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.