The first caller was a man from the West coast who was violently assaulted with metal pipes by strangers a number of years ago.  He cannot work as a result of this assault and is destitute.  He cannot afford to continue the medical treatments doctors tell him are necessary to heal.   He requires physiotherapy and massage therapy (to be able to get off pain killers), but can afford neither because he is on social assistance.  He is forced to live in shelters where, he tells us, he is often living among people convicted of heinous crimes who are reintegrating into the community.   He has no family or friends in Canada who can help him “get back on his feet”.  He came to Canada thinking our country was the best place in the world to live; yet he received only $1,000.00 in financial assistance from his province following his victimization.  He is now stuck in a cycle of poverty from which he cannot escape.

A mother from the East coast also called the office this week to talk to us about the murder of her beloved son.  He had a bright future ahead of him and was murdered by a man who was on bail for the brutal assault of an elderly man.  Following her son’s murder, the killer fled and an accomplice has been charged.  The mother informed me that she found out horrific details about how her son died at a preliminary hearing recently.  No one, not the police, Crown or victim services took the time to meet with the victim’s mother before the hearing to inform her of the details of the crime, which were much more vicious than she initially believed.  Instead, she was chastised by the Crown for her emotional outburst in the courtroom and told to control herself in the future.  She knows that she is in for many years of court proceedings and that she may not ever find out the truth about what happened to her son.

These two cases highlight the practical challenges many victims still face in Canada on a daily basis.  They cannot count on a kind, sympathetic response from government compensation programs, which were historically designed to provide some financial assistance to help victims recover from the trauma they have endured.  Instead, they face complex application forms and cold bureaucracies that pay a pittance to them (if they are lucky) with respect to the harm and loss they have suffered.  These programs, if standardized across the country, could do so much more to help victims heal and move forward positively with their lives.

When it comes to the criminal investigation and prosecution, victims continue to face challenges accessing the information they want and need.  Police often cannot share information about the progress of an investigation with victims so that evidence is not compromised.  Once a case moves toward trial, many Crowns are overworked and do not have time to spend with family members to update them about how the legal process is proceeding.  Victims are still shut out in many ways and face re-victimization by professionals who don’t understand how information, sensitivity and compassion can make a real difference to victims in their recovery.  Many victims do not even get referred to local victim services agencies, which employ specially trained staff and volunteers to provide support, assistance, community referrals and much needed information.

The question we are left pondering at the CRCVC is how will a federal Victims Bill of Rights address and correct the practical problems faced by victims in the provinces/territories where they live?  We feel the legislation must not be limited to federal jurisdiction, such as simply reiterating existing provisions of the Criminal Code and Corrections and Conditional Release Act for victims, but the complexity of doing so is a real challenge.  We will continue to closely follow the development of this legislation…

TORONTO- There is a great deal of Canadian commentary on terrorism that speaks within the framework of a country that has never experienced a major terrorist calamity on its soil.

We have had near misses, but Canadian cities have not had to absorb the cultural, emotional, and political aftershock of a city like Mumbai. Unlike New York or London, our centres have never been marred by wreckage and corpses.

We have been spared the sight of fellow citizens running to hospitals and morgues; the collection of body parts strewn across miles of city streets; and the deluge of funerals that follows. Rightly or wrongly, the surreal reality of a serious terrorist affront on one’s own soil profoundly changes the nature of the public and political discourse surrounding terrorism.

Our lack of direct visceral experience with terrorism has had both pros and cons in terms of our ongoing national debate on terrorism-related policy. On the one hand, it may allow for a certain sobriety, a more measured response to a phenomenon that we will be with us for the foreseeable future. On the other hand, it can also predispose us to a use of language that unwittingly diminishes terrorism to proportions that belie and belittle the nature of the threat.

The adjectives most commonly misemployed in this manner are those that routinely describe terrorist carnage as “senseless” and its perpetrators as “sick” or “brainwashed.” The language is not only inaccurate-it is distracting and disarming. It allows us to dismiss terrorism as a function of derangement, criminality, or mental incompetence rather than an expression of conviction, education, and state policy. It creates a misleading symmetry, equating the Brothers Tsarnaev and the Air India bombers with the likes of convicted serial killer Colonel Russell Williams and Adam Lanza, the mentally ill author of the recent slaughter in Newtown,Connecticut. This type of juxtaposition has been put forward in recent testimony before Parliament, and it falls short of the mark.

For unlike the Toronto 18 and their mentors, neither Williams nor Lanza were committed to ideologies lionizing the destruction of Western society, or the use of WMD. Unlike Williams and Lanza, the Air India bombings have nothing to do with policies related to mental illness, predatory deviance, or gun laws. Unlike Williams and Lanza, the exploits of the Tsarnaevs have nothing to do with sociopathic compulsion, but everything to do with radical Islamist ideology. And unlike the Tsarnaevs and Khawajas of our world, Williams and Lanza were not adherents of a global movement that has spawned over 20,000 terrorist attacks across the globe since 2001. They were not practitioners of an ideology that “understands,” justifies, or lauds the perpetration of virtually any evil against those it deems no longer worthy of life. Williams and Lanza were true “lone wolves” of deadly, but limited means. They acted only as individuals, wounding society from within, while “homegrown radicals,” like the Tsarnaevs, acted as members of a global movement estimated by some experts to number a hundred million adherents worldwide.

Such multitudes cannot be written off as “sick” individuals-and unlike some of our pundits, adherents of this ideology never consider the slaughters perpetrated by their coreligionists as “senseless.” In fact their actions are entirely “senseful,” being a function of principle, tactic and strategy-not derangement, poverty or ignorance.

So perhaps we should be more cautious with the language we use to frame this debate. Perhaps we should give greater consideration to the language of Canadian justices who have determined that terrorism is an “abnormal” crime that “has no equal.” Perhaps those who use Nazi imagery and dictatorial metaphors in their advocacy to scuttle terror-related legislation, should rethink. And perhaps those who adjure Canadians from the perceived safety of their Canadian perches, to take terrorism in stride like any other form of crime or natural disaster-should be more circumspect. For terrorism is, in fact, different than violent crime, not only in degree, but in kind. And events like 9/11 should not be characterized, in the words of Jean Chrétien, as something “that happens from time to time.” Because actually-they don’t. They are always in motion. And the quiet between slaughters is illusory. It is nothing more than an interlude in which the Jihadists continue to rake in billions in illegal narcotic sales and prepare their children to celebrate the next round of infidel deaths and the martyrdom of those who will do the killing.

No-the problem we are facing cannot be addressed by repackaging terrorism, either linguistically or legally, as something that it isn’t. However disconcerting, democracies will have to contend with the grey zone of legal and moral quandaries of this unprecedented type of conflict. And this may well result in some of our solutions falling short of the magnitude of the questions we seek to answer. But those shortcomings are of far less consequence than premising our debates on the same “failure of imagination” that brought hell on earth to downtown Manhattan and shook a century to its core. For the moment, we are fortunate to have the latitude to evaluate our policies or explore preventive measures in a Canada whose ground has not been scorched. For the sake of those on any side of this debate, we would be well advised to make good use of the opportunity-while it lasts.

Danny Eisen is a Toronto-based consultant and the co-founder of the Canadian Coalition Against Terror (C-CAT). C-CAT led the campaign for the passage of the Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act (JVTA) which was passed into law by Parliament in 2012. C-CAT also led the successful campaign in Canada to have 9/11 declared a National Day of Service and has been a leading advocate for enhanced sanctions against Iran and the banning of the IRGC as a terrorist entity. Mr. Eisen lost a family member on American Airlines flight 11- the first plane to smash into the World Trade Center on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

As we all know, State Compensation is boring, boring, boring. So why did José Mulder of INTERVICT pick this as her PhD topic?  Why not one of the many sexy topics on our program like EMDR, victim impact statements or restorative justice?  Because she is an economist, of course. Someone who thinks that money is what makes the world go round. According to Norwegian criminologist Nils Christie state compensation is not just boring. It is a vulgar, materialistic attempt of the State to buy off human pain and suffering. It is nothing but a disgrace. So let’s just throw a quick glance at José’s findings. And then move on to greener pastures, more worthy of our victimological engagement.

José interviewed a sample of claimants of the Dutch Compensation Fund about their experiences and views. First remarkable finding: almost all claimants were quite satisfied with the awards given. Most claimants had experienced the awards as a form of recognition and as an act of justice. They said it had helped them to cope with the aftermath of the crime. Even more remarkable, there was no correlation between the amounts received and the level of satisfaction. Victims who had received just hundreds of euros were as satisfied as those who received larger sums. Satisfaction appeared to be more dependent on the perceived quality of the procedure than on the amounts. Clearly, for the victims involved receiving compensation from the state appears to have great symbolic significance. It is not about the money, Nils! It is about healing!

This study has important policy implications and forces us to rethink our preconceived ideas about state compensation (and perhaps about economists too). The Board of the Dutch Fund has duly taken José’s results to heart. It has shifted its attention from mere financial and legal matters – such as the tariff – to the quality of its procedures (expediency and content of communications). The implementation of state compensation could and should be made more victim-centered.

But the results also throw up fundamental policy questions. If state compensation is so well received by victims, and costs so little, why is its scope still so limited? Fortunately, the Victims Fund of the International Criminal Court is growing. And in the Netherlands the government has recently decided to make state compensation available for victims of traffic offenses too. It is also ready to launch a special compensation scheme for victims of sexual abuse in child care institutions. Indeed, there seems to be great potential for state compensation, especially for victims whose cases are never solved. It should be made available for larger categories of victims of all kinds of crimes including burglaries and cases of serious fraud. And it should become an integral part of comprehensive victim services. On reflection, not state compensation is a disgrace but the fact that this effective victim service is not utilized more widely.

Dr. José Mulder, Compensation. The Victim’s Perspective, Oisterwijk: Wolf Legal Publishers

To inform the development of this legislation, the Government of Canada is seeking the views of stakeholders representing provincial and territorial governments, a variety of sectors within the criminal justice system, civil society, victims of crime, and the public.

To assist with the consultation, a discussion paper has been developed to provide an overview of the Canadian context and the recent efforts taken to improve responses to victims of crime, and to seek views on a Victims Bill of Rights including in respect of the following areas:

• Purpose
• Potential scope and content of victims rights
• Effect of legislative rights, and
• Remedies.

The discussion paper can be accessed here.  Submit your views to: victimsrights@justice.gc.ca

There is a lot we don’t know about the tragic suicide of Rehtaeh Parsons in Nova Scotia. We do see hundreds of media headlines about cyber-bullying and comparisons to other high-profile cases. We fear the media are missing the real story.

The cyber-bullying may have been the final straw that broke her will to live, but what is overlooked is an understanding of sexual assault and violence against women.

Rehtaeh was 15 years old when she reportedly was sexually assaulted by four boys at a friend’s house. There were pictures taken — one of which her mother said showed one of the boys with thumbs up and a big smile. The pictures of the alleged sexual assault were shared with everyone in her Cole Harbour high school. Rehtaeh received derogatory messages about being “a slut.” She changed communities and schools, but never overcame the traumatic experience.

The RCMP indicated initially that Rehtaeh’s sexual-assault report was a case of “they said, she said” and couldn’t pursue criminal charges, but their actions are under review. The school administration indicates it knew nothing.

Unfortunately, sexual assault is not rare. Police records show that more than 90% of sexual-assault victims are women. Young women like Rehtaeh, are the most vulnerable and they are most at risk from young men they know. The consequences of this gendered violence are devastating. Yet, only 10% of victims report this crime to police and few convictions result.

It is not surprising that a victim would experience barriers to reporting sexual assault. Imagine the embarrassment, shame or guilt a young woman feels in answering a stranger’s questions about the sexual assault she experienced. Add to this, the belief that no one will believe her because too many still believe victims, not perpetrators, are really to blame for sexual assaults.

The harm sexual-assault victims experience is exponentially intensified when images related to the assault are distributed throughout their world. Technology-related sexual violence severely erodes a victim’s sense of security and privacy. Her sense of a safe place, a safe distance and even a safe person is threatened. The degrading words and images multiply and exist for a long time, or even indefinitely. The shame, embarrassment and horror of the assault live on and on.

While deeply distressing to anyone, such a violation of a young person amplifies the self-consciousness and embarrassment readily experienced in adolescence and thwarts a teen’s need to belong and be accepted by their peers. And when a victim is only 15, technology-related sexual violence that distributes pictures of a sexual assault is child pornography.

The reported circumstances of Rehtaeh’s situation involve a triple whammy: sexual assault, child pornography and cyber-bullying. All are unacceptable, illegal and result in serious consequences for victims. When we reduce her apparent experience to cyber-bullying, we get it wrong and greatly minimize and discount her reported victimizations.

Against the odds, Rehtaeh overcame many barriers and reported that she was sexually assaulted in the offline world and the virtual world. Regardless of whether policy was followed or not, the individuals this young woman needed to respond to her reported violations failed her.

Our hearts weep for Rehtaeh and go out to her family. As parents, we want to know that our daughters will be safe and that our sons will not perpetrate sexual violence. However, if we cannot even name the issue — sexual assault and violence against women — then how can we even begin to deal with it?

There are some important questions that need to be addressed in order to prevent similar tragedies in the future.

How much understanding do adults and students have about the frequency of sexual assault and the ongoing attitudes about victims that suggest it is their fault for being at the wrong party at the wrong time or drinking too much? Do we understand the link between gender inequality and sexual violence? How do boys see a vulnerable female peer as wanting to have sex with four boys at a time?

The recent rape trial in Steubenville, Ohio, is a painful reminder of how some boys look at girls. How do we see sexual assault as entertainment and something that has to be captured in pictures and videos to post on social media? Do we have compassion for victims of sexual violence or see them as “sluts” who need to be further humiliated?

Aside from a lack of awareness about sexual violence and its serious consequences, we also have to think about the impact of media violence on our youth. Our great concern is the steady diet of violence in video games, music and movies. Pornography is most popular among 12-to-17-year-olds, which is not sex education, but rather lessons on new ways to denigrate and humiliate girls and women. Research on pornography suggests the greater the consumption, the less the sensitivity to rape victims and the belief that women may resist at first, but are ready sexual partners.

Media violence and pornography don’t create rapists all by themselves. The insidious impact is what it does to youth in general. For instance, it promotes stereotypes about relationships and high-risk behaviours, encourages imitation and perhaps most importantly, causes emotional desensitization. Rather than peers being “upstanders” to prevent violence and be the first line of response, they become passive bystanders by telling themselves that it is not that bad and they have no responsibility. To hell with the victims, lest they be labeled squealers and rats.

These critical conversations need to happen at every dinner table and in every high-school classroom. Rehtaeh is not just an isolated tragedy but rather, a reflection of a national problem.

Linda Baker is director of the Learning Network and Peter Jaffe is a professor at the Centre for Research & Education on Violence Against Women and Children in the faculty of education at Western University.

On Thursday March 21^st, from 7-10 pm, come to the Official Reception at Galerie SAW Gallery, 67 Nicholas Street, Ottawa. Info and tickets ($50) can be ordered through The Men’s Project website.

On Friday March 22^nd, at 10:00 am, come witness history-in-the-making at their Media Conference at the Sheraton Hotel, 150 Albert Street, in Ottawa. Coffee and conversation will follow.

On Saturday March 23^rd and Sunday March 24^th, men and their families are welcome to attend the first Men of Courage Community Conference on men’s mental health and well-being. Events include keynote speakers (including Frank O’Dea, founder of the Second Cup!), dedicated workshops (such as fathering, integrity, partners’ needs, and a dedicated stream for male survivors), films and discussion. Service providers are also welcome. Tickets are $50, and a number of scholarships seats are reserved for low income men. The registration package is attached.

The Men’s Project thanks their funders, sponsors, individual donors, the YMCA-YWCA, partner agencies, as well as many volunteers to make this national resource happen.

The new legislation has three main components:

• Putting Public Safety First - the legislation would explicitly set out that public safety is the paramount consideration in the decision-making process relating to accused persons found to be NCR.
• Creating a High-Risk Designation – the legislation would create a new designation to protect the public from high-risk NCR accused. Upon being designated by a court as high-risk, an NCR accused must be held in custody and cannot be considered for release by a review board until their designation is revoked by a court. The other consequences of being designated as a high-risk NCR accused include that their review periods could be extended to up to three years, such individuals would not be entitled to unescorted passes, and could only obtain an escorted pass in narrow circumstances and subject to sufficient conditions to protect public safety.
• Enhancing Victims’ Involvement – the legislation will enhance the safety of victims by ensuring that they are specifically considered when decisions are being made about accused persons found NCR; ensuring they are notified when an NCR accused is discharged; and allowing non-communications orders between an NCR accused and the victim.

 Access to treatment for any NCR accused person would not be affected by the proposed reforms.

According to law enforcement agencies and victim services organizations, finances, family pressures and over-scheduling are among the biggest triggers of domestic violence during the holidays. Increased alcohol consumption also plays a major role.  While alcohol doesn’t cause violence – it is a depressant, it impairs judgment and can cause aggressiveness in people.  “So if you have a lot of people engaging in high-stress times, where there are high expectations for tradition, for family, for things to be a certain way … and then you mix that with alcohol, which is a disinhibitor and a depressant, you have sometimes what can be a very deadly mix,” said Tracy Porteous, executive director of the Ending Violence Association of B.C.

The following strategies may help you get through the holidays:

• Give yourself permission to feel whatever you are feeling and recognize that it is normal to feel sadness and/or grief throughout the holidays.
• Don’t hide or ignore your emotions. If you feel sad, it is okay to cry and if you feel angry, you should allow yourself to express it.
• Do not be afraid to ask for help or support.  It is okay if you need support from others to make it through the season. Try not to feel as though you are a burden. Your friends and family members want to be there for you.
• You may want to celebrate old traditions or start new ones. For some, old traditions may be too painful to endure. Others may find it important to continue old traditions.  For instance, you may want to hang your loved one’s stocking with the rest of the family stockings.
• Continue to eat healthy and get plenty of rest.  Staying healthy can lower stress levels and help make the holidays more pleasant.
• You may want to consider donating a gift or money in order to commemorate a loved one who is missing this holiday season. This is a wonderful way of remembering someone that has been lost and helping others in need at the same time.
• Families can also commemorate loved ones in other ways. A candle can be lit in the loved one’s memory or family members can gather together to share fond memories and special stories.  Some may even set a place at the table for their loved one.

The Board of Directors of the CRCVC is pleased to inform you that we received a grant from the federal government very shortly after our message for assistance went out. We applied for Time-limited operational funding (TLOF) in July of 2012 and have been approved for $50,000 for 2012-13 and $50,000 for 2013-14.

We cannot thank you enough for all the support you showed us through emails and social media in this difficult time. We are equally appreciative of the efforts of staff at the Policy Centre for Victim Issues and the Minister of Justice. The Board is so pleased the important services we offer have been recognized through this funding.

In order to return to full operating capacity, we will need to acquire some additional project funding in 2013. We will keep everyone posted.

Heidi Illingworth
Executive Director