Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.
This is our second appearance, although our appearance in 2012 was not before this committee, but it was in relation to legal and constitutional affairs. Access to justice for the most disadvantaged is still our concern.
On behalf of the Comité des Orphelins de Duplessis Victimes d'Abus, I want to thank the members of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. I would like to begin by telling you about our organization to put things in perspective. Our organization represents individuals who lived in the institutional network—residential schools, orphanages and religious community institutions—from 1930 to 1965. The Comité des Orphelins de Duplessis Victimes d'Abus more specifically helps the Duplessis orphans in Quebec.
As I told the committee clerk, we also represent associations of people who have lived in other institutions across Canada, such as the Mount Cashel Orphanage, the Alfred school and a number of other non-aboriginal institutions. This is referred to as the Indian residential school file. Our organization has created a Canada-wide coalition to represent those people. So we are the voice of the people who are before you today.
They are now mostly aged 50 and over and are still suffering the consequences of the abuse they endured in their youth. We are not the only ones to take an interest in this matter. The Canadian Human Rights Commission prepared a lengthy report on the problem of children who have lived in those institutions across Canada. That report was published in the 2000s, and I have a copy of it.
Our organization has several files that relate specifically to victims. I will now talk about our concerns over Bill C-32. From the very beginning, in September, we have attended a number of meetings with the representatives of the Department of Justice and the Solicitor General of Canada. We also attended the conference that followed this process.
From 2011, we have also expressed our interest in participating in the study of this bill to Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu in order to discuss a specific aspect of our file. We may not have the skills or the expertise required to consider this bill, but we thought we would submit our main concerns to you.
Following its analysis as a user of various Canadian courts, our committee hopes that the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights will successfully strike a balance in justice to make it favourable to victims.
Our organization represents victims whenever they need us, not only before the courts, but also before the administrators of various government or private organizations, or community associations. When it comes to victims of sexual assault, our organization's main concerns are the period of limitation and the onus of proof regarding the inability to act, the testimony and the cross-examination, the victim's financial capacity, and the care for and the recognition of victims.
With your permission, Madam Chair, Tony Doussot will continue the presentation.