PRIME MINISTER STEPHEN HARPER ANNOUNCES Intention to Provide NEW FUNDING FOR CHILD ADVOCACY CENTRES

Introduction

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced the Government of Canada’s intention to provide new funding for Child Advocacy Centres (CACs) to help support young victims of crime. The announcement of this new support, which is a commitment made in Economic Action Plan 2015, was made during a roundtable meeting with victims’ advocates, including representatives from the Sheldon Kennedy Child Advocacy Centre, a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to bringing together community resources to help children, youth and families who are impacted by abuse. He was joined by Shelly Glover, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages and Member of Parliament for Saint Boniface, and Joy Smith, Member of Parliament for Kildonan-St. Paul.

Our Government is committed to standing up for victims of crime, especially Canada’s most vulnerable: our children. The funding for CACs being announced today will help support child and youth victims of sexual and physical abuse by making the services provided by CACs more accessible across Canada. This funding will also support the creation or enhancement of CACs in local communities across the country.

CACs are child-focused centres that coordinate the investigation, prosecution and treatment of child abuse while helping abused children, youth and their families. They seek to minimize system-induced trauma by providing a child-friendly setting for young victims and their families. Child and Youth Advocacy Centres (CYAC) offer the same services as a CAC, but to a broader age-range of victims. Both CACs and CYACs will receive funding under the CAC portion of the Victims Fund.

The roundtable discussion highlighted the numerous measures implemented by the Government of Canada to stand up for victims of crime, ensure the safety of our children, and was followed by a discussion on steps to increase awareness of the issue and for stopping child abuse. The Prime Minister also took the opportunity to highlight that the Victims Bill of Rights Act has now received Royal Assent. This landmark legislation will enshrine in law, once and for all, a bill of rights for victims of crime including the right to information, protection, participation and, where possible, a right to restitution. This important legislation will ensure that the rights of victims are placed at the very heart of our criminal justice system and that victims of crime receive the respect and compassion they deserve.

Quick Facts

• Since 2010, the Government of Canada has invested $10.3 million through the Victims Fund for new or enhanced Child Advocacy Centres (CACs) and Child and Youth Advocacy Centres (CYACs) across Canada.
• To date, this funding has supported young victims of crime in child advocacy centres in more than 20 communities across Canada, including Halifax, Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Montréal and Vancouver.
• As well, the Government has put in place several pieces of legislation to help protect children. These include the Safe Streets and Communities Act, which received Royal Assent in March 2012; the introduction of the Tougher Penalties for Child Predators Act (Bill C-26), currently before Parliament; and the Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act (Bill C-13), which came into force in March 2015.

Quotes

“Our Government knows that there is nothing more precious in this world than the life of a child. That is why we are committed to protecting and standing up for victims of crime, especially the most vulnerable members of society: our children. The support being announced today for Child Advocacy Centres will allow these important facilities to help more children, youth and families who have been traumatized by physical or sexual abuse and offer them the compassion and support they truly deserve.” – Prime Minister Stephen Harper

“The discussions held today are an important reminder that while our Government has taken significant steps to support victims of crime, we can do more to support victims and their families. Today’s announcement is another important step our Government is taking to help victims of violence and abuse recover, and ensure that their rights are placed at the heart of our justice system.” – Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Related Product

• Protecting Our Children

Associated Link

• Child Advocacy Centres Initiative

Backgrounder

Protecting our children

Our Government remains committed to keeping our streets and communities safe for Canadian families while standing up for victims of crime.

To this end, Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced the Government of Canada’s intention, as per a commitment made in Economic Action Plan 2015, to provide $5.25 million over four years starting in 2016-2017, along with $2.1 million on an annual basis thereafter, in order make the support and services provided by Child Advocacy Centres and Child and Youth Advocacy Centres (CACs and CYACs) more accessible in communities across the country.

The Victims Fund provides grants and contributions to support projects and activities to help support victims of crime. More specifically, the fund promotes access to justice, improves the capacity of service providers, fosters the establishment of referral networks, and increases awareness of services available to victims of crime and their families.

CACs are child-focused centres that provide a coordinated approach to addressing the needs of young victims or witnesses of crime in the criminal justice system. They adopt a seamless and collaborative approach to addressing the needs of child and youth victims of crime to minimize system-induced trauma by providing a child-friendly setting for young victims and their families. Child and Youth Advocacy Centres (CYAC) offer the same services as a CAC, but to a broader age-range of victims. Both CACs and CYACs receive funding under the CAC portion of the Victims Fund.

Child Advocacy Centres bring together a multidisciplinary team of police, child protection, medical services, mental health services, and victim services in a child friendly environment. Professional services offered by CACs include coordinated forensic interviews; examination of the child by a medical professional; victim advocacy, including court preparation and support; trauma assessment; and counselling.

CACs help children and their families navigate the justice system in a number of ways. For example, CACs provide a child or youth with a safe and comfortable environment in which to be interviewed by criminal justice professionals and seek to reduce the number of interviews and questions directed at a child. CACs may also provide education and training to justice professionals on best practices for interviewing child victims and witnesses. Ultimately, CACs lead to better communication between agencies supporting young victims and to increased access to services for young victims and their families or caregivers.

It has been shown that investigations conducted by CACs are cost-effective and can expedite decision making by Crown prosecutors laying criminal charges. Parents whose children receive services from CACs are more satisfied with the investigation process and interview procedures, and those children who attend CACs are more likely to state that they were not scared during the forensic interviewing process.

Since 2010, the Government of Canada has allocated $10.3 million for new or enhanced CACs and CYACs. CACs and CYACs that have benefited from Government of Canada funding, either directly or through funding provided to one of their partners, include the following:

Nova Scotia
Sea Star Child and Youth Advocacy Centre Demonstration Project, Halifax

Quebec
Centre d’expertise Marie-Vincent, Montréal

Ontario
Child Advocacy Centre of Simcoe/Muskoka, Orillia
Child and Youth Advocacy Centre at Boost, Toronto
Koala Place Child and Youth Advocacy Centre, Cornwall
Kristen French Child Advocacy Centre Niagara, St. Catharine’s

Manitoba
Snowflake Place for Children and Youth Inc., Winnipeg

Saskatchewan
Regina Children’s Justice Centre, Regina
Saskatoon Centre for Children’s Justice, Saskatoon

Alberta
Caribou Child and Youth Advocacy Centre, Grand Prairie
Sheldon Kennedy Child Advocacy Centre, Calgary

British Columbia
Alisa’s Wish Child and Youth Advocacy Centre, Maple Ridge–Pitt Meadows
Sophie’s Place Child Advocacy Centre, Surrey

The Government has also provided funding for projects that explore the creation, development or adaptation of the CAC model in the following communities:

Ontario
Brampton
Kitchener
Ottawa
Sioux Lookout

British Columbia
Vancouver (Vancouver Child and Youth Advocacy Centre project)
Vernon (North Okanagan Child and Youth Advocacy Centre project)
Victoria (ORCA)
West Kootenay Boundary (Safe Kids & Youth (SKY) Coordinated Response)

Yukon
Whitehorse (Project Lynx)

Northwest Territories
Yellowknife

Nunavut

Iqaluit (Umingmak Child and Youth Protection Centre)

Other concrete measures undertaken by the Government of Canada since 2006 to keep children safe in their communities include:

• Introducing Bill C-26, the Tougher Penalties for Child Predators Act, legislation to combat child sexual exploitation;
• Bringing in the Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act to protect Canadians, and in particular youth, from online exploitation and cyberbullying;
• Increasing penalties for sexual offences against children and creating two new offences aimed at conduct that could facilitate or enable a sexual offence against a child;
• Strengthening the sex offender registry;
• Increasing the age of protection, also known as the age of consent to sexual activity, from 14 to 16 years;
• Eliminating house arrest for offenders who commit serious and violent offences;
• Enacting legislation to make the reporting of child pornography by Internet Service Providers mandatory;
• Strengthening the sentencing and monitoring of dangerous offenders;
• Investing $14.2 million a year to protect children from predators through the National Strategy for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation on the Internet;
• Providing, under that strategy, a range of services to law enforcement, via the National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre headed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, including: the ability to immediately respond to a child at risk; coordination of investigative files; expertise in victim identification techniques; management of multi-jurisdictional cases; undertaking operationally-relevant research; and providing specialized training in the area of online child sexual exploitation investigations; and,
• Increasing public awareness of the risks posed by children’s activities online by providing $9.5 million over five years to the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P), which operates Cybertip.ca, Canada’s national tipline for the public to report suspected cases of online sexual exploitation of children. C3P has also launched a number of public awareness and age-appropriate educational resources for teachers, parents and youth, including a resource guide entitled School and Family Approaches to Intervention and Prevention: Addressing Self/Peer Exploitation, and the related NeedHelpNow.ca website, where Canadians can seek help from exploitation resulting from the non-consensual sharing of sexual images.

Today’s announcement is subject to parliamentary approval.