- Reaction score
- 6,479
- Points
- 1,360
I can guarantee the perpetrators of these crimes had no problem with their paperwork to get legal aid though...........
:rage:
Crime victims treated like 'rats'
Ontario's ombudsman highlights two London cases as he slams a fund that's supposed to help.
By KELLY PEDRO, SUN MEDIA
An Ontario agency meant to help victims of crime and their families financially instead treats them "like rats in a maze," a scathing report released yesterday said.
Ombudsman Andre Marin highlighted two London cases to show how staff at the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board drown victims and their families in paperwork and delays because the board can't afford to pay compensation.
- Al Almeida, whose daughter Naiomi, 5, was raped and murdered in 2001, leaving him shattered by grief and unable to work, was "treated as though he was a con artist trying to scam the (board), rather than as a survivor of a horrific crime," said the report, titled Adding Insult to Injury. Even when Almeida and his young son were on the verge of eviction, the board refused to confirm his compensation had been granted and was waiting to be processed.
- Eva-Marie Devine, a blind retiree whose daughter, Deborah, was killed last year in London, had to choose between food and burying her daughter. When she desperately appealed to the board, the report said, she was shuffled between workers who told her to redo documentation before she could get help.
"They asked me why I believe I'm a victim. How can they ask that?" said Almeida, who watched Marin's news conference in Toronto.
"We're talking about a that was kidnapped, raped and murdered while I slept in the next room. I feel like I let my daughter down as a father."
Almeida and his son, now 14, were awarded $7,000 each, the report said.
Almeida said he was forced to sign a confidentiality agreement, but the amount he was given was a far cry from what he was seeking in lost wages because of mental anguish from Naiomi's death.
"They think within two years everything will be back to normal. It's not . . . it's like we were put in prison ourselves."
Marin said the board has been the government's "dirty little secret" for the last decade.
"It's put victims through the wringer time and time again, and frankly it's the commission or government body in the worst shape our office has encountered in 32 years."
He said staff at the board developed a "document fetish" and became so obsessed with having their lengthy application forms filled out perfectly that they rejected one man's claim because he forgot to dot an i in his name.
Marin's report blamed successive Ontario governments for underfunding the board and allowing it to "embrace lethargy and delay as a survival tactic."
Attorney General Michael Bryant broke the law by directing the board not to issue payments to save money and stay under budget, Marin said.
Ontario's Victim Justice Fund, which provides money for programs and services, has an $80-million surplus that the government refuses to use to compensate victims of crime, Marin noted.
It takes an average of three years to process a crime victim's compensation claim in Ontario, compared with two months in Quebec.
The board gets 35,000 calls from victims every year and sends out about 7,500 applications for compensation. Almost half will eventually give up, the report said.
Marin launched an investigation after an increasing number of complaints to the ombudsman's office from people who he said felt they were victimized by the board's actions.
Marin's report made seven recommendations, including that the Ministry of the Attorney General provide the board with the resources to process claims.
VICTIMS FUND FACTS
- Revenue in the fund provides money for programs and services to help victims of crime.
- The fund has an $80-million surplus the government refuses to use to compensate victims.
- Cash is collected via a victim surcharge -- a fine imposed on all provincial offences such as speeding tickets and liquor licence offences. The fine is determined by a graduated scale that can range from $10 to $125. If a fine is $1,000 or more, then the victim surcharge is 25 per cent
