MINISTER McLELLAN ANNOUNCES FUNDS FOR VICTIMS' INITIATIVES

HALIFAX, April 20, 2001 - Today, the Honourable Anne McLellan, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and the Honourable Peter Christie, Nova Scotia Minister of Community Services, announced that the Government of Canada will award over $179,000 in funding to three victims initiatives in Nova Scotia. The funding was provided through the Department of Justice's Victims Fund, as part of a federal initiative to increase the confidence of victims of crime in the criminal justice system.

Minister McLellan also announced that more than $1 million would be provided to projects in the province through the National Strategy on Community Safety and Crime Prevention. This national strategy takes an early-intervention approach to crime prevention and community safety and supports innovative, grass-roots responses to the problems of crime and victimization.

"We are committed to funding programs that will give victims of crime a voice in the criminal justice system," said Minister McLellan. "The funding provided to initiatives in Nova Scotia will help victims of crime by raising awareness of their needs and improving services to meet them."

"Nova Scotians will benefit greatly from the funds provided today," said Minister Christie. "We will now have the ability to provide even more services to victims, which will make a real difference in our communities."

The Victims Fund will be giving $175,000 over the next five years to the province of Nova Scotia's Justice Department Victims' Services Division in order to create public education material for victims of crime and to improve victim services. The province's Victims' Services Division and the Halifax Regional Police are to receive $1,184 and $2,867, respectively, to assist representatives to attend the International Conference on Children Exposed to Violence being held in London, Ontario from June 6^th to 8^th, 2001. Attending this conference will offer opportunities for the representatives to share best practices and innovative approaches to help victims.

The funding for these projects is being provided through the Victims Fund administered by the Department of Justice's Policy Centre for Victims Issues. Through this fund, $10 million in grants and contributions is available over the next five years for initiatives that will help the provinces and territories implement legislation for victims of crime, will support innovative pilot projects to help victims of crime, particularly in rural areas, and will provide limited emergency financial assistance to assist victims of crime and their families.

To find out more about the Policy Centre for Victims Issues, as well as projects announced today that are being funded through both the Victims Fund and National Crime Prevention Centre at the Department of Justice, visit http://canada.justice.gc.ca.

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Ref:

Farah Mohamed
Minister McLellan's Office
(613) 992-4621

Catherine Kane
Policy Centre for Victims Issues
(613) 957-4690