Lately, our journalist Marie-Michèle Sioui tells us, victims of criminal acts have received a small letter with serious consequences from the compensation program for victims of criminal acts (IVAC) announcing to them the imminent end of payment of their services. Have they recovered from the traumatic effects of the event that propelled them, despite themselves, towards this regime? Never mind. The law decrees that suffering has an expiration date. After a maximum period of five years, you must move forward alone.
In The duty, the testimony of Sébastien Courtois can only be moving. The father of little Jules, seriously injured when a bus driver violently hit a Laval daycare a year ago, knows that under the IVAC compensation plan, his recovery must be completed within a said day. Exit the effects of post-traumatic shock – nightmares, anxiety and hypervigilance -, at least in the eyes of Quebec, which will stop paying him the equivalent of 90% of his salary on a date set by law. to compensate for the fact that he is not able to resume his professional life. “When we tell you that, it’s a bit of a sword of Damocles. In two years, I need to be better. »
The expiration date on suffering is a concept that emerged from the 2021 overhaul of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act. Previously, those compensated could be compensated for life, if the situation required it. The Act was overhauled almost three years ago by the Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette, with the — laudable — objective of broadening its scope and reaching a greater number of victims. This objective has been achieved, if we are to believe the minister, who says he is “extremely proud” of this reform. If the progress made by the reform is notable, it seems that we have obscured a major part of the meaning and aims of the Law by coldly decreeing that pain must come to an end. Let’s say it frankly: this goes completely against the foundations of this law and the reason for this regime, which must support people destroyed by the impact of a tragedy that has occurred in their lives.
In 2021, while the study of Bill 84 raised its share of opposition, the Public Protector had already sounded the alarm, precisely on this modification to the Act which provided that financial support compensating for a loss of income be paid for a maximum period of two, three, four or five years (depending on the situation), specified François Legault, while the old version of the Act did not impose any time limit. “An unconsolidated physical or psychological injury can prevent a victim from working, hence the need for them to continue to receive” compensation, noted the Protector, who recommended not imposing a term on the payment of the sums. . Once the deadline has passed, victims still unable to work will have to turn to aid or social solidarity measures, the benefits of which are significantly lower.
“Consolidating” a wound as deep as the loss of a loved one by murder, yes, it can be the story of an entire life. It is deeply disturbing to note that this principle of maximum duration of benefits, regardless of the situation, has been endorsed in law. Logic would dictate that we have at least a mechanism for evaluating the seriousness of the after-effects after a certain time, making it possible to gauge the need to continue paying compensation or not, if indeed the principle governing the decision of the era was the fear of abuse of the system. The abrupt cessation of benefits, without the ability to appeal, goes against the very essence of the IVAC’s mission, which is to compensate for a person’s inability to meet their needs.
Minister Jolin-Barrette is right to be proud of a positive outcome, because the effects of the 2021 overhaul have actually made it possible to expand the number of people who can benefit from IVAC, and by a lot. Last December, when taking stock of the two years of the reform, the minister said in an interview with The Canadian Press that he had doubled the number of people registered with the system, including 4,000 thanks to the increase in the number of eligible offenses. The new law also broadened the scope of the concept of victims. And Quebec has increased the total amounts allocated to the IVAC.
So much good news and laudable intentions do not erase the enormous stain on the record that constitutes the denial of respect and compassion towards the victims, among whom are undoubtedly those whose recovery is most compromised by force of trauma. This omission deserves to be corrected.