See also ››  Canadian law enforcement to benefit from direct link to INTERPOL’s databases Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said that Canada's expansion of access to INTERPOL's databases is the kind of global commitment that can best ensure security for all 187 member countries.

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Honourable Peter Van Loan, Minister of Public Safety;
Commissioner William Elliott of the RCMP;
Commissioner Julian Fantino of the Ottawa Provincial Police and Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police;
Mr. Stephen Rigby, President of Canada Border Service Agency; Mr. Robert Resch, Director of INTERPOL NCB –Ottawa;
Officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP);
Officers of INTERPOL-Ottawa;
Law enforcement officers of Canada;
My colleagues from the INTERPOL General Secretariat;
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning,

I am honoured by this invitation to have me return to Canada and join you in celebrating the extension of law enforcement capacities to even more officers across the country. Being here reminds me of how fortunate INTERPOL has been to count Canada as an INTERPOL member country for sixty years – happy anniversary, by the way.

Canada and the RCMP are long-standing and much appreciated supporters of INTERPOL’s mission and work. Canada was the first country in the world to connect to INTERPOL’s secure I-24/7 global police communications system. It currently has two seconded officers occupying two of INTERPOL’s most important and critical posts, and the RCMP has constantly provided financial assistance to those INTERPOL member countries in greatest need.  

I must also commend NCB-Ottawa on a particularly strong record of success. Your NCB helped uncover and dismantle a network of child rapists operating throughout Spain, resulting in the arrest of five men and the freeing of almost a dozen children. It is thanks to your co-operation with the US and INTERPOL that a long-time fugitive from justice, a Georgian wanted by Germany for murder, was discovered living legally in Canada under an assumed name. And, of course, you played a pivotal role in one of INTERPOL’s greatest successes – the identification and arrest of paedophile Christopher Paul NEIL, subject of INTERPOL’s first ever public appeal in Operation Vico. NEIL has now been sentenced to nine years in prison by the Thai courts.

We at the INTERPOL General Secretariat continue to be thankful for your valuable assistance and dedication over the years.

But I am particularly pleased that, as of today, Canada will be able to get even more out of this long and productive relationship.

This means that where and when it matters most – when a border agent checks a passport, when a traffic officer stops a suspect– you will now be able to find out instantly whether that passport was stolen, or whether that individual is wanted, not just in Canada, but in every single one of the 187 INTERPOL member countries.

As of today, the INTERPOL Stolen and Lost Travel Documents Database (SLTD) contains more than 10 million stolen/lost passports from 144 member countries. Our Canadian colleagues have recorded 138,768 stolen/lost passports, and this year (2009), their 1,229 searches thus far have resulted in nine positive hits. Our experience with other countries shows that these two figures increase exponentially after implementing the new interface. The UK implemented the same system of access last December, and in the first six months of 2009, we have already seen their number of searches jump 130 times – from 330 thousand to 39 million – and the number of hits almost doubled, compared with the 2008 figures. While the experience of the UK is of course unique due to its own circumstances, we are confident that the launch of this interface can only mean similar success for Canada’s border security agents.

Access to INTERPOL’s global databases will prove crucial to Canadian law enforcement as it prepares for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. This will enable your officers to utilize the most thorough and current intelligence regarding fugitives and criminals attempting to enter, remain in or leave Canada. Making the Winter Games successful requires close police co-ordination at the local, national and international levels, and here, INTERPOL stands ready to offer complete support.

Indeed it is impossible to overstate the importance of the tool you now have at your fingertips.

INTERPOL’s existence and success rests on the core belief that the pursuit of justice requires international co-operation. Investigating, preventing and deterring international crime and terrorism require the collaborative efforts of all nations: No one alone is as strong as we all are together.

Canada – who, like INTERPOL, draws her strength from her mosaic of cultures – continues to experience this first-hand. Within the past few weeks, two long-time fugitives were finally captured. One, wanted for defrauding the Canadian government out of millions of dollars in taxes, was arrested in the UK. The other, a Bosnian prison escapee wanted for murder, was arrested in Calgary. These two international success stories underscore the continued vital importance of international co-operation in law enforcement – not just between NCBs, but rather co-operation that empowers each and every police officer to take part.

The INTERPOL/CPIC Interface is one of the main tools that enable this empowerment.

Thus I offer my congratulations to the RCMP, led by Commissioner Elliott, to the Canadian Government and to all of you present here, on this accomplishment. This is exactly the kind of global commitment that can best ensure security for all of our 187 member countries. The international law enforcement community thanks and applauds this joint Canadian-INTERPOL initiative. May this tool serve you well, and may it be only one piece, albeit a monumental one, of an increasingly productive relationship between INTERPOL and Canada in the years to come.

Thank you.