Bouchard, and the SPVM director Sylvain Caron.
"The number of youth-related crimes in this area continues to grow, whether it's child luring, child pornography or anything else," said Guilbault.
From 2012 to 2019, the number of reports increased from 100 per year to more than 1,000.
The new unit will coordinate investigations against cyber predators.
"Coordination in this area is particularly important because this type of crime knows no boundaries," said Bouchard.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2019.
