Office of the Federal Ombudsperson for Victims of Crime: Annual Report (2020-2021)

Message from the Ombudsman

I am pleased to present the 2020–2021 Annual Report of the Office of the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime. The report covers the period from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021.

I am very proud of what we have achieved since I was appointed Ombudsman in 2018. Over the past three years, we have made it our mission to honour our mandate by committing to an approach that centres victims’ and survivors’ lived experience, is informed by trauma, and based on strength. As such, we have worked to engage new communities of victims and survivors across Canada, to learn from and raise awareness of their experiences within and across the criminal justice system.

During the 2019-2020 fiscal year, we created our first-ever Indigenous Advisory Circle and Academic Advisory Circle, which help ensure that our work is based on evidence. We also explored new ways to make meaningful recommendations for change. We built new relationships and created virtual platforms to share points of view, and we made it easier for victims and survivors, frontline workers, academic experts, and other stakeholders to share their knowledge with those who make decisions in government.

I am especially proud of these achievements in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This challenging year altered our way 2 Office of the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime of life and the provision of services to the public; it was a time of increased family and financial stress, and fear and uncertainty. Those who were already at risk of violence and victimization were most unsafe. Like many organizations, the government put health rules in place to keep people safe from COVID-19. These rules made it hard for the criminal justice system to function effectively, often at the expense of victims’ rights. It is within this context that the OFOVC worked harder than ever to put victims first, and this report details how.

During this period, we marked the fifth year of the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights (CVBR) by releasing the Progress Report on theCanadian Victims Bill of Rights. The Progress Report assessed the Bill’s performance in upholding the rights it gives to victims. In it, we provided 15 recommendations to make the CVBR stronger and improve outcomes for victims and survivors of crime. Alongside the release of the Progress Report, we launched a Call to Action to encourage Parliament to review the CVBR. We built on our call to action through webinars, to encourage dialogue with our stakeholders; many of them joined this call. We plan to continue these efforts into the next fiscal year, and I am pleased to see that momentum continues to grow.

This past year, the OFOVC answered a record number of 644 calls from victims and survivors of crime, and made numerous interventions on behalf of victims in order to ensure they are treated fairly across the justice system. The OFOVC also made 80 recommendations to government this year. An overview of those recommendations are presented in this report, and the rest are available in full on our website. The COVID-19 pandemic also reaffirmed our commitment to preventing violence, and to that end, this report presents the many recommendations we made to government to achieve better outcomes for victims and survivors. It also highlights the areas where the OFOVC successfully influenced policy.

Finally, this report presents the conferences, webinars and meetings that I held or attended to talk about our work. At these events, I also listened to the experiences and concerns of victims, practitioners and researchers.

All the while, our work remained grounded in the values and ethics of Ombudsman offices and the federal public service: we were impartial and sought fairness, and valued diversity, inclusion and intersectionality. Personally, I remained committed to the Principles on the Protection and Promotion of the Ombudsman Institution (the Venice Principles). These principles recognize the importance of independent institutions like ours and guide their effective operation.

I recognize and thank the many survivors of crime, their families and the service providers who engage with us for sharing their lived experiences. I also thank the OFOVC team for their accomplishments this year, and for their commitment to victims and survivors of crime.

Throughout these uncertain times, the OFOVC will stay true to its mandate: to issue reports, provide recommendations, bring public transparency to issues within government institutions at the federal level, and across the criminal justice system— so victims receive fair treatment, respect for their rights, and the dignity and care they deserve.

Heidi Illingworth
Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime

About us
2020-2021 at a glance
Engaging with our Communities of Experts
Progress Report on the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights
Case Stories
Recommendations to Government
Operations and Financials
Looking Ahead

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