OPP to announce ‘staggering’ results from child exploitation investigation

The Ontario Provincial Police say Wednesday morning they will announce “staggering results” from a child sexual exploitation investigation.

The announcement will include the results of a multi-jurisdictional investigation known as Project Aquatic. OPP said 27 police services across Ontario were part of the investigation.

“The abuse and exploitation of children on the internet is a serious issue affecting our communities,” OPP said.

“Law enforcement agencies have been working tirelessly to investigate cases, support survivors and hold perpetrators accountable.”

The announcement will be made in Toronto at 10 a.m. Wednesday, and will be live-streamed on globalnews.ca.

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In Canada, the overall rate of police-reported online child sexual exploitation incidents — which includes both online sexual offences against children and online child pornography — has risen since 2014, Statistics Canada said in a March report.

In 2014, the overall rate sat at 50 incidents per 100,000 children and youth; in 2022, that rose to 160 incidents per 100,000 children and youth.

The increase was driven by online child pornography reported to police, which accounted for 75 per cent of all online child sexual exploitation offences, the federal data collection agency said.

“The rate of online child pornography reported to police nearly quadrupled from 2014 (32 incidents per 100,000 children and youth) to 2022 (125),” it said.

“These significant increases could reflect an actual rise in this type of crime, increased awareness and reporting among the general population or more resources and training for police to better detect online child sexual exploitation—or a combination of these factors.”

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Boys and men accounted for the vast majority of accused persons in these incidents during the time frame, Statistics Canada said; forty-one per cent of police-reported online sexual offences against children were solved by police, with incidents involving multiple violations being more likely to be cleared.

Of cleared incidents, 74 per cent resulted in a charge being laid or recommended against an accused.

From April 2014 to March 2021 in adult criminal court, 34 per cent of charges laid for sexual offences against children likely committed online resulted in a guilty finding, while just over 63 per cent were stayed, withdrawn, dismissed or discharged. More than 78 per cent of guilty cases in adult court led to a custodial sentence, Statistics Canada said.

Meanwhile during that time frame, 44 per cent of charges in youth court led to a guilty finding; sixty-two per cent of youth found guilty were most likely to be sentenced to probation.

— With files from Global News’ Aaron D’Andrea

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