Thank you so much.
Thank you for inviting me to appear before the committee today.
The Office of the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime works to ensure that victims are treated fairly and with respect across the criminal justice system.
I give my respects to the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit ancestors and affirm my office's commitment to respectful relationships with one another and this land.
Honourable members, there can be no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on Canada's criminal justice system.
The pandemic has exacerbated challenges faced by victims of crime in Canada and has had disproportional effects on vulnerable populations, who are already at greater risk of experiencing violence and and victimization. These include women, children, and older adults, as well as members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community and members of indigenous and racialized communities.
According to Statistics Canada, research has shown that social isolation, loss of employment and reduced income are all factors known to increase the risk of domestic violence, and these conditions have been heightened in recent months.
Intimate partner and family violence often go unreported because the perpetrator is a loved one who exerts control over victims, who are left feeling unsafe in their own homes. Stay-at-home orders mean fewer opportunities for victims of violence to reach out for support or to report the violence to police or other agencies.
Pandemic-related restrictions have also meant that agencies' capacity to provide service to victims has shrunk, and in some parts of Canada the systems have been overwhelmed with demands for service.
Marginalized groups who face a higher risk of victimization also cope with considerable structural oppression in accessing support and justice. For instance, individuals who identify as 2SLGBTQ have voiced that receiving help from victim service providers is often a barrier on its own, as victim service organizations may overlook the importance of considering and addressing multiple intersectional identities.
I am also very concerned about the increased vulnerability of children. Violence against children has become even harder to respond to, since school staff make 90% of all reports of child abuse and children have been out of school because of the pandemic.
In my view, Canada must take proactive steps to fund and deliver prevention information, education and services to the public in order to reach persons who may be at risk of instigating violence.
Alongside greater investments in prevention, victims' rights need to be prioritized, enforced and upheld. Respect for victims' rights was inconsistent prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and victims in vulnerable populations often reported experiencing many barriers to navigating the criminal justice system and feeling like an afterthought. This situation has been worsened by the pandemic.
For example, early in the pandemic the Parole Board of Canada cancelled all observer attendance at parole hearings, meaning that victims could not attend hearings that were scheduled and that would still take place without them. My office raised this matter as unfair and as failing to comply with the statutory rights of victims. The teleconferencing and videoconferencing accommodation was eventually extended to victims, as had already been the case for offenders' assistants.
This set a concerning precedent that victims' rights could simply be pushed aside and overlooked, instead of ensuring that proper accommodations were put in place so that victims' rights could be upheld. This cannot and should not be the case.
I would also like to discuss the worsening of criminal justice system delays due to COVID-19.
Courts and other tribunals have been slow to modernize and use technology to move cases forward. We must bring accused persons to justice in a timely manner, as required by the charter. Not doing so affects us all, but none more so than the victims and survivors who have been harmed. Victims experience memory loss, heightened stress and anxiety and feelings of languishing the longer cases take to be decided.
In closing, I will emphasize that the consideration of the rights of victims of crime to information, protection, participation and restitution is in the interest of the proper administration of justice during COVID-19 and beyond.
I welcome the opportunity to answer your questions. Thank you.
Meegwetch.