Absolutely, and as a matter of fact, I've had the opportunity to deal with a lot of front-line people delivering those services. I have to tell you that there are some tremendous people in our country who are making a huge difference, with very little funding, to try to deliver on some of the programs. They're trying to meet the needs of victims of crime. The more financial support we can give to victims and victim-serving agencies to be able to support victims of crime...obviously it's going to make a difference.
If we talk about healthy and safe communities, that means taking care of victims of crime as well. They need to be able to deal with the aftermath of that crime and those very practical real-life realities they face. It can be something as simple as this: if you have to go to court, how are you going to get there? If you have to go to court, do you have child care issues when you get there?
I'll give you another example. I talked to another mom whose son had been murdered in another province. She was scraping together the money to pay for her hotel room for six weeks. I realize that's a provincial responsibility, but it also speaks to the variability amongst the provinces and territories in terms of services available. It's our hope that more money coming from the victim surcharge will help the provinces and territories in addressing better ways for victims of crime to access services.