6th Annual Crime Prevention Guide

Saskatchewan Federation of Police Officers 89 Profile of victim service providers in 2011/2012 • A total of 760 victim service providers operating in Canada responded to the Victim Services Survey for the 2011/2012 year ending March 31, 2012. Of these, 36% were police-based, 24% were community-based, 14% were sexual assault centres, 10% were court-based, 7% were Ontario Victim Crisis Assistance and Referral Services, 7% were system-based, and 2% of service providers were categorized as other, unspecified types. There were ten provincial compensation programs, four of which were administered in conjunction with other types of services.8 • The victim service providers that provided information reported that they had assisted close to 460,000 primary and secondary victims of crime in 2011/2012. • The types of assistance most often offered directly by victim service providers in 2011/2012 included: protection (92%), support for participation in the justice system (90%), and information to assist victims in the justice system (89%). In addition, 64% offered medical-related services and over half provided shelter-related services (59%) or assistance with compensation (56%). Counselling services were available from 47% of providers. • In 2011/2012, 4 in 10 victim service providers in Canada indicated that they offered dedicated programs to specific victim groups. About one-third reported that they had programs dedicated for adults (37%), seniors (31%) or children (32%). About one-quarter indicated that they had dedicated programming for female victims (24%) and 14% had dedicated programming for male victims.9 • Other dedicated programs frequently offered by victim service providers in Canada included programming for Aboriginal persons (28%), lesbian or bisexual women (21%), persons with physical disabilities (20%), persons with developmental disabilities or mental disorders (19%), as well as dedicated programming for Francophones (18%) and Anglophones (18%). • In 2011/2012, the majority (76%) of victim service providers in Canada served areas that have a minimum population of 1,000, and 57% served areas that include small towns, villages and other areas with less than 1,000 population. Almost one-quarter (24%) served reserves, with 5% of victim service providers located on a reserve. • Of the victim service providers in Canada for which information was available in 2011/2012, 9% of providers reported involvement in the delivery or coordination of restorative justice processes for criminal justice matters. In addition, 18% of victim service providers reported offering orientation and information for restorative justice or mediation measures, and 27% offered accompaniment and support for restorative justice or mediation measures. • The vast majority (96%) of the victim service providers who responded to the survey were able to accommodate clients with reduced mobility. In addition, almost three-quarters of victim services reported being able to provide services to people with a hearing impairment (70%) or a visual impairment (73%). • In 2011/2012, 72% of victim service providers across Canada reported that they were able to assist clients who were not able to speak English or French. Victim service providers reported that they were able to communicate verbally with clients in non-official languages, most commonly in: Spanish (25%), German (19%), Chinese languages (16%) and Punjabi (16%). Some victim service providers were also able to communicate verbally with clients in Cree (12%), other Aboriginal languages (11%)10, å VICTIM SERVICES IN CANADA PROVINCIAL AND TERRITORIAL FACT SHEETS

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