Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology

Comité permanent de l'industrie, des sciences et de la technologie

For immediate release

Ottawa, November 27, 2020 -

On Friday, November 27, 2020, the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology presented its First Report in the House of Commons entitled Fraudulent Calls in Canada: A Federal Government’s First Start, in which the Committee makes 15 recommendations.

Fraud calls cause significant losses to Canadians. Supported by fraudulent offshore call centres and easily accessible technologies, such as robocalls and spoofing, fraudsters manage to deliver scams despite the best efforts of law enforcement agencies. To make things worse, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a significant upsurge in fraud targeting Canadians.

To better protect the public, the federal government must support the adoption of new techniques and technology, such as a timely implementation of the STIR/SHAKEN framework. The federal government should also improve cooperation between relevant public authorities at home and abroad and enhance data collection, public awareness and transparency, and criminal legislation and enforcement.

The Committee held three meetings on this topic and received six briefs.

The report is available on the Committee’s web site.