Human Resources committee  Thank you. Good morning to all committee members and everyone present. My name is Sharon Rosenfeldt and I am president of Victims of Violence. Victims of Violence was started 29 years ago by my late husband, Gary, me, and a few other individuals who had a loved one murdered. We

Human Resources committee  In theory, yes, we can always...every victim organization, in particular non-government victim organizations...our organization is not government funded and never has been. I'm not overly convinced that would be the right way to go. What would make me feel good is that any mone

Human Resources committee  Very much so. For example, I used to be paid by our organization, Victims of Violence, not a large amount, but I was able to take a small salary. As of last January, it was a choice: either shut down the organization--and a lot of that had to do with the death of my husband, beca

Human Resources committee  I can possibly try to shed some light on it. Until all the provinces sign on, all criminal injury compensation or compensation programs that victims are able to apply to are all administered provincially. They used to be administered federally, or moneys used to come from the f

Human Resources committee  The same with me.

Human Resources committee  Something that I did take out of my brief, because it was going to be too long in my submission, is that we do not believe that Bill C-31 could be unconstitutional, nor does it violate the universality of our old age security system. I am not a lawyer, nor have we discussed this

Human Resources committee  I don't have it with me right now, but I can definitely provide that to you.

Human Resources committee  I would agree, certainly, with that concept. I think the reason we were waiting for an answer from Madame Gagnon was because of the points she was making in relation to the eligibility criteria. But I would certainly agree with you.

Human Resources committee  I do, and further to that, in relation to Madame Gagnon's presentation on what the offender is going to do when he is released from prison, I believe the offender will have the same rights in relation to that pension as any other law-abiding senior citizen--namely, surviving on x

Human Resources committee  Well, from a victim's point of view, I was actually quite surprised, I guess as was everybody else. I was shocked. The first thing that entered my mind was, my God, here we go again, a Clifford Olson thing. I feel very hurt inside because I think sometimes we as the community, we

Human Resources committee  To me it's simple. I would suggest they apply for the old age security and GIS benefit. Like any other law-abiding citizen, they have to live on that. I'm not understanding what you're saying.

Human Resources committee  Am I incorrect in thinking that this bill says they can apply 30 days before they're released? Or is that a different country?

Human Resources committee  Number one, normally the prisoner is not just released onto the street. If they're serving a term, unless it's statutory release, normally they go into a halfway house and things like that, and they're looked after there. So there would be time for there to be an application made

Human Resources committee  Statutory release is different. Again, whether it's different or not, they should be treated no differently upon release. They should make application for the old age security benefit and GIS and live on that, as any other Canadian citizen. They may be on--

Human Resources committee  My response would be to definitely do research into that section as well. My understanding is that isn't the way it is or the way Correctional Services interprets it, that's for sure. I don't believe I would be in favour of that because I don't believe that is the intent of sec