TORONTO - Ontario needs an independent advocate to speak out for victims of violent crime if the province is serious about advancing their interests, a new report recommended Thursday.
An advocate for victims would be able to "shine an early, bright and very public light" on problems that ended up plaguing the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board for years, former Ontario chief justice Roy McMurtry said in his long-awaited report.
But naming an advocate for crime victims who would report directly to the legislature likely won't be at the top of the government's to-do list, Attorney General Chris Bentley suggested after the report was released.
"I have Mr. McMurtry's suggestion for the advocate," Bentley said in an interview from London, Ont.
"In light of the conclusions in the report, and the history of advocacy in this province, it's not clear that that should be one of the priorities."
Much like the Ontario advocate for children and youth, the victim advocate would monitor the needs of victims and the support services and programs available to them, as well as argue in favour of program and policy reforms, McMurtry's report said.
"Crime victims are often the forgotten individuals of the criminal justice system and are sometimes treated with less attention, respect and sensitivity than they deserve," he wrote.
The 107-page report also recommended that the government set and meet performance targets for its compensation programs, which would help identify problem areas before they spiral out of control.
An annual report evaluating the performance of its victim support programs and how much money is being spent should also be published, the report concluded.
Victims who are often left to navigate their way through a byzantine maze of victim services and programs should only fill out a single form if they're seeking compensation, it added.
And if the province wants to maintain the integrity of its victim support programs, it must provide "adequate and consistent" funding, the report recommended.
The governing Liberals asked McMurtry to come up with a new framework for victim support and compensation last year in the wake of a blistering report from the province's ombudsman.
The report, "Adding Insult to Injury," called the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board the government's "dirty little secret" and blasted successive Ontario governments for underfunding it.
The board embraced "lethargy and delay as a survival tactic" while treating victims as if they were con artists trying to scam the system for money, said ombudsman Andre Marin.
In Ontario, it took an average of three years to process a crime victim's compensation claim, compared with two months in Quebec and up to six months in British Columbia -- both of which process many more claims than Ontario.
Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory said he's not surprised the Liberals are balking at the idea of a provincial victim advocate.
"The rights of the victims of crime have never been a priority for (Premier Dalton) McGuinty's government," Tory said Thursday.
"The only time when they took any action to do anything for them was when they were dragged kicking and screaming into doing it by the ombudsman's report."
It's "regrettable" that the government would commission a report only to ignore its most important recommendation, said NDP justice critic Peter Kormos.
"The office of a victim advocate -- as an officer of the (legislative) assembly -- would address all of the concerns that victims have had and permit the legislature to receive non-partisan guidance on a regular basis of where the gaps are in the system."
Since Marin's report, the government has invested a significant amount of money to improve the system and speed things up, including $100 million over several years for the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board, Bentley said.
"We are, as Mr. McMurtry says, a leader and a model for other jurisdictions," he said.
"We have had in this province a history of very strong advocacy on behalf of victims in all parties, at all levels and in all circumstances."
