As I was saying earlier, we have to continue to produce information, whether in writing or otherwise.
Adequate training for service providers is also an important aspect to keep in mind. The information provided must be rigorous and kept up to date. We have to monitor changes to laws and practices. Victims also have to be referred to the right resources.
The information is complex and may involve various fields, whether it be legal advice, access to resources, or proceedings. Some organizations are more specialized than others, and it is crucial that the general public, and more specifically victims, know about them.
During the pandemic, there was high turnover among staff. The new staff sometimes consists of young people. So we have to be attentive to that and improve the training in universities. In law faculties, lawyers have to be better trained and informed about victims' rights.
I am now going to talk about the question of restitution.
Things work much better in the provinces where there are complaints mechanisms and where people are assigned to that work. For example, I am thinking about the staff in victim assistance services, who handle informing victims and working with young offenders. The situation is much easier when victims are supported by workers from a victim assistance service than when they are left to themselves.
It is deplorable to see that restitution orders have declined by 17% since the CVBR was adopted. That result is the opposite of what we wanted to get. It means that victims are not informed and the procedures are too complicated for them. Instituting a civil proceeding is very complicated for victims and adds to their burden.
In my opinion, we need to look at what is being done well in the other provinces, in order to transpose good practices elsewhere.
The federal government can play a role, because it funds a lot of projects. For example, $38 million has been granted to certain services for various projects.
Organizations in Canada all need to know about good programs and the results achieved. We have to be told about them so we can transpose them into our own practices.