Thank you for your kind introduction Acting Inspector Mike Power, Calgary Police Service. I am honoured to be here tonight among our distinguished guests at the 114th Annual Conference of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police.

My name is Adrian White, newly appointed as Director of Financial Crimes at the Canadian Bankers Association.

We are pleased to have so many remarkable law enforcement leaders from across Canada here to join us as we recognize and celebrate the recipients of this year’s Canadian Banks’ Law Enforcement Award, or CBLEA.

First, I would like to thank the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, CACP President Chief Constable Adam Palmer of the Vancouver Police Department, as well as the co-hosts of this year’s conference, the Calgary Police Service.

Bonsoir et merci... Je suis heureux de me retrouver ici, en compagnie de mon collègue Adrian White, directeur des crimes financiers à l’Association des banquiers canadiens. Nous sommes heureux d’accueillir ce soir de nombreux leaders des forces de l’ordre, venus de partout au Canada pour célébrer avec nous les lauréats de la Médaille d’honneur des banques canadiennes pour action policière méritoire de 2019. Je tiens à remercier l’Association canadienne des chefs de police, son président, le chef Adam Palmer du Service de police de Vancouver, ainsi que les co-organisateurs de cette conférence annuelle : le Service régional de police de Calgary.

It is a great pleasure to be here representing the Canadian Bankers Association, our more than 60 member banks and their 275,000 employees across Canada. Canadians place a high degree of trust in their financial institutions and this is in no small part due to the longstanding relationship that our banks have with our partners in law enforcement agencies across the country.

Tonight, we are highlighting the importance of this special relationship by bringing together police departments and representatives of our member banks to celebrate the outstanding work we do together to prevent, detect and respond to financial crime.

The Canadian Bankers Association has been presenting the Canadian Banks’ Law Enforcement Award since 1972. Over those 47 years we have presented the Award to 266 police officers who have made exceptional contributions towards the prevention and investigation of ever-evolving financial crime in communities across Canada.

It is with tremendous pride that we add three very deserving police officers to the ranks of CBLEA winners. Each year, our award recipients are nominated by their peers, other law enforcement agencies and our member banks from across the country.

The CBLEA is the highest award presented by the CBA to:

• sworn members of Law Enforcement,
• Special Constables, and
• sworn auxiliary Peace Officers

for exceptional achievement in an investigation involving a Federally Chartered bank. This includes acts of courage, dedication and resourcefulness in order to overcome investigative obstacles and extenuating circumstances to bring an investigation to a successful conclusion.

The CBLEA is presented in two categories for either an Individual or Group achievement.

The Individual award is presented to a member of Law Enforcement for a unique investigation involving a bank. The officer must have displayed exceptional diligence and unflinching determination. This award may also be presented in cases where the Officer knowingly placed him- or herself at great risk, threat of serious bodily harm, death or imminent danger during the protection of life involving a bank employee, customer or bank property.

The Group, or team, award is presented to sworn members of Law Enforcement including sworn auxiliary Peace Officers, working in a group, taskforce or team investigation involving the Canadian banking industry. The results of the investigation or project must demonstrate exemplary performance in overcoming extraordinary circumstances resulting in a successful conclusion to the investigation.

The Group award category was recently added in recognition of the complex nature of financial crimes that may involve multiple police agencies and be perpetrated by organized crime. We will start off by presenting the Group award, followed by the Individual award. The recipients of these awards are here with us tonight and will join us on stage in the company of their Chiefs of police and representatives from the impacted banks.

First, I’m very pleased to announce the recipient of the 2019 CBLEA Individual Award:

Calgary’s very own Detective Mark Enright of the Calgary Police Service.

On his own initiative, Detective Enright conducted a static surveillance operation of a male suspect who robbed bank customers at knife-point several times between May and December 2018.

Let’s watch a short video, which profiles the brave work of Detective Enright.

I would like to invite Chief Mark Neufeld of the Calgary Police Service on stage, as well as the following representatives from the banks impacted by these horrible criminal acts:

• Mark McCarthy, Director, Corporate Security at RBC, one of the banks impacted in this case; and
• Simon Yum, Crime Prevention Specialist – Prairie Region, at TD Bank Group.

I will also invite Detective Enright of the Calgary Police Service to join us here on the stage to accept his award.

Please join me in congratulating the 2019 Canadian Banks’ Law Enforcement Individual Award winner, Detective Mark Enright.

Next, the 2019 CBLEA Group Award. Between July 2017 and September 2018, a series of complex and organized frauds were perpetrated by organized criminal groups operating in the Greater Toronto Area. Three major fraud cases involving identity theft, account takeover and synthetic account openings all had significantly impacted the financial industry. As a result of three rigorous investigations by the Toronto Police Financial Crimes Unit’s Organized Crimes Section, in collaboration with the impacted bank, Detective Tsering and her partner were instrumental in identifying and disrupting the crime groups and ultimately bringing those responsible to justice. We’ll now show you a short video detailing these events.

At this time, I would like to invite the following individuals to the stage:

• Deputy Chief James Ramer from the Toronto Police Service;
• Mark McCarthy, Director, Corporate Security at RBC, one of the banks impacted in this case;
• Sean Scanlan, Director, Corporate Investigation at BMO;
• Andy Karski, Vice President, Corporate Security at CIBC;
• Ken MacDonald, Senior Director, Corporate Security Integrated Investigations at CIBC; and
• Simon Yum, Crime Prevention Specialist – Prairie Region, at TD Bank Group.

I will also ask the Group Award winners to join us on stage to accept the award:

Detective Tenzin Tsering and her partner of the Toronto Police Service’s Financial Crimes Unit, Organized Crime Unit.

Please join me in congratulating the 2019 Canadian Banks’ Law Enforcement Award Group award winners for their tremendous efforts.

Au nom de l’Association des banquiers canadiens et notamment les responsables de la sécurité des banques canadiennes, nous remercions les policiers qui viennent de recevoir la Médaille d’honneur ce soir et qui ont fait preuve de dévouement, d’excellence et de bravoure dans leurs enquêtes. Nous remercions également les Chefs James Ramer et Mark Neufeld, l’ensemble des Services de police de Toronto et de Calgary pour leur soutien continu.,/p>

La collaboration interdépartementale et interbancaire devient de plus en plus essentielle pour la réussite de ces types d’enquêtes, surtout que les criminels trouvent toujours de nouvelles façons pour exploiter les réseaux de communication mondiaux et élargir ainsi la portée de leurs activités. Les relations de longue date entre nos banques et les corps de police ici présents ce soir, venus de partout au Canada, sont essentiels dans les efforts pour neutraliser rapidement une menace, qu’il s’agisse d’un braquage, d’un réseau de fraude ou de cyberattaques.

Au nom de nos 275 000 employés et de nos millions de clients, nous remercions tous les policiers pour leur dévouement soutenu et sommes fiers de pourvoir féliciter les récipiendaires 2019 de la Médaille d’honneur des banques canadiennes.

On behalf of the Canadian Bankers Association including the heads of security of the Canadian banks, we would like to thank the police officers who have been recognized here tonight and have demonstrated their bravery, tireless dedication and investigative excellence.

We would also like to thank Deputy Chief Ramer and Chief Neufeld, as well as the Toronto and Calgary police services for their ongoing support in this very challenging year. Indeed, interdepartmental and inter-bank collaboration is becoming more and more essential to the success of these types of investigations as criminals continue to find new ways to exploit global communication networks and broaden the scope of their activities.

The longstanding relationships between our banks and each of the law enforcement agencies who are represented here tonight can make all the difference to quickly neutralize a threat, be it an armed robbery, a fraud ring or sophisticated cyber-attacks.

On behalf of our 275,000 employees and their millions of customers, we appreciate the dedication of all members of law enforcement and we are proud to be able to celebrate the achievements of these CBLEA recipients.

Merci / thank you. Have a terrific evening!