Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) Program

COVID-19 and Internet Child Exploitation

VSLG is committed to keeping our clients, our staff and our communities as safe as possible during this difficult time.  Staff continue to work 24 hours a day / 7 days a week as per our normal schedule and our involvement with the ICE program is continuing to run remotely.  Applications can be processed via telephone and email and our staff will continue to offer support through telephone, texting, email and video technologies in keeping with World Health Organization policies.  On-scene or in-person responses are at the request of our emergency partners only.  We recognize that this is a stressful time and will do our best to ensure all individual's needs are met to the best of our ability and within the mandate of our services.  

We would also like to give a small word of caution.  Online exploitation continues to be an issue even during a pandemic.  There has been an influx of adults, teens and children suddenly all working and playing online as everyone cope's with the need to stay home in order to keep safe.  Please spend time talking to your kids about how to be safe online in order to minimize any risks or increased online presence.  Resources can be found here - Teaching Kids to Be Smart About Social Media and here - Keeping Kids Safe.  

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Internet Child Exploitation - General Program Information

The Internet Child Exploitation Program is an initiative originally started from the Ministry of the Attorney General's office and is now managed through Boost Child & Advocacy Centre.  This is a unique program to assist in accessing specialized counselling services for victims of sexual exploitation on the internet (and other forms of social media such as text and phone based communication) and child pornography.  Victims and their immediate family members are welcome to apply for this assistance.  Victim Services assists victims and their families with the application process and with referrals in order to access appropriate help within the community.  Referrals for assistance are welcome from emergency service providers, community and education service providers and from self-referrals.