Evaluation of the Justice Canada Federal Victims Strategy

1 Introduction

1.1 Purpose of the Evaluation

This report presents the results of the evaluation of the Justice Canada Federal Victims Strategy (Justice FVS) which was part of the Department of Justice Canada (Justice Canada) 2019-2020 Integrated Audit and Evaluation Plan. The evaluation was conducted in accordance with the Treasury Board’s Policy on Results (2016), which requires departments to measure and evaluate performance and use the resulting information to manage and improve programs, policies, and services.

1.2 Evaluation Scope

The scope was determined based on a review of available information as of January 2020 as well as through consultations with an Evaluation Working Group (i.e., representatives from the Policy Centre for Victim Issues [PCVI] and the Innovations, Analysis, and Integration Directorate [IAID]). The evaluation examined the continued relevance, effectiveness, design and delivery, and efficiency of the Justice FVS and covered the fiscal period of 2015-16 to 2019-20.

The evaluation scope included the multi-pronged approach of the Justice FVS: criminal law reform, program development and delivery (e.g., Victims Fund Grants and Contributions [Gs&Cs]), and policy development and federal leadership. Several areas for more in-depth focus were also identified, given current priorities of the Department or because they had not been assessed to a significant degree in previous evaluations. These areas included: services and supports for families of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG); the use of and access to testimonial aids (TAs)^{Footnote i}; and addressing gaps in victims services for adult victims of sexual offenses in the criminal justice system. In addition, to assess the impact of actions taken by the Justice FVS to address recommendations from previous evaluations,^{Endnote 1} the current evaluation included questions on federal leadership and federal, provincial, and territorial (FPT) collaboration and coordination as well as operational efficiency of the Justice FVS.

Footnote

Footnote i

TAs are supports that can be provided to victims and witnesses to make it easier for them to give their testimony during court proceedings. Traditional TAs include witness screens and closed-circuit television (CCTV) to shield the victim/witness from the accused and support persons to accompany the victim/witness throughout court proceedings. Additional supports include, but are not limited to, child-friendly or "soft" waiting rooms and separate entrances for court buildings to make the victim/witness more comfortable and spare them from seeing the accused, courtroom orders from a judge such as publication bans and exclusion of the public from court proceedings to protect the identity of the victim/witness, and other technology supports such as assistive listening kits for victims/witnesses who are hard of hearing and soft-spoken kits (e.g., voice amplifiers).

Return to footnote i referrer

Date modified:: 2021-08-13

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Evaluation of the Justice Canada Federal Victims Strategy

1 Introduction

1.1 Purpose of the Evaluation

1.2 Evaluation Scope