Okay. Thank you so much.
I began by congratulating the government on the nomination of Professor Ben Roebuck as the new ombudsman. It's wonderful to have that position filled. However, there is still much to do for victims. Victims of crime in Canada can still not fully rely on their rights. Addressing this problem starts by better applying victims' rights in practice. We need to strengthen victims' rights. That means enforceable rights for victims of crime. The crime victims bill of rights is a great beginning, but there is no recourse, really, and that needs to change.
In the crime victims bill of rights, we talk about reparation and restitution orders in particular for victims of crime. I think it's important as well that the burden shift from the shoulder of victims, who have to chase after their money from the offender if ever their restitution order is imposed, to the state. Already the state is responsible for gathering fines. Restitution orders are very much like a fine. From a victim-friendly perspective, if we really wish to do something for victims, that would be an easy fix that would make restitution orders a lot more feasible for victims and shift the burden from them.
It's also important, I think, to include other forms of reparation, such as restorative justice, victim-offender dialogue and victim-offender encounters, as they can offer reparation to victims as well.
The current focus is largely on the offender's responsibility for the harm to the victim. It's important to recognize that in addition to that, there is an obligation of the state that is unfortunately too often ignored. There is an obligation of the state to victims to promote healing and to provide services—for example, facilitating victims' access to compensation programs. Unfortunately, victims across Canada do not all have access to compensation programs. Even when they are available, they are often limited to victims of violent crime, ignoring the tremendous impact on victims of such non-violent crimes as cyber-victimization, fraud and identity theft. As well, victims of terrorism are not always included. I would include domestic and international terrorism in that.
Victim support and healing are very important. I think this is something that together we should work to facilitate and promote in order to reduce vulnerability and, with it, the risk for victimization in the future, and to build resilience in our community. From the research on multiple victimization and polyvictimization, it's clear that people or certain groups can have an increased risk and become more vulnerable. It's very important to offer victim support, which can actually reduce the risk of victimization in the future through building resilience.
There is an issue of victim protection and safety. There's a fundamental need for victims to feel safe and for all of us to feel safe, not only victims of crime. It's required for the healing process to begin. It should be a priority. Unfortunately, victims are often left feeling unsafe. What can we do to improve safety and better protect victims of crime? I can point out that the European Union, for example, is considering measures to strengthen victims' protection by introducing minimum standards on victims' physical protection throughout the European Union.
As well, especially in a country like Canada, I think it's important to work together for victims' rights. Strengthening collaboration and coordination between all relevant actors is something that we need to do. We do it at our university as well with our project that looks [Technical difficulty—Editor] and law students working together to serve victims. We need to promote and facilitate communication and collaboration across disciplines and across professions to provide victims with support across the country. We need to promote access to justice for victims and share best practices.
There are things in place, such as the Victim Justice Network. Unfortunately, they are underfunded. They don't have the funding necessary in order to be the service that they can be. I think it's important to promote communication and the sharing of best practices across Canada. The Victim Justice Network, which is a virtual, e-based, online-based service, is an important tool that would allow us to do that for stronger collaboration on victims' rights across the country. It would enhance resilience, facilitate communication and help us to develop a national victims' rights strategy from the bottom up, ensuring a coordinated approach for victims' rights across Canada so that victims across Canada would have access to at least minimum standards, meeting the criteria of the UN Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power.
I think it's important to recognize that crime, yes, is a wrong against society, but it's also a violation of the human rights of the victim, and we should be giving victims' rights that importance, that status and that recognition that we give to fundamental human rights—for example, the right to dignity, to privacy, to liberty and to safety.
Thank you. I'll end there.