It's a very good question in terms of the implementation. I'll come back to the fact that, as I said earlier to Madam Bennett, we do have funding attached to the bill for implementation and for ensuring greater awareness, in particular for victims but also at all levels: provincial, territorial, and non-governmental organizations.
As for the question about this contributing to further delays, or backlog, or exacerbating the issue of access to justice, I can assure you that we carefully balanced all efforts, and all that you see entrenched in this bill, with that in mind as a backdrop to every calibration we were making to insert or perhaps assert victims' rights.
We were always mindful that anything that was going to cause further delays or restrict a person's access to justice, or perhaps more appropriately, a fair outcome, was always present in our thinking, because it is counterintuitive to what we hope to achieve with this bill that it would actually cause delay. Delay, it goes without saying, is one of those old maxims: delay is the deadliest form of denial. That's what victims had often complained about: that from the initial reporting of the crime to an outcome, whether they were satisfied or not, it was this prolonged, torturous process.
For things such as consultation with the victim on a decision that a crown attorney has to make, or a police officer communicating that, it's my hope that this is actually going to accelerate the thought process throughout to communicate these things to a victim in a timely way. It's going to bring about, I believe, a greater sense of obligation on the part of everyone in the system to consult with that victim early and often.
It's important to understand, I say for emphasis, that victims were not asking for a veto. There was a report. I sat where you're sitting as a member of the opposition when these discussions were happening years ago. There was a report produced by a predecessor committee, called “Victims' Rights—A Voice, Not a Veto”. It underscored that victims were not saying, “Look, we want to be able to stand up in court and state our case in addition to what the prosecutor says”, or “We want our own counsel”. Some may advocate for that, but the vast of majority of victims are simply saying, “We want to know that our voice matters, that we've been heard, and that we are being given a meaningful right and access to justice throughout the process”.
I don't think that necessarily means slowing things down. I think it actually will help streamline in some cases. I think there is a tremendous commitment at the provincial and territorial levels, which are at the front end of the delivery of many of these services, to see that it happens. If it requires more resources, we're prepared to do that, as long as they're prepared to say, “Here's what it actually costs and here's the bill.”