Keeping Children Safe from Online Sexual Exploitation

05 february 2013

Making Sure that Parents and Teachers Have Access to Important Resources on Safer Internet Day

Montréal, February 5, 2013 - Children and youth are increasingly living out a large proportion of their daily lives online — whether using technology to communicate with friends, seek entertainment, or learn and broaden their knowledge about the world around them.  However, just like the offline world, parents and teachers need to be fully aware of the risks children and youth may encounter while using the Internet.  This is why on February 5, International Safer Internet Day, the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) are letting Quebecers know about the comprehensive Internet safety resources and tools available through the Canadian Centre for Child Protection.  These tools are there to help parents (and teachers) make sense of the challenges with raising children and youth in an ever-changing technological world.

The Canadian Centre for Child Protection, a national charitable organization dedicated to the personal safety of all children, will be launching new e-parenting safety sheets addressing issues and concerns parents may be facing right now with regard to their adolescent’s online safety. This includes valuable information on protecting youth from online luring, the growing issue of sexting, as well as how to talk to your child about healthy relationships and appropriate boundaries.

“We all have an important role to play in the online protection of children,” says Lianna McDonald, Executive Director, Canadian Centre for Child Protection.  “We know that for parents and teachers it can be hard to even know where to begin — and this is why, in partnership with the SPVM, we want to make sure that Canadians are aware of the important educational resources we have to offer to better protect children.”

Recognizing that educators also play a critical role when it comes to teaching children important personal safety strategies that will help reduce online victimization, the Canadian Centre will also be distributing over a million Internet safety materials to schools across Canada free-of-charge.  We also encourage parents and teachers alike to visit The Door That’s Not Locked website (www.thedoorthatsnotlocked.ca), a comprehensive resource with age-specific Internet safety information. This includes material about the online activities that are popular with children of different age groups, the potential risks children face when using certain technologies and safety strategies to address those concerns.

“The abuse children are facing is not acceptable and must not be tolerated by our society. For this reason, 10 years ago, the SPVM implemented a team dedicated to the fight against child sexual exploitation for commercial purposes” says Inspector Peter Lambrinakos, head of the Division des crimes majeurs et économiques Division of the SPVM. “I urge anyone who has witnessed child sexual abuse to report these acts by communicating with us at 911 or by submitting a report anonymously through the Cybertip.ca online report form.”

About the Canadian Centre for Child Protection: The goal of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (http://www.protectchildren.ca) is to reduce child victimization by providing programs and services to the Canadian public. Its four national programs include Cybertip.ca (www.cybertip.ca), Canada’s tipline to report the online sexual exploitation of children; MissingKids.ca (www.missingkids.ca), a national missing children resource and response centre; Kids in the Know (www.kidsintheknow.ca), an interactive child personal safety program for children in Kindergarten to Grade 9; and Commit to Kids (www.commit2kids.ca), a program to help child-serving organizations create safer environments for the children in their care and reduce their risk of sexual abuse.

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For more information please contact:

Module relations médias

Communications corporatives

SPVM

514 280-2015

 

Carolyn Shimmin-Bazak, Manager of Communications and Research

Canadian Centre for Child Protection

Office: (204) 945-8074

Cell: (204) 801-6838

Email: carolyn@protectchildren.ca