Published: August 16, 2024
This report is intended to supplement the U.S. Department of State Canada Travel Advisory and Canada Country Information Page.
Embassy & Consulate Contact Information
U.S. Embassy Ottawa
490 Sussex Drive Ottawa, ON K1N 1G8.
Tel: +1 (613) 688-5335.
After-Hours Emergency: +1 (613) 688-5249.
Hours: 0830-1700 Monday-Friday.
The Ottawa consular district includes the counties of Kingston, Lanark, Leeds, Prescott, Refrew, Russell, and Stormont in Eastern Ontario, and those parts of the Québec regions of Outaouais and Abitibi-Témiscamingue near Ottawa.
U.S. Consulate General Montreal
1134 Rue Ste- Catherine West, Montréal, Quebec H3B 1H4.
Tel: +1 (514) 398-9695.
After-Hours Emergency: +1 (416) 645-9124.
The Montreal consular district includes Greater Montreal and the regions of Southern Quebec Province (Laurentides, Lanaudiere, Laval, Montreal, Montregie, Estrie, and the southern parts of Centre-du-Quebec), including Joliete, Drummondville, and Sherbrooke.
U.S. Consulate General Toronto
360 University Ave, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1S4.
Tel: +1 (416) 595-1700.
After-Hours Emergency: +1 (416) 595-6506.
The consular district includes the province of Ontario except for the counties of Kingston, Lanark, Leeds, Prescott, Refrew, Russell, and Stormont, which are served by the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa.
U.S. Consulate General Vancouver
1075 West Pender Street, Vancouver, British Columbia.
Tel: +1 (604) 685-4311.
After-Hours Emergency: +1 (604) 685-4311.
The consular district includes British Columbia and the Yukon Territory.
U.S. Consulate General Halifax
Purdy's Wharf Tower II, 1969 Upper Water Street, Suite 904, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 3R7.
Tel: +1 (902) 429-2480.
After-Hours Emergency: +1 (902) 429-2480.
The Halifax consular district includes New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and the French islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon.
U.S. Consulate Winnipeg
201 Portage Avenue, Suite 860, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 3K6.
Tel: +1 (204) 940-1800.
After-Hours Emergency: +1 (403) 266-8962.
The Consulate in Winnipeg provides only emergency services for U.S. citizens. Routine services such as visas, passports and notarials are handled at other U.S. Consulates General, primarily in Calgary.
U.S. Consulate General Quebec
2, rue de la Terrasse Dufferin (Vieux Quebec, behind Chateau Frontenac), Quebec, Quebec G1R 4T9.
Tel: +1 (418) 692-2095.
After-Hours Emergency: +1 (418) 692-2096.
The consular district includes Quebec City and those regions of Quebec Province to the North and East of the Montreal and Ottawa Districts (indicated above) – to include the area around Saguenay/Lac Saint-Jean, Rimouski and the Gaspé Peninsula – as well as the Territory of Nunavut.
U.S. Consulate General Calgary
615 Macleod Trail S.E., 10th Floor, Calgary, Alberta, T2G 4T8.
Tel: +1 (403) 266-8962.
The consular district includes Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories.
OSAC Country Chapter
Currently Canada has a single unified chapter that normally meets in Toronto.
Contact OSAC’s Americas team with any questions.
Canada Travel Advisory
The current U.S. Department of State Travel Advisory at the date of this report’s publication assesses that travelers should exercise normal precautions when they travel to Canada.
Crime
The U.S. Department of State has assessed Calgary, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec, Toronto, Vancouver, and Winnipeg as being LOW-threat locations for crime directed at or affecting official U.S. government interests.
The U.S. Department of State has not included a Crime “C” Indicator on the Travel Advisory for Canada.
Police-reported crime in Canada, as measured by the Crime Severity Index (CSI), increased 4% in the last year —from 74.9 in 2021 to 78.1 in 2022. This is the third consecutive annual increase in the CSI since it experienced a 7% decrease in 2020. The Violent CSI rose in 2023, reaching its highest point since 2007. The Non-violent CSI also increased but remained lower than before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The CSI measures the volume and severity of police-reported crime in Canada, and has a base index value of 100 for 2006.
All measures of the CSI—the overall CSI, the Violent CSI, and the Non-violent CSI—increased for the third consecutive year in 2023. The change in the overall CSI was the result of higher police-reported rates for the following offenses, ordered according to their relative impact on the CSI: robbery (+7%); extortion (+28%); homicide (-14%); level 1 sexual assault —meaning without a weapon or evidence of bodily harm (+1%), several property crimes, notably motor vehicle theft (+5%); breaking and entering (-2%); minor theft ($5,000 or under; +4%); shoplifting ($5,000 or under; +18%); and general fraud (+13%).
Police reported more than 2.3 million Criminal Code incidents (excluding traffic offenses) in 2023, 123,949 more than in 2022. The police-reported crime rate, which measures the volume of crime, rose 2.5% in 2023 to 5,843 incidents per 100,000 Canadians. The crime rate in 2023 was 14% higher than it was a decade earlier.
The police-reported CSI and crime rate include only those incidents that come to the attention of police, either through reporting by the public or proactive policing. Results from the most recent General Social Survey on Victimization found that victims only reported just under one-third (31%) of violent and non-violent incidents to the police.
The police-reported crime statistics from 2019 do not reflect the large-scale societal impacts, both nationally and globally, brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2019 police-reported data are, however, a key reference point for 2020 police-reported data to identify possible pandemic-related changes in Canadian crime patterns.
In 2023, eight provinces and all three territories reported a higher CSI compared with a year earlier. Nova Scotia and Alberta were the only provinces to report a lower CSI (-0.5% and -4.6%). While the types of offenses driving increases in the CSI across the provinces and territories varied, common contributing offenses included fraud, child pornography, homicide, and breaking and entering.
Police reported 882 homicides nationwide in 2023, 104 less than the year before. The homicide rate decreased 14% from 2.27 homicides per 100,000 population in 2022 to 1.94 in 2023. This marked the fourth consecutive year where the rate exceeded the average (1.67) for the previous decade.
The decrease in homicides nationally was driven by Saskatchewan (-21), Ontario (-13), and British Columbia (-23). As has been the case with provincial comparisons historically, homicide rates were highest in Manitoba (5.09 homicides per 100,000 population) and Saskatchewan (4.88).
The number of firearm-related (+10) and gang-related (+6) homicides increased in 2019. Handguns accounted for most firearm-related homicides (60%), which has been the case since 1995. Handguns also accounted for most (78%) gang-related homicides committed with a firearm.
Indigenous peoples represented about 5% of Canada’s total population in 2019 yet accounted for 27% of homicide victims and 38% of accused persons.
Almost 1 in 4 homicides in Canada was gang related, where one-third of homicide victims were identified as visible minorities with 44% of whom were identified as black. Of the solved homicides in Canada, almost 9 in 10 victims knew their accused.
The Criminal Code specifies a number of violent firearm-related offenses, including discharging a firearm with intent, pointing a firearm, and using a firearm in the commission of an indictable offense.
The rate of these violent firearm-related offenses increased for the sixth consecutive year, rising by 2% in 2023. Much of this increase occurred in Ontario (+13%) and British Columbia (+20% incidents).
Police reported an increase in the rate of all three violent firearm violations: discharging a firearm with intent (+2%), pointing of a firearm (+0.1%, +60 incidents) and using a firearm in the commission of an indictable offense (+6%).
The rate of non-violent weapons violations (such as possession of weapons and unsafe storage of firearms) also increased for the fifth consecutive year, rising 9% to 51 incidents per 100,000 population. The vast majority of these violations were related to possession of weapons offenses and breach offenses for weapons possession contrary to an order.
There has been a slight decrease in police-reported sexual assaults per 100,000 population. over the past three years. In 2017, there was also significant national media attention regarding the classification of sexual assault incidents reported to police as "unfounded," meaning that it was determined through police investigation that the offense reported did not occur, nor was it attempted.
In collaboration with the policing community, Statistics Canada updated the definitions of founded and unfounded incidents to take a more victim-centered approach and provide more options for police to appropriately classify criminal incidents. Part of these changes, which came into effect in January 2018, included a new definition of "founded" criminal incidents. Now, an incident is coded as "founded" unless there is credible evidence to confirm that the reported incident did not take place—potentially allowing police to classify more incidents as founded, and, therefore, include them in the official crime statistics.
In 2023, police-reported sexual assaults rose by 361 incident but there was a 2% decrease reports per 100,000 population. At 98%, nearly all the 36,625 police-reported sexual assaults were classified as "level 1," meaning these assaults did not involve a weapon or evidence of bodily harm.
Despite the rise in police-reported sexual assaults, the number of sexual assaults reported by police is likely a significant underestimation of the extent of sexual assault in Canada, as these types of offenses often go unreported to police. For instance, the most recently available self-reported data from the General Social Survey on Victimization show that, in 2014, only 5% of sexual assault incidents experienced by Canadians aged 15 and older in the previous 12 months were brought to the attention of police.
The prevalence of certain types of fraud has recently been highlighted by the Canadian Anti-fraud Centre (CAFC), particularly general online, telephone or text message scams, such as the "Canada Revenue Agency scam" and pre-paid gift card scams. According to some police services, increases in the reporting of fraud were connected to greater use and availability of online options for reporting fraud. According to the CAFC, there were 19,285 victims of fraud in 2019 and over $98 million lost due to fraud.
Nationally, the rate of police-reported fraud (including identity theft and identity fraud) increased for the eighth year in a row, up 12% from 2022 and 54% higher than the rate recorded a decade earlier. Just under 174,500 incidents of fraud were reported by police in 2023, resulting in a rate of 435 per 100,000 population. For the second year in a row, the high volume of fraud offenses made it the primary driver behind the increase in the national CSI.
Electronic auto theft, for shipment overseas is an emerging trend in Canada. Car thieves clone the radio frequency identification (RFI) from a key fob. Using the stolen RFI, the thieves can clone one’s key fob to steal a motor vehicle. Once stolen, motor vehicles are placed either in container ships in Montreal or placed on rail transported to British Columbia for a container ship. Most stolen motor vehicles are sold overseas. Ontario and recorded the highest reported number of thefts, at 23,992 with Alberta second at 23,535. The most stolen motor vehicles are Honda SUVs, Lexus SUVs, Toyota SUVs, and Ford F-150 pick-up trucks.
Canadian law prohibits trafficking of controlled substances and narcotics, including those that may be legal to possess under the law of certain states. Even though Canada legalized the personal consumption of recreational cannabis in 2018, Canadian law prohibits taking cannabis across Canada’s national borders, whether you are entering or leaving Canada. Smugglers risk substantial fines, a permanent bar from Canada, and imprisonment.
The Cannabis Act provides a legal framework for the regulation of the production, distribution, sale, possession, importation, and exportation of cannabis in Canada. Canada is a producer of cannabis for its domestic drug market and for export to U.S.; the use of hydroponics technology permits growers to plant large quantities of high-quality marijuana indoors. Canada has increasing ecstasy production, some of which is destined for the U.S.
The most commonly reported cannabis-related offenses are related to importation or exportation (67%), followed by possession and sale. In comparison, prior to the legalization of cannabis, possession accounted for about 75% of cannabis offenses. Vancouver accounted for 56%, or 4,194, of importation or exportation offenses reported under the Cannabis Act.
According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, over a seven-year period from 2016 to 2023, more than 40,000 people in Canada died in opioid-related overdoses, a continuing crisis in many Canadian communities. Over three-quarters (82%) of these incidents involved fentanyl. Between the months of January to September in 2023, fentanyl and fentanyl analogues were involved in 32% of opioid-related poisoning hospitalizations.
Police reported 4,938 opioid-related offenses in Canada in 2020, down by 21% from a year earlier. Most of this decrease was due to possession and trafficking offenses, while offenses related to the importation or exportation of opioids decreased slightly. Among the provinces, the highest rates were in British Columbia (11 per 100,000 population), Alberta (13) and Ontario (5). Western Canada remains the most heavily impacted region of the country, but rates have begun to rise in other areas as well—the Atlantic provinces all reported increases in the rate of opioid-related offenses, and Ontario reported a 45% increase in 2019.
Several police services have indicated that the illicit use of methamphetamine (crystal meth) is a growing issue in their communities and may be contributing to increases in other types of crime, including property and violent crimes. There were 8,044 methamphetamine offenses in Canada in 2022, down 17% from the previous year and continuing the trend of police not enforcing criminal statues involving possession.
Following changes to Canada's impaired driving laws in 2018, 2019 saw the largest increase in the rate of police-reported impaired driving in more than three decades (+19%). 2023 had the lowest rate at 179 incidents per 100,000 population. Police reported 71,602 impaired driving incidents in 2023, up from 70,725 from a year earlier. The majority (89%) of police-reported impaired driving incidents continued to involve alcohol in 2023, while a growing proportion (11%) involved drugs. There were 6,092 drug-impaired driving offenses in 2023, up 157 from the previous year.
Increases in impaired driving offenses, particularly drug-impaired driving offenses, may be due in part to several contributing factors, including: greater legislative powers by police to conduct drug and alcohol screening tests, more police officers trained to detect impaired driving through standardized field sobriety tests, an increased number of drug recognition experts leading to more confirmed instances of impairment, as well as more oral fluid screening devices to detect drug impairment.
Kidnapping Threat
The U.S. Department of State has not included a Kidnapping “K” Indicator on the Travel Advisory for Canada.
Kidnapping for ransom is rare. However, dozens of international parental child abductions occur each year between the United States and Canada, with courts in both countries applying the Hague Abduction Convention. All provinces have their own central authority, which have strong relationships with the United States. They generally coordinate directly with the Department of State’s Office of Children’s Issues on international child abduction cases, so the Embassy rarely becomes involved.
The National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains is an RCMP unit that maintains a national database for finding missing people and identifying human remains that links investigators nationwide when their cases match. The database provides support to police, coroners, and medical examiners and lets them compare their findings.
In 2022, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police received reports of 31,334 missing children. Of that number, 75% of all missing children/youth subjects in 2022 were identified as runaways. Also, 62% of missing children cases are closed within 24 hours.
Terrorism
The U.S. Department of State has assessed Calgary, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec, Toronto, Vancouver, and Winnipeg as being LOW-threat locations for terrorism directed at or affecting official U.S. government interests.
The U.S. Department of State has not included a Terrorism “T” Indicator on the Travel Advisory for Canada.
Canada’s Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre (ITAC) assesses the terrorism threat in Canada to be “Medium.” This means extremist groups and individuals located in Canada and abroad, have both the intent and capability to carry out an act of terrorism in Canada. Terrorists have identified uniformed personnel as a particularly desirable target.
The issue of returning foreign fighters is an ongoing national security concern. The number of Canadian citizens leaving to join terrorist causes decreased in 2019. Terrorism remains a threat as some of those individuals return to Canada. 20% of these foreign terrorist fighters are female.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has publicly commented that there are international terrorist organizations active in Canada, in part due to the porous southern border with the U.S. and Canada’s political asylum policies.
The principal terrorist threat to Canada and Canadian interests continues to be that posed by individuals or groups inspired by violent ideologies and terrorist groups, such as ISIS or al-Qa’ida (AQ). Fewer Canadians are seeking to travel abroad to support groups like ISIS or AQ. A small number of individuals maintain intentions to travel, and some have made attempts. When authorities prevent travel plans, some individuals may turn their extreme intentions to the domestic environment. Canada continues to be a source country for recruitment, fundraising, and other activities that facilitate violent extremist activity abroad. Social media also remains a key tool for individuals in Canada and abroad who wish to communicate with other terrorists and violent extremist actors.
In the past year, individuals not formally connected to any terrorist group continued to conduct attacks. These individuals, often inspired by other attacks, adopt terrorist methods when conducting a violent act. In 2022, an individual entered an Ontario Mosque with a weapon and discharged bear spray. Authorities charged the individual with terrorism-related offenses.
Over the course of the last year, terrorist groups and their followers falsely claimed responsibility for attacks, when in fact they not been involved or foreknowledge of these acts. For example, in July 2018, a 29-year-old man opened fire in the busy Danforth neighborhood in Toronto. While law enforcement officials confirmed that there was no terrorism nexus, ISIS falsely claimed responsibility for the attack soon after it occurred.
In early 2019, authorities charged a minor Canadian permanent resident with terrorism-related offenses in Kingston, Ontario. Authorities charged two individuals with terrorism-related offenses in 2017. In 2016, police shot a man after he detonated an explosive in a taxi in Strathoy, Ontario; the confrontation followed a tip from FBI to Canadian authorities that taxi driver had made a martyrdom video.
Canada also continues to face threats from individuals that support terrorist groups, such as Hizb’allah, individuals inspired to commit violence based on other forms of extremism such as that of right-wing extremism, and extremists who support violent means to establish an independent state within India.
Political Violence and Civil Unrest
The U.S. Department of State has assessed Calgary, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec, Toronto, Vancouver, and Winnipeg as being LOW-threat locations for political violence directed at or affecting official U.S. government interests.
The U.S. Department of State has/not included a Civil Unrest “U” Indicator on the Travel Advisory for Canada. Civil unrest can develop quickly without prior notice, often interrupting logistics and services. Avoid demonstration activity, as even those planned to remain peaceful have the potential to turn violent.
Elections/Political Stability
Demonstrations and protests in Canada occur regularly, are mostly non-violent and orderly, and usually involve social activists, specific ethnic or national groups, or student associations. Authorities require permits for demonstrations. Municipal/federal law enforcement authorities are usually present at events to ensure public order. Justin Trudeau has served as the 23rd Prime Minister of Canada since he assumed office on November 4, 2015. The 45th Canadian federal election is expected to take place by October 20, 2025.
Protests & Demonstrations
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the right to protest, as well as the rights of freedom of conscience and religion, expression, association, and peaceful assembly. Municipal/federal law enforcement authorities are usually present at events to ensure public order.
Anti-U.S./Anti-Western Sentiment
Anti-U.S. sentiment usually manifests itself based on political differences or trade disputes, in which Canada believes that the terms are more favorable to the United States. There were multiple incidents where motor vehicles displaying U.S. license plates were vandalized. Canadian citizens that resided in the United States when returning to Canada would display signs in their motor vehicle identifying themselves as “Canadian citizens” in an attempt to prevent their motor vehicles from being vandalized. There are an average of 150 demonstrations at U.S. diplomatic facilities in Canada each year; most are peaceful.
Law Enforcement
Canada has multiple law enforcement agencies throughout the country. Each Agencies has their own individual non-emergency contact numbers. Like the U.S., Canada uses 911 across the country for emergencies and life threating matters.
Law enforcement officers in Canada are professionally trained and most law enforcement agencies are accredited. Routinely, Canadian law enforcement agencies receive training from U.S. law enforcement agencies and will routinely work together on cross-border crimes and/ or assistance.
There are three tiers of policing in Canada:
Federal Police: The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is the national police service and an agency of the Ministry of Public Safety. RCMP is unique in that it is a national, federal, provincial, and municipal policing body. RCMP provides a federal policing service to all Canadians and policing services under contract to the three territories, eight provinces (all except Ontario and Quebec), more than 190 municipalities, 184 Aboriginal communities, and three international airports.
Provincial Police: The service is responsible for providing policing services throughout the province in areas lacking local police forces. It also provides specialized support to smaller municipal police forces, investigates province-wide and cross-jurisdictional crimes, patrols provincial highways, and is responsible for many of the waterways.
Local Police: Many of the larger cities or a conglomerate of cities have established their own independent law enforcement agencies responsible for enforcing local laws within their jurisdiction.
Police Response
The capabilities of federal, provincial, and city law enforcement agencies alike are on par with their U.S. counterparts. Except for minor non-violent crimes and incidents (e.g., larceny from vehicles, traffic accidents without injuries), police respond to the scene of crimes in a timely manner. Police agencies have similar capabilities as U.S. emergency services.
Travelers with Special Considerations
For specific traveler concerns in Canada, review the local laws and circumstances on the Department of State’s Country Information Page.
Rule of Law, Arbitrary Detention, Official Harassment, Corruption, & Transparency
The U.S. Department of State has not included a Risk of Wrongful Detention “D” Indicator on the Travel Advisory for Canada.
The Canadian government adheres to the Rule of Law. Arbitrary detentions do not occur in Canada. Canada works diligently to demonstrate transparency. Issues of corruption are feasible but investigated. The law provides criminal penalties for corruption by officials, and the government generally implements the law effectively. As of 2023, there were no unaddressed reports of government corruption.
Cybersecurity
Individuals in Canada are putting more of their personal information online, and they increasingly depend on Internet-connected devices for communication, finances, entertainment, comfort, and safety. As technology and habits change, cyber threat actors adapt quickly to take advantage of new opportunities and keep pace with current events, including modifying cyber threat activity during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Individuals in Canada continue to fall victim to online fraud schemes. Cybercrime will almost certainly continue to be the cyber threat that individuals in Canada are most likely to encounter. Cyber threat actors have improved their ability to keep scams relevant and appealing by associating their cyber fraud operations with current events. Elections, tax season, and trending news stories have all been used as a backdrop for cybercrime. For example, threat actors have leveraged the COVID-19 pandemic to trick victims into clicking on malicious links and attachments.
Cyber threat actors also steal financial, medical, and other personal information to sell online or use in cybercrimes. Large corporate data breaches impact millions of customers and reveal personal information that can be used in follow-on crimes.
Individuals in Canada also continue to be subjected to online foreign influence operations that seek to influence public opinion and political discourse. Finally, evolving technologies like IoT medical devices, Internet-connected vehicles, and smart home security systems provide new targets for cyber threat actors to threaten physical safety.
Cybercrime remains the most common threat faced by organizations of all sizes. However, other cyber threat activity, such as cyber espionage, can have a greater impact. Information stolen by cyber threat actors can be held for ransom, sold, or used to gain an unfair competitive advantage. Over the past two years, targeting of industrial processes and ransomware attacks have become regular occurrences resulting in major impacts, including reputational damage, productivity loss, legal repercussions, recovery expenses, and damage to infrastructure and operations.
Cyber threat actors also put the information held by organizations at risk, including intellectual property as well as customer and client data. The theft of this information can have both short- and long-term financial consequences for the victims, including impacts to global competitiveness and reputational damage. During the COVID-19 pandemic, state-sponsored cyber threat actors have targeted intellectual property related to combatting COVID-19; state-sponsored actors will continue to do so in order to support their own domestic public health responses or to profit from its illegal reproduction by their own firms.
Cyber threat actors also exploit trusted business relationships between Canadian organizations, target both online and in person payment systems, exploit supply chain vulnerabilities, and take advantage of the privileged access managed service providers maintain into the networks of their clients. These activities can be used to defraud organizations, conduct ransomware attacks, or steal proprietary information or customer and client data.
Organizations of all sizes, such as small- and medium-sized enterprises, municipalities, universities, and critical infrastructure providers, face a growing number of cyber threats. These organizations control a range of assets that are of interest to cyber threat actors, including intellectual property, financial information and payment systems, data about customers, partners and suppliers, and industrial plants and machinery. As a general rule, the more Internet-connected assets an organization has, the greater the cyber threat it faces.
Import/Export Restrictions
There are no restrictions on the importation and usage of satellite phones.
A country-specific listing of items/goods prohibited from being exported to the country or that are otherwise restricted is available from the U.S. International Trade Agency website.
Additional resources and reports can be found in the OSAC Traveler Toolkit.
