The recently announced federal law enforcement agency dedicated to investigating financial crimes will take years to establish, and policing experts say that to be effective, the Ottawa-headquartered force will need a presence in places like British Columbia.
New Agency Targets Cross-Border Money Laundering
The new Financial Crimes Agency is designed to investigate cross-border money laundering, a critical issue in B.C. over the past decade and the focus of several government reports and inquiries. The legislation introduced at the end of April allows the agency to create offices outside its head office, but whether that will happen remains unclear.
Expert Concerns on Resources and Reach
Peter German, author of two B.C. government reports on money laundering and a former RCMP deputy commissioner, emphasized the importance of local presence. "You can't investigate this stuff from a distance," he said. German noted that a single major investigation could consume all of the agency's resources, as it may involve physical surveillance, electronic surveillance, search warrants, and interviews. "You need highly trained individuals, and you need a lot of them to do one of these files," he added.
The Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal government has allocated $353 million over five years for the standalone agency, with $82 million annually thereafter. Additionally, $46 million over five years and $11.5 million yearly will go to the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, and $20 million over five years and $1.5 million yearly to the Department of Finance to support the agency.
Personnel and Structure
Policing observers expect the agency to have about 250 personnel, roughly half of whom will be investigating officers, with the rest being support staff and civilian experts in areas such as accounting and finance. The agency is authorized to use RCMP officers during its establishment phase.
Questions About B.C. Presence
In response to Postmedia questions, the Department of Finance, which is leading the agency's creation, did not confirm whether it would establish an office in B.C. or how many officers would staff it. "It would be premature to speculate on the agency's regional footprint, staffing decisions, or potential service agreements with the RCMP. These matters will be determined by the future commissioner, who has yet to be appointed," said Benoit Mayrand, media relations officer for the department.
The B.C. government referred questions about the new agency's operations to the federal government. In a written statement, the B.C. Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General said the province is taking time to understand the newly announced agency and how it will work with police in B.C.
Alternative Suggestions
German suggested that bolstering the RCMP's ability to investigate financial crime and providing this new funding to them might have been a better approach. Without regional offices, investigators from Ottawa would need to relocate to B.C. for six to 18 months for major cases, he noted.
