1. Introduction

A key priority for the Government of Canada is to strengthen diversity and inclusion so that Canadians of all backgrounds and ages have a voice and can participate fully in all spheres of society, including the policy development process. There is growing support and interest in this country and around the world in engaging people in public policymaking, as evidenced by the emergence of various structures and consultation activities for input at various levels of organizational, institutional, and government decision-making.

The Federal Victims Strategy (FVS) (2007-present) celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2025. The objective of the FVS is to give victims a more effective voice in the criminal justice and federal corrections systems. The FVS is a horizontal initiative which involves not only the Department of Justice Canada (JUS), but also other federal departments and agencies. A Federal/Provincial/Territorial Working Group on Victims of Crime is also well established to ensure that there is collaboration with provinces and territories, as well as all federal partners that have a mandate to work on victim-related files. The Policy Centre for Victim Issues (PCVI), established in 2000, is the policy centre responsible overall for the FVS.

In the early years of the FVS, which was originally called the Victims of Crime Initiative (VCI), there was an external advisory body to PCVI that included victims and survivors of crime from across the country. Currently, there exists an Organizing Committee for the annual National Victims and Survivors of Crime Week, coordinated by the Department. As well, there are regional advisory committees that provide input into the policy and program work of the Correctional Service of Canada and the Parole Board of Canada. The Office of the Federal Ombudsperson for Victims of Crime also has different advisory groups, including one of academics, though that Office operates at arms-length from the Department of Justice.

Although there have been reviews of literature on current practices for engaging children and youth, mental health patients, offenders in custody, and victims in policy development, most are out of date. Given the objective of the FVS, the PCVI is interested in exploring different models of engagement with different communities, but specifically victims and survivors of crime in Canada.

The objective of this research was to examine different models of engagement with different communities through a review of publicly available gray and academic literature and online websites.

Catalyst Research and Communications was engaged to carry out the review, and work began on February 17, 2025. This draft report and an accompanying PowerPoint presentation represent an initial overview of the results of the review. Following feedback from the Department of Justice Canada, a final version of both documents was prepared and shared in a presentation to the Department.

A note on language

The use of the term “victim” can often be an impediment to engagement. Some community members, particularly Indigenous people and women, do not want to identify as prescribed victim and would have less affiliation to an engagement process framed in those terms.

The word “engagement” is also problematic in some communities. As an Indigenous Elder recently commented, you don’t need engagement when you have a relationship. As such, this paper emphasizes models where relationships are formed and established through advisory or collaborative bodies, or by engagement processes through community-based organizations that are trusted by community members.