New victims of crime benefits delayed, existing Alberta program limits 'naive,' advocates say
CBC
A temporary program to compensate victims of crime in Alberta is robbing people of the benefits they deserve, victims and advocates say.
Changes to how the Alberta government allots money from the victims of crime and public safety fund could also lead to higher long-term costs for the health system, social services and corrections, says Debra Tomlinson, CEO of the Alberta Association of Sexual Assault Services.
"It really is not adequate to meet the needs of survivors of sexual assault," she said of the program.
Drawing ire is a 45-day time limit a victim has to apply for benefits. Applicants used to have two years from the date of the crime.
"This is really naive and, quite frankly, uninformed to make a decision about what it means for a survivor to even acknowledge to themselves what happened, let alone report," said Mary Jane James, CEO of the Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton.
There is also now a $1,000 limit on reimbursements for counselling. Tomlinson and James say that's nowhere near enough to cover the amount of treatment most victims need. Most qualified therapists bill around $200 an hour.
The changes baffle Dawn Aitken. Eight years ago, a man assaulted her while she was serving legal papers to someone on a rural property.
She was in denial at first. It took years for her to seek counselling, after another violent incident. A victims' services volunteer told her about the benefits, and she applied just before the former two-year deadline.
It's "ridiculous" to expect victims to file a claim within six weeks, she said.
"I can't see myself having been in any frame of mind to be able to fill out documents," Aitken said. "To even maybe discuss what happened."
She received $10,000 in compensation, which helped her pay bills and gave her a sense of justice.
Less successful in their application was a Calgary family, who CBC is not identifying.
A woman says her daughter was 16 when she and another teenage friend were sexually assaulted by a man working in a restaurant.
The parents paid for tens of thousands of dollars of therapy to help the young woman, now 20, to cope with the attack.
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