Agencies receptive to call for a ‘complete overhaul’ of Alberta’s victim services
Organizations that work with victims of crime in Edmonton say they are open to change in how services are delivered, in the wake of a report that was highly critical of how Alberta treats victims.
An independent review into the case of a sexual assault survivor who was jailed to ensure that she testified against her attacker recommended a “complete overhaul” of Alberta’s victim services system, including the centralizing of victims services and taking the work out of the hands of police.
Police and the Bissell Centre are the two primary groups in Edmonton with workers who help victims navigate the court system, connect them with resources and serve as advocates in the aftermath of a crime.
“It is clear the intent of the recommendations ... is to enhance and strengthen the level of support provided to victims of crime,” EPS’ Victim Services Unit Insp. Trent Forsberg said in an email.
“A provincially centralized model would seem to indicate increased equity and consistency of services to all communities across the province.
“Any strategy that is designed to improve the level of service provided to victims is clearly supported by the EPS.”
Roberta Campbell, the criminal defence lawyer hired to review how the province’s justice system failed the woman in 2015, wrote in her Feb. 23 report that the province’s victim services system shares much of the blame.
“The authors are of the opinion that the current model of victim services in Alberta is wholly inadequate to address the needs of victims,” Campbell wrote.
“More so than any other factor … the lack of appropriate victim services led to the incarceration of (the woman).”
The Indigenous woman, whose name is covered by a publication ban, was homeless and living on the streets of Edmonton when she was sexually assaulted by Lance Blanchard on June 16, 2014. She was 27 at the time.
During Blanchard’s court-ordered preliminary inquiry, the woman was taken into custody because the Crown prosecutor and judge believed she was “a flight risk.”
She was not referred to the police service’s victim services unit and had no contact with any victim support worker in the year between her assault and the preliminary inquiry, Campbell wrote.
“For such a serious criminal charge, and for such a vulnerable victim, it is difficult to imagine how this could be the case,” Campbell wrote.
She also was shackled while giving testimony and was twice transported between the Edmonton Remand Centre and the courthouse in the same van as Blanchard. Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Eric Macklin later made scathing remarks about her treatment in his written decision convicting Blanchard.
The woman died in an unrelated shooting on Dec. 12, 2015.
‘COMPLETE OVERHAUL’
In Edmonton, most victim services workers are volunteers with the police service’s Victim Services Unit (VSU).
Campbell was critical of the system, writing that “the support provided by VSU generally consists of a single phone call, to refer victims to other community and counselling programs in Edmonton.”
That system is “essentially the same” as Edmonton’s 211 hotline which connects callers with mental health services, she wrote.
Campbell noted the VSU had just 112 volunteers and nine staffers for a city of over 900,000 people. The unit recently centralized its services to a single office, which led a number of longtime volunteers to leave. Police say there are now 66 volunteers, a decrease of around 40 per cent.
The Bissell Centre, a service agency in Edmonton’s core, employs two victim service workers catering to marginalized populations.
Alberta’s Ministry of Justice and Solicitor General said it is taking steps to implement two of Campbell’s recommendations, including creating a class of court workers to help victims navigate the justice system, and hiring Indigenous victim services and court workers “specifically trained to address the needs of Indigenous victims and witnesses.”
Campbell also recommended Alberta
The support provided by VSU generally consists of a single phone call, to refer victims to other community and counselling programs in Edmonton.
follow Manitoba’s lead and “centralize” victim services under the justice ministry, with government funding for victim service workers in communities across the province.
And she suggested separating victims services from Edmonton police and the RCMP because vulnerable victims often “have a distrust or aversion to police.”
The government is studying both proposals.
Rob Sipes, a victim support worker with the Bissell Centre who spent 18 years with the VSU, said he “by and large” supports the recommended changes, but felt Campbell’s report belittled the work of victim services volunteers and their training.
“The way it was written, it sounds like people just (do) it as a casual hobby,” he said.
EPS’ Forsberg said moving victim services to an arm’s-length organization “might prove to remove access barriers for specific populations, and if this is the case, we remain in full support.”