Campaign Update: 29-April-2023
Hello everyone,
Today, I am pleased to share an important update about this campaign and our next steps with you.
The members of this campaign team have collectively served Alberta’s justice system and victim services units for decades. We have dedicated ourselves as career professionals and volunteer workers to ensure that all Albertans are safe and have access to appropriate supports at all times.
Over the years, we have had the opportunity to celebrate the incredible strength and impact of our local victim services units. We have scheduled and attended hundreds of hours of training with our teams, met with allied professionals and experts on a number of topics to help us work more effectively, and have dutifully executed our roles as members of boards of directors.
We understand and appreciate that our experiences place us in a position of privilege that not all victim services units, nor the people who access their services, have benefited from.
Between November 2019 and November 2020, the Government of Alberta conducted a review of victim services in two phases. Persistent issues identified barriers to success for some units, and past efforts to remedy some factors that were negatively impacting teams failed. The review was designed to inform decisions that would, by intent, support victim services for all Albertans. Information about the engagements related to this review can be found here.
In early 2021, a final report and recommendations were provided to the Minister of Justice and Solicitor General. These recommendations can be found here.
As information about the proposed victim services redesign began to reach the public, local victim services units – including all of ours – were concerned. We contacted our Members of the Legislative Assembly, the Minister’s office and the redesign team to discuss these matters.
Our team was worried about how the zonal model would impact service delivery. We have feared challenges with dispatch, the level of service that will be provided, and the risk of a lack of experience in the final organization if intentional steps were not taken to retain high-calibre, experienced, and knowledgeable workers.
Over the last 2 years, many victim services units have engaged with members of the Government to understand the redesign. Members of our group acknowledge the opportunity to improve victim services across the province by working together, and have wanted to support the Government in meeting their goals in a better way than the initial plans communicated. Some of us called for a halt to the redesign, while others demanded a pause while meaningful consultations took place.
While we appreciate that some information was shared with units over the last two years, many of the communications did not meet the needs of the people representing victim services units.
This campaign was launched after attempts to improve collaboration with the Government of Alberta did not reach their potential. Our campaign has had one primary goal – to help the Government achieve their goals related to victim services in a better way.
In recent weeks, some members of this campaign team have met in person with members of the redesign team. Those engagements were meaningful, generative, and open. The Government team has been honest with us, and has accepted our honest feedback. We have discussed changes to the redesign plan since its initial concept, and have clarified issues where adequate information has not been readily available.
Based on the current trajectory for the redesign, and our recent interactions with the Government of Alberta, we believe that this campaign has, substantively, achieved its goal. While we feel that the redesign plan still has room to improve, we acknowledge that the redesign team is listening, and changes have been made that will improve outcomes for all Albertans. There is a lot of work to do, and our team will be most helpful to all our partners if we focus on how we can support one another going forward.
So that we can direct our energy where it will be most helpful, we are concluding this campaign and petition.
If you are a VSU that has not yet met with the redesign team – we cannot stress enough how important it is that you reach out to schedule that meeting today.
If you are a member of the general public who wishes to continue supporting victim services, please connect with your local victim services unit and ask what support they need.
Thank you,
C
Without
imediate action
changes to how victims services
are funded and delivered in Alberta
will affect you and people you care about.
If you or someone you know is at imminent risk or harm call 911.
If you are safe, click above to find a victim services unit near you.
An Open Letter
Hello Neighbours,
The Government of Alberta is making changes to victim services that will affect All Albertans. The plan is to prohibit all currently operating experienced, professional, local and impactful victims services units from delivering police-based victims services, and transition to a service operated in four geographic zones.
With these changes scheduled to take effect April 1, 2024, the boards governing the more than 60 registered victim services units are being forced to consider the future of their organizations this year. They have been informed that they will not be permitted to work in police detachments as part of this redesign, and will not have access to case files to support their work with victims of crime. Their funding agreements with the Government of Alberta will not be extended once the redesign is implemented.
As well, the redesign process will change and sever many important relationships. Existing partnerships with law enforcement, the courts, and other service providers will be redefined, and relationships between current victim service units and volunteers, donors, and sponsors will end. Volunteers and workers will all need to reapply for their positions if they want to continue helping people who have experienced crime, abuse, loss, tragedy and trauma.
At the Rural Municipalities of Alberta Conference, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith was asked, “why are you making changes to Victim Services in areas where Victim Services isn’t broken?” Premier Smith responded that she “will be looking into this more because it does sound like the regional approach isn’t a good approach for all.”
We agree with the Premier that the regional approach isn’t a good approach and believe the Government of Alberta can reach its goals in a better way.
The current plan does not reflect an understanding of the key issues and drivers for victim services, and we believe that the experts in this community of practice who can help the government to achieve their goals have not been adequately consulted. Victim service units are a part of every municipality’s emergency response team, and while their teams do incredible work we acknowledge that there are opportunities to improve service to Albertans.
Ensuring continuity and sustainability of independent victim services is important to residents of Alberta. These services have a positive impact on women, children, men, employers, and entire communities. They help people return to work, to school, and to wellness sooner after times of crisis.
Alberta Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services, Mike Ellis, has made it clear that he wants All Albertans to have access to appropriate victim services.
We agree with Minister Ellis that All Albertans should have access to victim services. And we believe that meaningful consultation with experts in victim services will provide better results for the Government of Alberta than the current plan will.
There is a better way, a more efficient way, and a way that will result in better outcomes for people who have experienced a crime, abuse, loss, tragedy or trauma.
We, the undersigned residents of Alberta, petition the Legislative Assembly to meet with Victims Service Units as a collective group to discuss:
- Pausing the current trajectory for the victim services redesign until meaningful consultations have concluded and experts have had the opportunity to help the Government of Alberta meet goals related to:
- Service Delivery: Establishing a service standard for all people who access victim services in Alberta.
- Reporting and Accountability: Ensuring that the Government of Alberta receives reliable, quality data to report back to all Albertans on all key metrics and stories that victim services are responsible for.
- Collaboration and Knowledge Transfer: Building a program to harness the decades of expert knowledge and experience currently deployed across Alberta for the benefit of all victim services units.
- Sustainability: How organizations are funded and how they fundraise to ensure that community needs never go unmet.
Updated 27Mar23