Sorry; I'm new at this.
Thank you for inviting me here to speak about this very important issue.
The entire court process causes huge stress and revictimization for the victims and/or the family members who are also very greatly affected and can be considered victims as well, from lies told with impunity by the defence lawyers in court about the victim, to victim services, which a lot of victims tell me make matters worse. In our case, they didn't even offer to help us. We didn't get any help from them.
There is also the terrible legislation around bail, parole and sentencing. Offenders are let out on bail receiving light sentences and then let out on parole, often to reoffend, because after all, there are not enough parole officers to watch them. What does that say about the value of the lost or compromised lives? The victims have no importance and no value. They're disregarded, lost and alone.
In our case, the three offenders were out on bail for four years before they were in court. The one who kicked my beautiful blue-eyed boy's head like a football, causing brain damage, was out in the community wandering around free—while we were imprisoned in the hospital—reoffending with impunity, as we found out by reliable word of mouth.
After the release from the hospital, I was in constant fear that he would find my son at his new school, which wouldn't have been very difficult, and push him down the stairs or hit him in the head again, at which point he would surely die. I fell into desperate depression and panic attacks, feeling that I could not keep Jonathan safe. I couldn't; I had no control.
Much worse than that, Jonathan was constantly terrified, having nightmares, night terrors and depression, often yelling that he wished he was dead and frequently suffering from brain injury rages and trying to hit his head against the cement floor in our basement, while Joe, my husband, and I tried to restrain him by holding his head. Afterwards, my husband slumped into the couch clutching his chest. Soon after, he developed heart disease, which he suffers from terribly, even now.
After their short sentence was served, this was all repeated again.
Jonathan suffered great emotional stress and saw an irresponsible social worker who used inappropriate therapy contraindicated for any frontal lobe brain damage, resulting in false memory syndrome concerning his childhood and causing him to become estranged from us for 11 years now. We are in absolute despair. None of this would have happened if he hadn't been kicked into brain damage. It was because of this crime—because of the attack.
Olga Baranovski, the mother of homicide victim Matti Baranovski, told me she was dead inside after the murder of her son and, in fact, was found dead in her apartment, all alone. Her life was over because of this crime.
The victims are the true recipients of the life sentence, not the offenders. They go on with their lives; we don't. We suffer from insomnia, depression, panic attacks and other mental health issues. We are lost and alone and in pain.
The offenders are let out and continue to receive free psychological support. In fact, the correctional investigators said recently that funding for psychological help for the inmates should be increased, but isn't it funny how there is no mention of the psychological support for victims?
By the way, we received no psychological help, unless we sought our own, at our own cost, of course.
With this legislation, there will be more victims. More families will suffer, and there will be more revictimization. It will go on and on, affecting more and more people.
In closing, I just want to ask about this. There's a victims ombudsman in Ottawa. What are they doing? I haven't heard anything.
Another thing I wanted to mention was that it's so easy to find support and funding if you are—