Across Canada, we have diverse responses to victimization. Each province and territory has different mechanisms for funding and supporting services.
What we see in many places would be some sort of generic service for victims of crime that any type of survivor can access. In Ottawa, we have Ottawa Victim Services. That would be more generic. There are also specialized services for survivors of sexual assault, like a rape crisis centre or a sexual assault centre, or specialized services around domestic violence.
It's always challenging for many of these services to be funded, and many pursue grants year after year for pilot funding or cyclical funding. They spend so much time trying to secure the resources to do the work, which they could be spending on serving survivors if they had more resources. Our research centre, prior to coming into this post, looked at the well-being of the victim service providers in this time during the pandemic. Certainly, the pressures of responding to these complicated cases are taking a toll.
I think we need to do a better job of supporting the providers who are trying to work with the survivors.