"Creating a Framework for the Wisdom of the Community:" Review of Victim Services in Nunavut, Northwest and Yukon Territories
4.0 Yukon Territory (cont'd)
4.4 Recommendations for Victim Services in the Yukon Territory (cont'd)
4.4.4 Law Enforcement and Sentencing
"Mandatory charging … not lip service to mandatory charging … we say zero tolerance, but the police and crown can’t explain what the difference is between zero tolerance and mandatory charging.
"Many offenders are now in treatment options without incarceration … separation between the victim and abuser is crucial to promote healing the trauma for both the victim and the offender … that separation isn’t happening, so the trauma is not dealt with.
"Stiffer sentences for crimes against persons.
"Start the healing with charges in court of assaulting the spouse … ‘justice is the start of healing’ … I really believe that.
"Often the police won’t act on no-contact orders or breaches … they don’t think they’re serious
"we need the RCMP to come up here with a little better attitude and to be stationed here for longer … 2 years is too short and the turnover isn’t good or getting all the fresh recruits on their first posting
"we need to train the Crown and police in sexual assault, family violence and FAS … police sometimes do or don’t take statements and children are told you don’t have to testify … often children want to and need to tell their story and well intentioned or ignorant people want to ‘protect’ them and are doing more harm than good
Respondents made the following recommendations in the area of law enforcement and policing:
- enforce the mandatory charging of spousal and sexual assault offenders;
- incarcerate offenders involved in spousal assault treatment options;
- give stiff sentences to offenders who commit crimes against persons;
- enforce no-contact orders and act on breaches of probation; and
- train RCMP members stationed in Yukon in the areas of child abuse, spousal assault and sexual assault.
4.4.5 Alternative Justice
"We need a funding continuum to support training for restorative justice … the community’s desire to heal, and judicially led restorative justice initiatives do not acknowledge the victim’s trauma or respect victim’s needs.
"Community justice programs have to start small, not with serious crimes, and build the community capacity … have success with diversion and community supervision on the property crimes before handling domestic violence and sexual assaults that way.
"Support restorative justice initiatives with adequate funding and consistent follow through on commitments made by the community or Community Justice Committees.
"The criminal justice system, diversion and other alternative justice systems have to work together … charges need to be laid and treatment plans developed and monitored.
"More youth on the Youth Justice panel … we need more healing circles and youth helping youth heal in a community.
Most respondents feel that more supports, information, training and accountability mechanisms need to surround alternative justice initiatives. In particular, and as mentioned earlier, they feel that those involved in these initiatives, and communities in general, need a greater understanding of victim’s issues before dealing with crimes such as spousal and sexual assault. The sense of most respondents is that Community Justice Committees, and others involved in alternative justice initiatives, do not necessarily understand the dynamics and power issues inherent in violence against women and children. There is a concern, and some evidence as noted earlier, that victims sometimes feel intimidated into participating in sentencing circles and other ‘healing’ events, leaving them feeling less empowered and even more silenced.
To address this issue respondents recommend that community justice committees start with lesser property crimes before taking on cases of interpersonal violence. Respondents also recommend that these alternative justice initiatives receive better funding and more follow up monitoring on the commitments they’ve made. They would also like to see the criminal justice system work in greater cooperation with alternative justice programs around the charging of offenders and the establishment of treatment plans. Youth respondents asked that more youth be appointed to the Youth Justice Panel.
4.4.6 Legislation
"We need a Victims Act … one that is done by First Nations and everybody, not just political bodies, but done by the community and survivors of violence."
"We need a Victims of Crime Act which defines victims in the system … offences are against the crown and the victim is not recognized in law now … a Victim’s Act could be a way to legitimize the needs of victims and should be considered."
"We should look at a Violence Against Women Act that validates the issues and creates a zero tolerance … this helps in enforcing complementary legislation … a Victims Act and a Violence Against Women Act need to consider the power imbalances in violent relationships and care must be taken that new laws cannot be twisted and used by offenders to harm or re-victimize their victims."
"Some people have suggested a Victims Act … I don’t see it improving the quality of services for front line workers … in the Manitoba legislation there are no penalties if a director doesn’t follow through with the treatment in the required 30 day time frame."
"We need our own Yukon Crown, a territorial crown, not the federal crown.
We need Adult Guardianship and Assisted Decision Making legislation … seniors don’t want to disclose family problems or want to protect their son or grandson.
"A Guardianship Act is really important to protect client’s interests where women with a mental disability have been brutally raped, are in denial of it, or have cognitive disorders and there’s nobody to help them … the social workers can’t intervene to protect them … a Guardianship Act would allow social service agencies to help FAS adults and others with mental disability who are getting hurt.
"We need a Child’s Advocate Act.
"A reinstated Victims Compensation Fund would be a real bonus for victims who have been severely traumatized.
"I think there is a need to bring back some form of Victim of Crime Compensation legislation … right now if a women has to leave after a vicious assault and rape, there’s no money for counselling … bring back the program to cover crimes against persons and treatment for victims who can’t afford counselling … Alberta has criteria so you can’t get a judgment for frivolous claims.
Respondents recommended legislation that they felt might improve the situation of victimized individuals in the Yukon. These legislative initiatives include:
- a Victims Act or Victims of Crime Act that defines and validates the status of the victim in law and recognizes her/his needs;
- a Violence Against Women Act which recognizes power imbalances in relationships and gives violence against women a zero tolerance status;
- an Adult Guardianship and/or Assisted Decision Making Act to allow greater service, advocacy and protection to seniors, women with cognitive disabilities and others who need public advocacy;
- a Child’s Advocate Act; and
- a Victims Compensation Fund, with controls to prevent abuse of the available funding, that would give victims of crime some means to secure the services they need, such as counselling, which may not be available in their community or which may charge fees.
4.4.7 Judicial System
"Defence counsel need to be censured … the judiciary should run courtrooms better and not let defence counsel abuse the victim on the stand.
"We need to ensure that there’s value placed on the contribution that everyone makes in a relationship … women can be economically abused in a family because their unpaid work is not recognized … courts have to take into account women’s unpaid work in Family Property and Support Act actions … there is a huge need for more awareness and education of professionals at all levels, including judiciary on violence, power and control issues, trauma, post traumatic stress etc.
"There’s a huge need for mandatory training for the judiciary, police and others on the effects of trauma on someone’s ability to think and function … the experience of physical and sexual violence causes trauma to women and children.
"There is a pilot project for women and men behind on their child support payments to say do you want to forgive some of the back debt? … this is completely offensive to a court ordered child support payment regime … governments need to develop and operate under a sound definition of what a victim-centred approach looks like.
"Do better JP [Justice of the Peace] training for the ones who are active … when they get training there is no testing at the end, no standard there … there should be a certain degree of basic knowledge there … some of the JPs don’t grasp the basic concepts and some just want to be Marriage Commissioners and don’t even sit on the bench … clean it up.
"A peace bond doesn’t trump an Emergency Intervention Order … a lot of JPs don’t have the ability to process the legal end of things.
Respondents noted that there is significant misunderstanding of both victimization and the law amongst JPs, police, defence lawyers, judges and others involved in the judicial processes affecting victims and offenders. They point to the need to train these professionals in the issues surrounding crimes against the person, and particularly crimes against women, where power and control issues need to be factored into the equation. They also wish to see an increased understanding of the unpaid work of women in property disputes and a halt to the pilot project which asks the recipient of child support payments if they wish to voluntarily forgive the debts owed them by the other parent. Respondents also feel that defence lawyers need to be controlled by the courts as some respondents feel they harass and intimidate witnesses who were victims in the crime.
4.4.8 Professional Training
"We need to see more training … more cultural knowledge from our elders before they pass on.
"People working with victims need cross cultural training and to learn the history of First Nations in the Yukon.
"We need to start listening more to that victim … we need to hear what they’re saying … we need to be better listeners.
"We need training for all levels of professionals on victim’s issues.
"The police need to be trained on trauma, domestic violence and sexual assault … which you think they would have figured out by now considering the number of their members that get shot responding to domestic violence calls.
"The Crown is much better than they were … they still need lots of training.
"We need vicarious trauma training.
"A victim-centred approach means not hounding victims to sit in sentencing circles if they don’t want to … it means acknowledging what trauma is … a lot of professionals and service providers don’t have a very good understanding of what post traumatic stress is, and it’s very complex.
"Community programs hire victim services workers without any real knowledge of what the issues are.
"Elementary school teachers need to be given the tools to deal with abuse and neglect … as a society we need to be more open minded about that issue … teachers see it and want to deal with it, but they don’t get supported by their administration or institutions.
Throughout the interview process respondents constantly came back to the need for increased training of those professionals and caregivers mandated to serve victimized people. They described the training and information needs of these professionals many times throughout their interview. In summary, these areas are:
- more training and information in the area of First Nations culture and history;
- training about what it means to take a victim-centred approach in community justice initiatives and criminal justice processes;
- training for all professionals and caregivers in the area of communications and listening, professional mediation training for lawyers and other mediators;
- training in vicarious traumatization;[148]
- training for all workers in the dynamics and recovery process of traumatization as it occurs in all age groups, both genders and all cultures; and
- specialized training for police, teachers and others who are in a position to provide the initial intervention in cases of victimization.
4.4.9 Partnerships
"We need much better linkages between programs … there’s too many little clubs.
"We can only solve the problem of violence and victimization when we build the circle and make it stronger … isolation isn’t safety … a long-term intervention of safety connects people to people.
"More connections between agencies … we need to break down the silos and build interactions with other agencies … it starts with conferences, these events will have an effect for years.
"We need a network of peers at the management level.
"We need to share resources (dollars and space).
"We need information sharing in the cases of common clients.
"Agencies have to clarify their roles.
"We need to develop relationships with school psychologists.
"Government and First Nations systems have to work together more closely.
"When we go to court downtown, the system says we have to have everything on paper … its too cold.
All respondents note the major steps that have been taken in building partnership networks with other service providers. But they also see areas for improvement especially in the areas of information sharing and the clarification of roles and responsibilities between agencies.
[148] Vicarious traumatization, also called secondary traumatization, refers to the often severe effects on professionals and caregivers of working with traumatized individuals.
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