Standing up for victims and law-abiding Canadians is a priority of this government. It's absolutely essential that we take their concerns and we take them seriously.
Again, as you pointed out, a committee recommended in the year 2000 that we establish the federal ombudsman for victims of crime. It wasn't acted on through two administrations, but it is something that I was very pleased our government was acting on. Let's face it, there are groups, organizations, and committees that represent every cause on earth in Ottawa, and I think it's only appropriate that there would be a specific office for people to deal with nothing other than the issues of victims in this country and their concerns.
I have to tell you as a footnote to this that one of the great champions of victims' rights, Gary Rosenfeldt, who along with his wife Sharon has been a pioneer in this area, just recently passed away. That's a great loss to people who take victims' rights very seriously. But I know he and his wife were very pleased to see us move forward on that. And I was very clear when I met on a number of occasions with the new federal ombudsman that that's his focus. It could never get moved from that to other issues; it's victims and what they have to say, and making their issues his priority is the priority of that office.
So I think that this will be a permanent feature of our judicial system in this country. This office having been established, I believe that for the foreseeable future every government will recognize that this is an important aspect of the criminal justice system and that we need that kind of an office.
So again, I'm very, very pleased we were part of that and we got it up and running.