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Finance minister unveils Ottawa’s ‘follow the money’ plan to tackle extortion
The partnership includes police, banks, and FinTRAC to improve information sharing and track extortion, with 476 incidents reported in Peel last year, police said.
On Thursday, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced the Countering Extortion Partnership in Mississauga, attended by Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah and Sarah Paquet, FinTRAC CEO.
Mayors of Brampton and Surrey called for a national emergency after a wave of attempted extortions, shootings, and arsons targeting South Asian business owners; Peel Deputy Police Chief Nick Milinovich said, 'That is not just a statistic. It represents hundreds of people who are living in fear and forced to live with the experiences they've had.'
FinTRAC will reassign resources to track extortion, issue a Targeted Indicator Profile to financial institutions, and embed agents with local law enforcement to trace reports quickly.
The federal budget included $1.7 billion for law enforcement, with 1,000 new Royal Canadian Mounted Police personnel planned, including 150 focused on financial crimes.