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"Creating a Framework for the Wisdom of the Community:" Review of Victim Services in Nunavut, Northwest and Yukon Territories
- 4.0 Yukon Territory
- 4.5 Summary of Needs and Recommendations
- 4.5.1 Summary of Needs
- 4.5.2 Summary of Recommendations from Service Providers
- 4.5.3 Additional Recommendations and Closing Comments
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4.5 Summary of Needs and Recommendations
4.5.1 Summary of Needs
As noted throughout this paper, most respondents felt that, compared with
other Canadian regions, particularly northern jurisdictions, the Yukon Territory
has a well developed continuum of professional services for victimized people.
They note the increasing variety of specialized services for victimized individuals
and the high volume of work being done by all agencies offering services to
victims. Some respondents believe they are seeing the results of these efforts
in greater sobriety, increased community awareness and increasing participation
in healing events. Although there is no definitive way to prove it, it may
be that lower rates of reported spousal assault, sexual assault and child
abuse are the result of these services and interventions.
However, all respondents believe that there are still gaps, barriers and
needs in the area of service provision to victimized individuals, families
and communities. These challenges, as reported by respondents, and a summary
of overall social conditions relating to victimization, are as follows:
- high levels of unresolved and
hidden historic abuse;
- high levels of cognitively impaired,
chronically traumatized and addicted individuals many of whom are victimized
on an ongoing basis;
- traditional and contemporary
beliefs that blame victims for the violence, minimize and deny the high levels
of violence and protect offenders;
- limited informal support networks
for victimized individuals;
- high rates of alcohol and drug
abuse;
- high rates of interpersonal
assault: spousal assault, sexual assault and child abuse;
- high rate of teen pregnancy;
- high rates of sexually transmitted
diseases;
- lack of community and family
support for victimized individuals;
- substantial public denial and
minimization of interpersonal violence, spousal assault, sexual assault and
child abuse which protects offenders, blames victims and keeps these crimes
largely hidden;
- public antagonism towards social
activists working in the area of victimization, particularly the victimization
of women;
- some degree of suspicion and
distrust of formal victim services available, particularly in smaller communities;
- lack of understanding and support
from political leaders in both First Nation and public governments towards
victims and victim services;
- leaders with unresolved victimization
issues and/or offending behaviours;
- lack of capacity within existing
services to deal with the level of need;
- lack of services for women with
historic abuse issues and for male victims, elderly victims, children at high
risk and child victims of violence;
- inadequate aftercare, community
development and outreach programming within existing services;
- lack of adequate crisis intervention
services, including a crisis line and sexual assault centre, particularly
in non-business hours;
- an inadequate complement of
community-based and First Nation sponsored services for victims in outlying
communities such as women’s shelters, victim services, counselling resources,
healing programs and treatment options;
- lack of long-term programs for
cognitively impaired and neurologically damaged victims;
- an absence of program standards
and evaluation processes for agencies working with victims, including lack
of protocol and policy around confidentiality and case management;
- lack of clarity around the roles
and responsibilities of the various agencies assisting victims;
- inadequate resource sharing
amongst agencies;
- inadequate supports and information
for parents, teachers and others dealing with acting out children and youth;
- lack of understanding and application
of a victim-centred approach in most service sectors;
- a lack of cultural and historical
understanding between the various ethnic groups, particularly First Nations
and non- Aboriginal groups, with the result that victim programs are not jointly
planned or supported;
- a lack of understanding in all
service sectors, including judiciary, police, corrections, victim services,
social and medical services, about the dynamics and recovery process of victimization
and trauma;
- a lack of understanding in all
sectors about the power imbalances in male/female relationships;
- inadequate statistical information
gender that is consistently updated;
- inappropriate use of restorative
justice initiatives which pressure victims into participating in healing and
sentencing circles against their will;
- inappropriate sharing of Victim
Impact Statements in restorative justice initiatives;
- inappropriate treatment of victim/witnesses
by defence counsel;
- disagreement over the separation
of offenders and victims during court ordered offender treatment programs;
and
- lack of police enforcement of
no-contact orders and breaches of probation.
4.5.2 Summary of Recommendations from Service Providers
Respondents offered a wide variety of recommendations throughout the interview
process. These recommendations are summarized below under the headings of
public awareness; specific program resources, community-based resources, for
judicial system and law enforcement, and for legislation.
Public Awareness
- the adoption, by society and
by service providers, of a victim-centred approach to ending violence;[150]
-
an aggressive and intense public
awareness campaign around family violence, sexual assault and child abuse;
- the employment of respected
elders, youth and others as community role models;
- band council and First Nation
resolutions which make a public commitment to ending spousal assault, sexual
assault and child abuse;
- the formation of men’s groups
which support ending violence against women and children, and assist women’s
groups in their work around these issues;
- a respectful public debate around
the issues of victimization and violence against women; and
- subsidized substance-free social
events for youth and adults.
Program Resources: Training
- training for all professional
service providers, including judiciary, police, health workers, victims services
workers, addictions workers and medical personnel, working with victimized
people in the dynamics of trauma and victimization, the recovery process and
the power imbalances in male/female relationships;
- training for all service providers
in First Nations culture and history; and
- more support, resources and
training for police, teachers and others in a position to intervene in violent
situations.
Program Resources: Capacity
- increased staffing for over
burdened agencies;
- improved facilities for agencies
offering residential and large group programs;
- subsidized counselling available
in non-business hours and subsidized counselling for women wishing to access
feminist counsellors; and
- more transitional housing space
available to traumatized women in Whitehorse.
Program Resources: Practical
Support
- more resource and information
sharing, and joint planning, between agencies;
- ongoing, rather than year-to-year,
funding for agency programs;
- the development of program standards,
core competencies and evaluation processes for agencies and governments working
with victims, including protocols and policies around confidentiality and
case management; and
- the production of statistical
information that is provided by gender and consistently updated.
Program Resources: New Programs
- more youth recreational programs;
- more early intervention programs
for high risk families with young children;
- more victim-centred programs
for elders, children and men;
- more aftercare, community development
and outreach programming in existing service agencies;
- more crisis intervention services:
a toll-free territory-wide crisis line and a sexual assault centre;
- services that provide long-term
care for chronically victimized and often cognitively impaired adults;
- a First Nations healing centre;
- a youth shelter;
- a shelter for men who are victimized
and/or transient;
- additions to school curriculums
that include information on interpersonal violence, communications, conflict
resolution, etc.;
- groups for survivors of spousal
assault, sexual assault and other types of violence; and
- an outpatient social worker
at the hospital.
Program Resources: Community-Based
Resources
- more support to victims in communities
with victim service programs, Stop the Violence counsellors, women’s shelters,
youth programming and early intervention programs in each community;
- more support to community-based
agencies working with victims in the form of mentorship programs, clinical
supervision and regular debriefing; and
- greater public government support
to First Nations recovery programs and greater efforts to work with these
governments, and other agencies, to reach victimized First Nations individuals,
families and communities.
Judicial System and Law Enforcement
- mandatory charging in all family
violence and sexual assault cases;
- mandatory treatment for all
violent offenders;
- stiffer sentences for violent
offenders;
- review the policy of allowing
offenders to stay with their victims during treatment;
- recognition of the unpaid work
of women in court cases and a halt to the pilot project asking spouses to
forgive court-ordered child support payments;
- police enforcement of no-contact
orders and action on breaches of probation;
- more training for police, judges
and JPs in family violence, sexual assault, victimization and male/female
power imbalances in relationships;
- longer police placements in
northern jurisdictions and more experienced officers;
- censuring of defence counsel
who abuse witnesses during trials;
- more training, supervision and
monitoring for Community Justice Committees and others working in restorative
justice programs with a focus on the needs of victims and the dynamics of
trauma;
- requirement that Community Justice
Committees start with smaller property crimes before working on cases involving
violence;
- requirements that the criminal
justice system and restorative justice programs work more closely together
on treatment plans, offender follow-up and victim safety; and
- placement of more youth on the
Youth Justice Panel.
Legislation
- the passage of a Victims of
Crime Act that would validate and enshrine the rights of victims in law;
- the passage of a Violence Against
Women Act which would recognize the power imbalances in male/female relationships
and force consideration of this dynamic in legal and criminal matters;
- the establishment of a Yukon,
rather than federal, Crown Attorney;
- the passage of an Adult Guardianship
Act and an Assisted Decision Making Act to legally assist cognitively impaired
and FAS adults without advocates;
- the passage of a Child Advocate’s
Act; and
- the re-establishment of a Victims
Compensation Fund for victims needing financial assistance with their recovery.
4.5.3 Additional Recommendations and Closing Comments
The above recommendations are self-explanatory but would perhaps not be
complete without some reference, and further emphasis on other key issues.
Bridging the “Disconnect”
As stated and described throughout this paper, there are a relatively
large number of well-developed, universally available services for victims
in the Yukon, especially compared to other northern jurisdictions. These services,
according to respondents and observers, base their work on an increasingly
solid foundation of current information about trauma, victimization and recovery.
Notwithstanding the recommendations detailed above, they provide a range of
well-planned interventions available to most sectors of society.
However, and according to most respondents, it appears that First Nations
service providers and public service providers work largely in isolation from
each other. In addition, some First Nations service providers expressed that
they, and their clients, feel some level of mistrust, and even abandonment,
in terms of public government services and community agencies. They are not
convinced these agencies and services understand them or have their best interests
at heart. On the other hand, respondents working in public government programs
and public agencies felt concerned about the difficulties they have felt around
working in close tandem with First Nations programs.
Given that First Nations people are overrepresented as clients in many
public government programs and community agencies, and given that the bulk
of territorial financial resources for victimization rest with public government
service providers and community agencies there would seem to be some need
to bridge this ‘disconnect’ between First Nations service providers and clients,
and public government and agency service providers.
Community-Based Services
Another area that perhaps needs to be addressed and emphasized separately
is the issue of community-based services. Most respondents raised this issue,
many of whom are providing community-based services and outreach programs.
However, when 74% of the population lives in one place, Whitehorse, it is
understandable that services are focused there. On the other hand, it isn’t
possible to ignore the sense of isolation, and frustration about limited community-based
resources, expressed by those service providers in smaller communities. They
note the lack of victim recovery programs, women’s shelters, offender programs,
aftercare programs, early intervention programs, youth programs and services
to the elderly, and others with special needs, in their communities. They
also referred to feeling cut off from other service providers as they attempted
to deal single handedly with dysfunctional and entrenched community, social
norms around interpersonal violence.
The ideal solution would be the provision in each community of the programs
listed above. However, until more services are available in each community
there are some steps that might be taken to reduce isolation and to fill programming
and support gaps.[151]
Increased Community-Based Resources for Victims
- the training of community-based
service providers in a community development approach to service delivery;[152]
-
the further training of the
victim assistance volunteers attached to the RCMP in most communities in cross
cultural awareness, the dynamics of victimization and the resources available
to them;
- the use of mobile trauma recovery
programs which hold treatment programs, and provide aftercare, in the smaller
communities;
- the establishment of small healing
and support groups for victimized people to increase the level of formal assistance
to victimized individuals and to assist in the establishment of informal community
support networks; and
- the funding of First Nations-sponsored
trauma recovery and healing programs, which could include one, or several,
First Nations healing centres, as requested by several respondents.
Support to Community-Based Service Providers
- the establishment of regular
interagency meetings in each community to decrease feelings of isolation for
those service providers who are assisting victims;
- the inclusion of community-based
service providers in an established wider network of territorial service providers,
for example, a network of territorial shelter workers who hold regular phone
and in-person meetings;
- the establishment of opportunities
for community-based service providers to participate in regular clinical supervision
of their work as well as opportunities for debriefing, training and counselling;[153] and
-
the establishment of yearly
conferences and/or training and healing opportunities for all territorial
service providers working with victimized people.
Services for Cognitively Impaired
Victims
A point that stands out in the interviews done with Yukon service providers
is the apparently high number of cognitively impaired victims of crime. Some
of these people are victimized on a regular basis. For example, the Family
Violence Prevention Unit, Victim Services, estimates that 60% to 75% of the
people they assist have some degree of cognitive impairment from trauma or
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. They also report that addictions are an issue in 75%
of their cases.
Service providers are attempting to cope with this situation within the
scope of their existing programs. And agencies such as the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
Society of Yukon are developing programs which target this segment of the
victimized population.
As there apparently isn’t a great deal of formalized information about
either the numbers or situations of these people the recommendation would
be that formal research be carried out which examines the following:
- the number of victimized people
in the Yukon with permanent cognitive impairment, or brain damage, from trauma
and/or Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and/or addictions;
- the current situation, needs
and circumstances of these individuals, including living conditions, employment,
informal supports, legal problems, parenting issues, life skills issues and
past treatment interventions;
- the long-term prognosis for
their lives given the services currently available to them in the Yukon; and
- recommendations for service
provision that will give them the highest quality of life and minimize their
victimization and/or acting out behaviours.[154]
The issue of cognitive impairment, amongst both victims and offenders,
is a relatively recent area of awareness within the intervention, addictions,
treatment, judicial, correctional and policing systems. Those groups with
the most experience in this area, in this early stage of public understanding,
are front line service providers who live and work on a daily basis with cognitively
impaired individuals. This group includes foster parent associations, group
home staff, residential treatment staff, organizations whose focus is cognitive
impairment, teachers and the family and
friends of cognitively impaired persons. It would be appropriate for these
more experienced service providers and family members to offer training, support
and information to those government departments and agencies who find they
are dealing with large numbers of cognitively impaired victimized individuals.
In the final analysis, it may be that existing and future programs designed
to assist victims will have to make major adjustments to their intervention
and treatment approach taking the possibility of cognitive impairment (along
with culture, traumatic symptoms and many other factors listed throughout
this paper) into consideration. It is also likely that victimized individuals
with permanent brain damage will need long-term specialized services that
are beyond the scope of existing formal services and informal support networks.
Support to these individuals will involve a conscious multi-faceted and community-wide
effort.
[150] A victim-centred approach makes the needs and
rights of victims the central priority.
[151] Several of these suggestions are already being
employed successfully by some community-based service providers.
[152] See the Nunavut chapter of this paper for more
explanation of a community development approach.
[153] These supports to community-based service providers
need to be built into the program’s yearly budget.
[154] A possible starting point in reviewing suitable programs for
this population is the STOP FAS program of Manitoba Health. This is a community-based
mentoring and support program for traumatized and brain-damaged mothers
at risk of having FAS children and is based on several successful similar
programs in the United States.
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