Industry Expertise

According to Bryan Gast, Vice President of Investigative Services at Équité Association, a significant surge in catalytic converter thefts in Canada and across borders is due to the precious metals contained in catalytic converters. “Thieves are more interested in the precious metals within the catalytic converter than they are in the part itself. The value of palladium, rhodium, and platinum, all contained in a catalytic converter, continues to surpass the value of gold,” says Gast.

Eradicating insurance fraud is a journey and, in April of 2021, the industry took a monumental step forward by establishing Équité Association: a single, unified, industry-wide organization focused on preventing and detecting insurance fraud. Stepping beyond their role as competitors in the marketplace, the industry is collaborating in an unprecedented way to help create safer communities for all Canadians.

If you, like many other Canadians, own an F150 pickup truck, you have likely heard some sobering statistics on how popular this vehicle series is among thieves. Each year, this vehicle appears on Équité Association’s annual Top 10 Most Stolen Vehicles List, along with the Honda CR-V, Lexus RX series and other cars that span affordable and luxury categories.

Équité plays a role in these task forces by sharing as much information and intelligence as possible on behalf of the insurance industry. Équité is a member-funded organization: its member insurers are directly invested in protecting their good customers from bad actors and in finding a solution to insurance crime and fraud in Canada.

Here at Équité Association, our Fraud Analytics Solutions & Technology (FAST) team has been working hard to develop and implement our analytics platform, the first of its kind in Canada. As we inch closer to this milestone achievement, I have been thinking about the increasing importance of data integrity and the role of cyber security both for our organization and for our members.

September 30 is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada – a day where we honour the survivors and those who never returned home from residential schools, as well as their families and communities. As an organization whose values are centered around social justice, Équité Association will be devoting this day to learning more about Indigenous history in Canada, treaties, land claims, and the heart-breaking residential school system.

It is estimated that, each year, thefts of cargo alone cost the Canadian economy several billions of dollars. In fact, Équité Association recovered $16.8M worth of stolen cargo last year alone through its cargo program, the highest amount to date. “We're on track to break records in all categories for theft,” says Wayne Hummel, a cargo and auto theft investigator with Équité. More than half of Canada’s cargo thefts occur in Ontario – Mississauga and Brampton have some of the highest losses for North America.

Équité Association is pleased to announce our first Annual General Meeting (AGM),which will be held online on June 23. This pivotal event is an important opportunity for us to engage with members, hear from Équité’s esteemed Board Chair, Jason Storah, CEO of Aviva Canada, and a very special guest, Ben Fletcher, Chief Customer Officer, MIB and Executive Director, from the Insurance Fraud Bureau in the United Kingdom.

At Équité Association, social justice is foundational in all that we do. We are committed to improving the lives of all Canadians, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender expression. Equality is not only implied in our name, we have integrated it into the very fabric of our organization, our culture, and our business practices.

Last week, Équité Association presented the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) each with a plaque to commemorate the record-breaking year between the tri-party partnership. Over 1,000 stolen vehicles, valued at more than $40 million, were recovered from the Port of Montreal in 2021.