Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good morning to you all.
I thank the witnesses for being with us this afternoon.
In the January 2021 report of the Office of the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime, the ombudsman said he wished that the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights would give victims better access to information and that greater consideration would be given to their safety.
Yet, in the Canadian criminal justice system, victims continue to report to the Office of the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime that they are not adequately informed about their rights and the services available to them. They even recommend that a distinction be made between factual information about different stages of the judicial process, such as bail hearings, appeals against sentence, appeals of release denial orders, and informal information, such as explanations related to decisions made by judges.
How do you explain this difference between the theoretical law and its practical implementation?
Is the fact that the burden of requesting information is on the victims at every stage of the case a hindrance to them?