Canada Unveils Financial Crimes Agency: New Funding and Research Opportunities for 2026

Hook

On February 19, 2026, the Canadian government announced a sweeping plan to battle rising extortion and financial crimes: the creation of the Canada Financial Crimes Agency by spring 2026, plus an expanded toolkit for FINTRAC and new resource surges for the RCMP. While headlines focus on law enforcement, this is also a wake-up call—and potentially a windfall—for academic, non-profit, and private sector research into financial crimes, money laundering, and cyber-enabled fraud.

If your organization studies financial crimes, cybersecurity, or law enforcement policy, Canada’s leadership shift could mean fresh funding streams to shape the future of crime prevention and compliance.

Context

Canada, like many advanced economies, faces a surge in organized crime and sophisticated online scams. Recent federal summits in Brampton and Surrey have underscored the toll such crimes take on small businesses, vulnerable communities, and the broader economy. Incidents of extortion in particular have spiked, with criminal networks leveraging new digital tools to evade detection and launder illicit proceeds.

To address this, Budget 2025 included a plan for a new, unified agency—combining police and civilian expertise—to outmatch increasingly complex threat actors. Coupled with investments exceeding $379 million since 2019 in the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), and plans for even more significant RCMP resource augmentation, the government is recasting its approach as a “follow the money” strategy. Financial intelligence and policing will work in tandem, enabled by a new Countering Extortion Partnership with banks, credit unions, and crypto providers and by more frontline FINTRAC specialists deployed in hotspot provinces (Ontario, BC, Alberta).

This move also comes as Parliament considers Bill C-12, which would multiply civil and criminal penalties for anti-money laundering (AML) violations by up to 40x and 10x, respectively, and as Ottawa releases new guidance for identifying and sharing signs of extortion and associated money laundering.

Impact

For Research Institutions

Canadian and international research teams focused on financial crime, data analytics, criminology, and cybersecurity should note that a new federal agency nearly always seeds program evaluation, impact assessment, and data-sharing pilots. The deployment of new technology and frameworks—for asset recovery, analytics, and cross-sector intelligence—creates fertile ground for partnerships with universities and think tanks to assess outcomes, develop detection algorithms, and guide policy.

For Nonprofits & Community Groups

Organizations advocating for victims of financial crime, or working on policy and social justice issues tied to economic harm, will likely find more federal and provincial funding cycles or RFPs stemming from the agency’s mandate. Community impact studies, outreach/education, and trauma-informed response models tied to financial crime prevention are increasingly valued in grant competitions.

For Small Businesses & Technology Providers

Small businesses and tech firms developing compliance tools, AML/ATF analytics, or secure payment technologies should monitor R&D grant competitions—especially for solutions that enable effective inter-agency and cross-sector data sharing, privacy-enhancing technologies, and detection of crypto-enabled crime. Collaborations with public agencies could be attractive under the new funding ecosystem.

Importantly, even though the much-cited $1.7 billion figure for RCMP funding wasn’t explicitly confirmed in the announcement, the overall context is clear: major investments are coming, and many will trickle down as research and innovation opportunities for those ready to act.

Action Steps

1. Start Tracking Upcoming Stimulus and RFPs:

• Read public safety news releases for early intelligence on grant announcements.
• Register your organization in relevant federal supplier and research partner portals.
• Watch for program pilots or policy consultations as the Financial Crimes Agency’s legislation is tabled (by spring 2026).

2. Build and Update Partnerships:

• Reach out to partners in law enforcement, banking, and tech to assemble readiness teams for joint grant applications.
• Connect with finance and legal researchers—cross-disciplinary consortia are often favored in funding competitions for complex public safety challenges.

3. Position Your Work:

• Refresh your research agendas, pitch decks, and elevator pitches to emphasize relevance to financial crime, extortion, crypto risk, and organizational resilience under Canada’s new approach.
• Use recent guidance—like FINTRAC’s Targeted Indicator Profile on extortion—to calibrate your project rationale and methods.

Outlook

While the Financial Crimes Agency can’t launch until Parliament passes enabling legislation (expected by spring 2026), related reforms and funding should start to roll out over the next 12 months. Grant seekers should watch for details on specific research competitions, community pilot funding, and calls for technology partners as new partnership structures are announced.

For breaking funding news and tailored grant-finding tools, researchers can rely on Granted AI to illuminate these emerging opportunities.