National Victims of Crime Awareness Week (Victims Week) is held each year in April to raise awareness about issues facing victims of crime and the services, programs and laws in place to help victims and their families.
The 10th annual Victims Week is being observed across Canada from April 19 to 25, 2015, with the theme "Shaping the Future Together."
The theme "Shaping the Future Together" recognizes that:
- Many victims are looking to move beyond their victimization and shape their own future. While all victims of crime define their experience differently, their victimization does not need to define them.
- Throughout Canada, countless dedicated professionals and volunteers devote their time to shaping a better future for victims of crime. Victim service providers and criminal justice professionals give information and meaningful support to victims and their families at the community, provincial, territorial and federal levels to help victims as they navigate the criminal justice system. They strive to shape a future that includes effective and efficient services to victims of crime.
- Over the past ten years, Victims Week has helped to shape the future for victims by raising awareness about the issues facing victims of crime and the services, programs and laws in place to help victims and their families. Through funding and collaboration with organizations that provide victim services, we are shaping the future together.
- Canada has made significant advances towards shaping a future where victims are treated with courtesy, compassion, and respect they deserve while navigating the criminal justice system. By working together, all levels of government in Canada are helping to give victims of crime a more effective voice in the criminal justice system.
The Government of Canada, through the Department of Justice Canada's Victims Fund, provided funding of up to $10,000 to organizations to host events during Victims Week 2015. This year, more than 190 events are being held, including at least one in every province and territory. To view the complete list of funded projects and events, visit the Victims Week Map of Events at http://www.victimsweek.gc.ca/map-carte/events-evene.aspx.
For more information about Victims Week, including videos and testimonials, resources, and information about past symposia, please visit www.victimsweek.gc.ca.
