Justice Committee on June 17th, 2022

[Dr. Benjamin Roebuck]

In the research we've done with victims of crime and with victims' services providers, we have two very large surveys of folks across Canada who have either been affected by crime or involved in the victims' services sector. Both have predominately white samples, even through outreach through formal organizations.

To reach other people, we need to get into some of those informal support mechanisms. In Ottawa, for example, there's a pastor who has done seven funerals for Black homicide victims. Because the burden as a Black minister is so large, that community connects with him.

There are people who are working so hard who need support. We need to validate our data to be able to identify these gaps and say that there's work to be done. We need to shift resources into outreach and into connecting with these groups.

[Yasir Naqvi, Liberal, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Thank you.

[Heidi Illingworth]

Can I add to that?

We know that certain groups—especially BIPOC citizens—are overpoliced and overrepresented in the criminal justice system. We also know they're underprotected as victims.

As Ben said, we have to start looking at this race-based data about which victims are not accessing services and support. A lot of the data we have, as Ben said, are really showing that we're serving white settlers. We're not serving, perhaps, many groups who are being really negatively impacted by violence.

[Yasir Naqvi, Liberal, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Ms. Illingworth, you're executive director of Ottawa Victim Services and I'm from Ottawa.

What kind of outreach awareness or education is Ottawa Victim Services involved in when it comes to minority communities in the city of Ottawa?

[Heidi Illingworth]

That's something I'm working on actively right now.

We have a brand new project. We've added an anti-hate outreach officer to our team to try to reach out to communities that are impacted by hate crimes and let them know that we have services and support available to them. We are trying to diversify our staff and our board, so that we can build relationships with communities and work with racialized folks.

We've been doing a lot of work since I took over as executive director in the fall, but we definitely have a long way to go. We know our clients tend to be newcomers and racialized folks. We need to make sure that we have culturally safe supports for them, so that they feel safe to come to us to access supports and we can accompany them as they journey through the justice system.

[Yasir Naqvi, Liberal, Ottawa Centre, ON]

One group of people I have not heard much about in the discussion today is indigenous peoples of Canada.

What is your experience as to how indigenous victims are provided services?

[The Chair, Liberal, Randeep Sarai]

Give a very short answer, please.

[Dr. Benjamin Roebuck]

A lot happens within cultural programs and within communities, certainly, even in urban centres, but there are significant gaps.

I know growing attention is being placed on calls for an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous men, who were largely excluded from the previous investigation but whose lives and disappearances are also worthy of investigation.

[The Chair, Liberal, Randeep Sarai]

Thank you, Dr. Roebuck.

We'll go for two rounds of two and a half minutes, beginning with Monsieur Fortin.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My question is for Ms. Illingworth, the former ombudsman.

Could you tell me about the experience of victims in the general Canadian population in terms of satisfaction, dissatisfaction, advantages and disadvantages?

Is it the same across Canada and in Quebec? Are there regions where this is experienced differently?

[Heidi Illingworth]

Yes, I would say there are areas of Canada where your experience will be very different. Certainly we know that the more rural and the further north you live, the fewer services and supports are available to access, so that can be a challenge. When you're reaching out for help and when communities are so small that everyone is known to each other, there's a lot stigma and it can be especially difficult to access service. When family members of perpetrators, for example, are involved with providing services in some communities, we've heard of that problem.

Yes, I would say that there are lots of challenges, especially around financial assistance and compensation—

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Thank you, Ms. Illingworth.

I have one last question for you and for Mr. Roebuck.

Shouldn't consideration be given to amending the Criminal Code to make it mandatory for victims to be considered a party to any criminal trial? Currently, the parties are the Crown—that is, the prosecution—and the defence. Could we not add, at a minimum, the victim as a third party?

[Dr. Benjamin Roebuck]

I think there are countries like Germany that have introduced the option for a victim to be a third party in the criminal justice system, and even to have their own legal representation or to act as a kind of affiliate prosecutor. I think there are evaluations that are coming out of some of those approaches. I think it always has to be voluntary. We recognize that some victims would want to participate in that role, and some would not want to. I think we need to have options and choices for how victims engage with the system.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Roebuck.

Ms. Illingworth, I assume—

[The Chair, Liberal, Randeep Sarai]

Thank you, Monsieur Fortin. We're out of time for that.

We now go to Mr. Garrison for two and a half minutes.

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I want to take my last two and a half minutes here to talk about coercive and controlling behaviour in intimate partner relationships. I know that Dr. Roebuck has done some research in this area. In the context of victims, I'm really going to ask about the services available and the difficulties of providing services to victims of intimate partner violence. Maybe I can start with Dr. Roebuck.

[Dr. Benjamin Roebuck]

I know that Heidi had engaged with some academics on that specific topic, so I might prioritize Heidi for speaking time.

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC]

Okay. Thank you.

[Heidi Illingworth]

I think we have a significant challenge around coercive and controlling behaviour not being part of the Criminal Code. Emotional and psychological abuse is not recognized. We know that many victims of intimate partner violence are actually suffering, not from physical violence but from this controlling behaviour and from this sort of invisible cage they are put in by a partner completely controlling all aspects of their lives.

At my centre at Ottawa Victim Services, we deal with a lot of survivors experiencing this who aren't certain how they can get help. A lot of what we offer is safety planning. We sit with them. We talk about staying in the relationship or eventually perhaps choosing to leave the relationship, if that's what they decide is best for them, but we certainly have a lack of legal mechanisms. We know the police can't respond when there's non-physical violence or abuse occurring. That's a real challenge for the justice system. When I was ombudsperson, I certainly was supporting the call for criminalizing this form of abuse in Canada.

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC]

Thank you, Ms. Illingworth.

Maybe I'll go back to Dr. Roebuck, who was gracious, and I'll give him the last 30 seconds on this.

[Dr. Benjamin Roebuck]

I think we have really good examples. The U.K. has recent legislation that criminalizes coercive and controlling behaviour because it's such a violation of someone's free will and independence.

I think we also need to recognize that these behaviours occur across all genders and in any relationship. It's happening in queer relationships. Predominantly, it's happening with women who have male partners, but it also happens with male victims of female partners or same-sex partners. I think that when it comes to services and responses, we need to recognize the broad spectrum.

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Randeep Sarai]

Thank you, Mr. Garrison, and thank you, Dr. Roebuck.

That concludes our meeting here today on the Victims Bill of Rights.

We'll now suspend for about five to seven minutes. I will ask everybody using Zoom to log in again in using the Zoom apparatus. The in camera link was emailed to you at 1:10 p.m. by the clerk, so please Zoom in on the new link. Then we'll resume in about five to seven minutes.

Thank you.

[Proceedings continue in camera]