The U.S. and Canada Reestablish the Cross-Border Crime Forum | OPA

Guided by our shared commitment outlined in President Biden and Prime Minister Trudeau’s February 2021 Roadmap for a Renewed U.S.-Canada Partnership to re-establish the Cross-Border Crime Forum (CBCF), the Attorney General of the United States, Merrick Garland, and the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro N. Mayorkas, along with Canada’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General, David Lametti, and Minister of Public Safety, Marco Mendicino, met today in Washington, D.C. to discuss how to enhance collaboration between our two countries to counter cross-border crime and make our communities safer.

Cybercrime

Given the interconnectedness of U.S. and Canadian industry and economies, we affirm our shared commitment to work bilaterally to combat common cyber threats, such as ransomware attacks, and to strengthen critical infrastructure cyber security and resilience. We will work together to improve coordination around reporting of ransomware attacks that can affect cross-border critical infrastructure. Further, we will identify and implement options to strengthen sectors of our economies that are increasingly targeted by criminals and to implement effective responses. We have agreed to promote the adoption of best practices on cyber hygiene to help defend against these threats as well as provide stakeholders with the tools needed to effectively and rapidly report cyber incidents. We are working vigilantly to protect the cybersecurity of our critical infrastructure sectors given Russia’s further invasion of Ukraine. We also reiterated our commitment to work together through the G7+ REPO Task Force to locate and freeze virtual and physical assets of sanctioned Russian individuals and entities, and to forfeit the proceeds of kleptocracy or other crimes.

We welcomed negotiations for a potential bilateral agreement in relation to the U.S. Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act (CLOUD Act). Such an agreement, if finalized and approved, would allow Canadian and U.S. investigative authorities to, more efficiently and effectively, access communications and associated data in the other country when this information is needed for the prevention, detection, investigation, and prosecution of serious crime, such as terrorism, child sexual exploitation and abuse, and cybercrime, while respecting privacy and civil liberties.

Violent Extremism

Violent extremism poses a real and ongoing threat to our communities, and we remain committed to addressing it in all its forms.  We applaud the ongoing efforts of the bilateral working group established under the Roadmap to enhance cooperation to counter exploitation of social media, strengthen threat-related information sharing, and improve our respective prevention strategies to address violent extremism in both countries.  We will continue to advance these efforts and  to counter the rise of violent extremism while staying vigilant against the threat of international terrorism.  In doing so, we recognize that due process, respect for the rule of law, and the protection of human rights are critical to the success of these efforts.

Enhancing Public Safety

Our two countries have longstanding and effective bilateral cooperation on law enforcement issues. These partnerships strengthen our ability to maximize law enforcement resources and make our communities safer. As partners, we must adapt law enforcement efforts and information sharing as priority areas evolve and new challenges arise, including, but not limited to facilitating investigations, and to improving prosecutorial processes. We are committed to combatting transnational crime such as human smuggling across our shared border. We are equally committed to minimizing ongoing threats posed by serious offenders, including convicted child sex offenders, by exploring actions we can take to improve reciprocal information sharing processes.

Reducing Firearms Violence

To keep our communities safe and secure, it is essential to reduce firearms violence on both sides of the border. We reiterate our commitment to advance our shared understanding of the threat posed by firearms violence and to work collaboratively, including sharing data, to reduce cross-border firearms smuggling and trafficking. Our law enforcement agencies will leverage their collective resources, including intelligence, to identify the source and movement of unlawful firearms into our countries, including those moving across our shared border.

Access to Justice

The United States and Canada are committed to strengthening and expanding access to justice by  changing policies and practices that lead to inequality and injustice for marginalized and underserved communities in our countries. Our respective Access to Justice offices will work together and with key stakeholders toward meeting the goal of the United Nations 2030 Agenda “to leave no one behind.” We have agreed to discuss our respective criminal justice system data collection and strategies to overcome systemic racial inequality, discrimination, and overrepresentation within the criminal justice system. We will also share research, innovative data collection techniques, and the use of data science to inform our legislation and policies. These discussions will support our collective efforts to realize the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), in particular SDG16, which seeks to advance peaceful, just, and inclusive societies and equal access to justice for all.

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The United States and Canada reiterated our commitment to advance law enforcement cooperation between our two countries and look forward to Canada hosting the next CBCF in 2023.