Vehicle Theft for Profit
Location: National
Issue/Source: Efforts to address vehicle theft for profit in Canada
Date: March 2024
Suggested Responses
- The Government of Canada recognizes that vehicle theft is a challenge that implicates many stakeholders. Addressing the issue requires a multi-pronged approach in partnership with industry, all levels of government, and law enforcement agencies.
- Transport Canada is working closely with Public Safety Portfolio partners and engaging provinces and territories and key stakeholders, such as automobile manufacturers, railway companies, Canada Port Authorities and port operators, in a coordinated effort to address the issue of auto theft.
- Transport Canada has identified key areas where it can lead, including
- modernizing the Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standards related to theft prevention, and
- undertaking targeted security assessments at port facilities to update security plans
- In addition, Transport Canada is working with Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, to examine and incentivize innovative vehicle theft prevention solutions.
Background Information
- The Canadian Finance and Leasing Association’s May 2023 report, “Illegal Exports: Addressing the Problem of Exported Stolen Vehicles”, notes that one car is stolen every six minutes in Canada, imposing a billion-dollar cost to Canadians each year. The report also found that organized crime is often at the center of the vehicle theft crisis and the profits earned from these thefts are primarily used to finance activities such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and terrorism.
- The National Summit on Combatting Auto Theft on February 8, 2024 was part of the federal response to strengthen collaboration between federal and provincial governments, law enforcement and industry to reduce auto theft nationally. The National Summit resulted in an action plan to be released later this winter, outlining concrete short, medium and long-term actions to be taken.
- Under Transport Canada’s Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, new vehicles manufactured or imported for sale in Canada must be equipped with an immobilization system. Canada’s vehicle anti-theft standards are more stringent than the United States which does not require new vehicles to be equipped with an immobilizer. Transport Canada is reviewing the current standards which were introduced in 2007.
- Security plans required under the Marine Transportation Security Regulations are fully reviewed on a five-year cycle. They can be reviewed off-cycle if there are changes in a facility’s security posture or their operations.