Thank you very much. I've been hearing that there is marked improvement, there is greater optimism than certainly there was some years ago. Frankly, during the consultations—and we did numerous consultations in every province and territory—one of the themes I did hear emerge was that victims felt they were often not included, that the system was too complex. It was cumbersome. It felt very foreign. There was confusion as to where the responsibilities to them were actually found. Having said that, the inclusion now of victim services does vary across the country, particularly in remote parts of Canada where Mr. Leef comes from, for example, and there are bigger challenges to reach remote communities. But these victim services coupled with child advocacy centres, coupled with what I think is really an evolution within the system to be more respectful of victims, have brought us a long way.
The victims bill of rights is intended to cement or to put in place for the very first time in federal law prescribed rights of victims that will be enforceable. This works very well with our victims ombudsman and provincial victims ombudsmen who are there to ensure that victims are treated fairly, that they do receive the information necessary to make important decisions for themselves or their families in a timely fashion. Everybody knows their obligations and responsibilities, from police, from crown defence counsel, the court itself, the victim services. There are more clearly defined roles. I think this will be a quantum leap and an improvement across the board. I truly believe this will be transformational for our system. I worked in the justice system at a time when there were no victim impact statements, where victim services were scant, if they existed at all in certain places, in parts of the country, where things such as testimonial aids and some of the more very precise improvements that we're seeing in our criminal justice system were again not applied uniformly or were certainly not as readily available.
I feel very strongly about that. We've invested significant dollars, $140 million, over the past seven-plus years. We have put in place these supports and this wraparound service that is very much intended to delineate the responsibilities, and just simply raise awareness, where victims know they can go to a certain location, to a certain individual, to see that their rights are respected and their role is included.