Canada is creating a new financial crime agency

Key takeaways: 

• • Canada’s new financial crime agency must target human trafficking and fraud because both drive large illicit money flows that often stay hidden.

  • Victims face long term financial harm and need help to clear coerced debt, undo fraud tied to exploitation, and regain safe access to banking.

  • Banks and regulators must work as one to spot red flags, block suspicious funds, and cut traffickers and fraud networks out of Canada’s financial system.

On 20 October 2025, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced plans for a National Anti-Fraud Strategy to tackle mounting financial losses. The November budget will require banks to strengthen their anti-fraud policies and establish a new agency to spearhead the fight against financial crime. 

According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, Canadians lost an estimated CAD 638 million (about USD 456 million) to fraud in 2024 – a nearly 300 per cent increase since 2020. The real figure may be closer to CAD 11 billion annually, as only 5-10 per cent of scams are reported. Losses are driven by increasingly sophisticated scams that disproportionately target vulnerable groups.

Hence, the federal government is introducing a whole-of-government National Anti-Fraud Strategy. Key components include:

• Legislative amendments to the Bank Act require banks to implement robust anti-fraud policies and give consumers more control over account features and transaction limits. 

• Creation of a Financial Crimes Agency by Spring 2026 to centralize expertise and lead investigations into money laundering, organized crime, and online scams. 

• Development of a voluntary Code of Conduct for the Prevention of Economic Abuse, overseen by the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, to address coercive financial control, especially affecting seniors and survivors of gender-based violence. 

This is welcome news.

It shows a growing awareness that human trafficking is also a financial crime (one that’s often intertwined with fraud, coercive control, economic abuse, and other forms of exploitation).

But it still rarely appears as a distinct priority in national strategies. If the new agency overlooks human trafficking, billions in criminal profits and countless lives will remain hidden in plain sight.  

Human trafficking is a global challenge

There are an estimated 50 million people enslaved globally, including 12 million children. That’s more than the entire population of Canada (which sits at just over 41 million). 

Human trafficking is one of the top three global sources of laundered money. It sits alongside drug trafficking and fraud. But, disproportionately, it’s the least detected. Human Trafficking is estimated to generate at least USD 236 billion annually. If it were a company, human trafficking would rank among the top 25 of the Fortune 500. 

The scale of exploitation is staggering and growing rapidly. The number of people trapped in human trafficking and exploitation surged by 10 million in just five years. Each victim generates USD 10,000 in profit, rising to over USD 27,000 in sexual exploitation. Yet less than 1 per cent of assets from all financial crimes are ever recovered. 

In 2024, only 133,943 out of an estimated 50 million victims were identified globally (just 0.27 per cent). Of those, there were only 7,100 convictions. 

But beyond the human toll, human trafficking imposes huge economic costs on society. Each victim costs the public GBP 328,720 (about CAD 613,613 or USD 437,911) in health, policing, and lost productivity, according to UK estimates.

These aren’t just numbers. Behind every statistic is a person living through suffering that most of us cannot imagine. 

The financial system plays a critical role, both as a conduit for illicit proceeds and as a potential tool for disruption and justice. This is not just about ‘doing what’s right’. Banks and payment service providers are uniquely positioned to intervene. 

Canada is not immune

Canada, like other advanced economies, faces both domestic and transnational trafficking challenges. While Canada’s trafficking rates are lower than in some jurisdictions, the impact is profound, especially on vulnerable populations. Indigenous women and girls are disproportionately affected

In 2021, an estimated 69,000 people were trapped in modern slavery across the country (enough to fill the Rogers Center in Toronto nearly 1.5 times). Only 570 trafficking incidents were reported in 2023, about 1.4 per 100,000 people. Victims are predominantly women and girls under  25. 

Survivors often emerge from exploitation burdened by fraudulent or coerced debts: credit cards, loans, mobile contracts, and utility bills used by traffickers as tools of control. These debts continue to penalize survivors long after rescue or escape, blocking access to housing, banking, and employment. 

Justice systems tend to focus on prosecution. But the financial aftermath sits squarely within the mandate of finance and economic portfolios. Survivors face systemic barriers that perpetuate exclusion and poverty unless addressed through debt relief and financial rehabilitation. Without intervention, victims are often re-victimized, economies lose productive citizens, financial institutions lose trust, and organized crime profits remain embedded in the system.  

What works?

There are proven models for financial sector engagement in anti-trafficking efforts.  

The UK’s Joint Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce (JMLIT+) develops alerts and typologies from real cases through close cooperation between banks, law enforcement, and government.  

The Finance Against Slavery and Trafficking (FAST) Blueprint sets out five goals and thirty actions for financial institutions, governments, and investors to help end modern slavery and human trafficking.  

The Asia-Pacific Mekong Club and Investors Against Slavery and Trafficking (IAST) identify red flags and monitor companies with AUD 12 trillion in assets under management committed to eradicating forced labor. 

In Canada, banks such as Scotiabank and RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) are piloting survivor inclusion initiatives, representing globally leading efforts to support trafficking victims. But more can be done. 

What we recommend

Canada’s Project Recover offers a practical, scalable model: 

• Fraudulent debts tied to trafficking are formally cleared in collaboration with creditors and credit bureaus. 

• Survivors regain access to banking, housing, and credit, reducing the risk of re-victimization. 

• Government, financial institutions, and survivor services coordinate to remove barriers. 

• The model is low-cost and high-impact, requiring coordination more than funding. 

Building on this example, other countries should consider adopting a survivor debt-relief protocol modeled on Project Recover, tailored to national credit and financial systems. Governments, banks, credit agencies, and regulators must collaborate to identify, verify, and clear coerced debts. 

Financial rehabilitation should be integrated into anti-trafficking and social protection frameworks, with survivor participation in their design and oversight. Tracking outcomes through financial integrity and inclusion metrics would align with global Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) commitments. 

If adopted across economies, this initiative could set an international precedent for survivor-centered financial justice. It could restore economic independence for tens of thousands each year and undermine traffickers’ business models by neutralizing coerced debt as a control tool. 

The takeaway?

Canada now has an opportunity to lead. The creation of the financial crime agency is a powerful step forward. But to truly disrupt financial crime, it must focus on survivors as much as prosecution.  

Human trafficking remains one of the most devastating crimes taking place today. To tackle it, Canada can: 

• Apply relevant elements of the FAST Blueprint in its renewed National Strategy. 

• Advocate for a global target to raise the recovery of criminal proceeds above the current <1 per cent average. 

• Implement FATF guidance on online child sexual exploitation across Canada’s financial system. 

Behind every transaction linked to trafficking is a person denied freedom,  dignity, and a fair chance to rebuild their life. Canada’s new financial crime agency can change that. By making survivor debt relief part of its mission, it can turn a system built for profit into one that restores hope.