The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has confirmed it launched a war crimes investigation related to the war on Gaza in early 2024, operating under Canada’s Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Program.

The inquiry, still underway, marks a significant yet low-profile step by Canadian authorities into one of the most scrutinized conflicts in modern international law.

Unlike the RCMP’s high-profile war crimes probe into the Ukraine conflict, this investigation was not announced publicly.

No hotline, media campaign, or outreach effort accompanied its launch, a sharp contrast to the Ukraine case, where the RCMP distributed questionnaires at airports, gave media interviews, and sent officers to assist the International Criminal Court.

The RCMP told The Toronto Star that its structural investigation, Canada's term for broad evidence-gathering missions into alleged atrocities, is proceeding.

These inquiries fall under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Program, a joint initiative involving the RCMP, the Department of Justice, Canada Border Services Agency, and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

The program aims to prevent Canada from becoming a safe haven for war criminals and to hold individuals accountable, either domestically or through cooperation with international bodies.

In response to questions about the investigation’s scope, the RCMP said it “considers allegations from all parties involved with impartiality” and would not provide further details “to uphold the integrity of this ongoing investigation.”

Canada applies different standards to Gaza and Ukraine investigations

The RCMP’s discreet handling of the Gaza probe has drawn comparisons to its more visible and robust response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Just weeks after that conflict erupted, the agency publicly announced its structural investigation and sent a contingent of investigators to support the ICC.

The lack of similar visibility surrounding the Gaza genocide raises questions about consistency in Canada’s approach to international justice.

A Department of Justice spokesperson stated that structural investigations may be launched "when there is evidence that war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide have occurred or are occurring anywhere in the world, and where there is a specific immigration community in Canada… which is sufficiently large so that the RCMP may gather the necessary evidence."

These investigations are wide-ranging and can span years, as they aim to collect digital and physical evidence and testimonies.

Experts interviewed by The Star emphasized that structural investigations do not target individuals initially but instead examine alleged crimes committed against specific populations.

The RCMP has used similar procedures to investigate atrocities against the Yazidi people in Iraq and Syria. However, actual prosecutions in Canadian courts remain exceedingly rare.