Thank you, Madam Chair.
I want to begin by expressing my sorrow for the indigenous families who are grieving the discovery of 215 children found in a mass grave at the residential school in Kamloops. I stand in solidarity with all indigenous peoples seeking justice.
Today, we also mark the release of the national action plan on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people in response to the calls for justice of the national inquiry released two years ago, and I am just here from that ceremony, which is actually ongoing right now.
It's timely that I'm here this morning to discuss the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights, which came into force in 2015, because more than five years later a number of fundamental gaps and challenges remain for victims, especially racialized and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people. It is our view that the CVBR must be strengthened to better support all victims and survivors of crime.
Last November, my office launched a progress report on the CVBR, informed by what we hear every day from stakeholders in our frontline work—survivors and the people who work with victims and criminal justice personnel all across the country. Based on our analysis of the data available to us, we would say that the justice system really falls short on delivering the promised rights and that it is time to conduct a statutory review of this legislation.
Every year, more than two million Canadians report criminal incidents to the police, almost a quarter of which are violent, but we don't know how many of these victims are being informed of their rights at all, let alone whether these rights are upheld as victims make their way through the justice system. I believe that the right to information is a foundational or a gateway right and that without information being provided to them, victims are unable to access any of the other rights outlined in the CVBR or any other legislation.
Currently, victims receive information only upon request, meaning that they must know to ask for it. However, unless an official actually tells them they have rights, they are unlikely to know that these rights exist. It is my view that criminal justice officials must be mandated to inform victims of their rights. As written, the CVBR puts the onus on victims to know, understand and assert their rights. Therefore, the implementation of this CVBR over the last six years has been sporadic and inconsistent. There has been no major effort to systematically inform citizens of their rights, which would ensure that people are less marginalized when they come into contact with the justice system. Criminal justice personnel have not been assigned clear roles and responsibilities in regard to delivering victims' rights, and training opportunities for officials have been limited. Many are not fully aware of the act and its implications, and data that we have about victims is not collected or published in a consistent manner across the country.
We believe that Parliament can strengthen this act to hold officials accountable for respecting victims' rights and to require institutions to collect and report data to measure their compliance with the act. Parliament should also amend the legislation to guarantee access to support services for victims with regard to their medical, psychological, legal and safety needs. That means we need to increase the capacity of victim-serving organizations and community-based restorative justice programs through sustainable core funding to ensure that victims can access services in every part of this country.
The last issue I would like to raise, and probably most critical in my view, is the legal recourse or remedy that victims have if their rights are violated. Currently, victims do not have a way to enforce the rights given to them in law; they only have a right to make a complaint to various agencies. This means that victims have to rely on the goodwill of criminal justice officials and corrections officials to give effect to or implement their statutory rights under the bill. This means victims count on police, Crown prosecutors, courts, review boards, corrections officials and parole boards to deliver, uphold and respect their rights.
But my office continues to receive complaints from victims that are common across all jurisdictions in Canada. Victims report to us that they are not consistently provided information about their rights or how to exercise them, they feel overlooked in all of the processes, and they have no recourse when officials don't respect their rights.
I'm looking forward to sharing our progress report with all of you, honourable members. We made 15 recommendations last year to strengthen this legislation. When victims' rights in law are fully respected, we will help victims recover; we will strengthen the rule of law; we will enhance public safety, and we will contribute to offender rehabilitation as well.
I welcome the opportunity to answer your questions. Thank you. Meegwetch.