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Over A Decade of Partnership: A Brief History of the IJM Canada-Philippines Connection

Canadians have supported IJM’s work in Asia-Pacific for over two decades. IJM's office in the Philippines opened in 2001 to combat child sex trafficking. IJM Canada's office opened in 2003 and immediately began fundraising and advocating to protect children from sex trafficking across the region.

With the rise of "sex tourism"—offenders travelling to other countries to sexually exploit children—IJM Canada launched the Travel Brave Initiative. Created by IJM Canada, the campaign helped raise awareness about child sex tourism, empower Canadians to report crime, increase citizen reporting of suspected child sex tourists, and better protect children everywhere. IJM Canada also participated in several petitions for improved Canadian government response to this cross-border crime.

IJM's work in the Philippines demonstrated the effectiveness of a law enforcement-based strategy to reduce the prevalence of sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. International advocacy raised the profile of child sex trafficking and the need for stronger protection measures. IJM had identified a new intervention model and it was working: by 2012, rates of child sex trafficking had been reduced between 72-86% across Metro Manila, Metro Cebu and Pampanga. These results were celebrated across Canada with supporters and advocates.

But with the rise of the internet and smartphones, a new form of exploitation emerged. Foreigners were paying money to traffickers in the Philippines to abuse children via livestream, requesting their preferred form of abuse in real-time.

In 2016, IJM and local authorities began focusing investigations on online child sexual abuse, or live-streamed child sexual abuse. A year later, the landmark Philip Chicoine case proved that Canadians were also involved in this crime. The Saskatchewan offender had spent 23,000 dollars to abuse children as young as 10 months old in the Philippines and Romania. IJM supported Philippines investigators to identify and bring some of Chicoine's victims to safety. Chicoine was sentenced to 12 years in prison, with an increase to 15 years after his case was revisited in 2019. These are some highest sentences in Canada for a case of online child sexual exploitation. Child traffickers in the Philippines receive life sentences.

To improve cross-border collaboration, the Philippines Internet Crimes Against Children Center was formed in 2019. IJM was a founding member, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police began participating soon after, submitting Philippines case referrals through the PICACC. Reviewing cases together allows law enforcement to speed up the victim identification and investigation process, preventing delays that give offenders further access to victims.

In 2020, the global COVID-19 pandemic sent rates of violence and sexual exploitation online skyrocketing. Children were more vulnerable than ever, forced to stay at home and experience abuse in person that was streamed live online. Increased attention was put on the Philippines, one of the hotspots for this form of abuse. In 2022, the RCMP deployed a full-time liaison officer to Manila who continues to closely coordinate with the PICACC and investigate Canada-Philippines cases.

The pandemic may be over, but our work has not stopped. IJM supports the Philippines and international law enforcement around the clock to rescue children from abuse, seek justice and restitution, and apprehend the traffickers and the buyers. As of January 2025, IJM Philippines has supported 457 law enforcement operations, safeguarding 1,450 OSEC victims or at-risk individuals, leading to the arrest of 438 suspects and conviction of 262 offenders.

Canadians are part of the problem, but we are also part of the solution.

Once borders opened again, IJM Canada and our supporters travelled to the Philippines in 2023 and 2024 to meet with and learn from staff, survivors and partners. We have also hosted four virtual trips for Canadians to meet with IJM Philippines and hear directly about the impact their support could entail. The result? Millions of dollars were raised by Canadians to prevent the online sexual exploitation of children.

Canada and the Philippines want to see children safe online and perpetrators sentenced justly. IJM is collaborating with Canadian law enforcement to see what can be done to stop the abuse before it happens. Learn more about our recent participation in the Ontario Provincial Police Internet Child Exploitation Conference and FINTRAC's Out of the Shadows Virtual Conference.

Thousands of children are safe, and hundreds of thousands more still need rescue. We need Canadians to continue to partner with IJM and our work in the Philippines until all are free.

Click “Give Now” to fund this important work.

This blog post is part of IJM Canada's 2025 International Development Week Campaign. #PHinCanada #PhilippinesCanadaGoingStrong@75 #IDW2025 #TogetherfortheGoals @canadadev

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