IVAC Benefit Limits | Victims Left in the Dark

Victims are once again calling on Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette to review his reform of the Crime Victims Compensation (IVAC): many will see their benefits cut off on October 14. Several dozen victims came forward following a request for an interview from The PressWe collected the testimonies of four of them.

“My childhood was stolen from me. And my life as a woman was stolen from me.”

Fanny Pimparé was 8 years old when a neighbor began to sexually abuse her. Despite everything, she later managed to study, find a job as an educator, and start a family.

But in 2019, her body gave out. Doctors diagnosed her with fibromyalgia, which developed as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder. She has been unable to work since then.

Fanny Pimparé is one of some 42,000 victims who receive benefits from the IVAC, according to figures sent to The Press by the office of the Minister of Justice. This aid allows him to compensate for his loss of income and to reimburse his medical care.

But in June, she received a call saying her benefits were ending.

“I’m a shadow of myself. I’d really like to know what they’re basing their decision on to tell me I’ll be able to work again,” she says.

An impossible return to work

Other victims are in the same situation.

Nathalie Brulé was beaten for months by her friend and roommate, in the middle of the pandemic. The last attack was so violent that she lost part of her teeth when her head hit a wall.

She managed to escape her tormentor’s grip and leave. She spent two years on the streets, then finally found a small room, where she has lived ever since.

When she learned that her benefits were going to be cut off, she started looking for a job urgently. She found one on the Côte-Nord, to escape from her attacker.

For her part, Dominique* was a victim of incest from the age of 18 months to 15 years old. She has no memory of it, she discovered it in 2018. Then, she understood a year later that her ex-partner had also subjected her to abuse for years.

She now suffers from anxiety, major depression and post-traumatic stress. She believes she sees her attackers in the street when she leaves her house, hears their voices, has flashbacks.

“Everyone who follows me tells me it’s completely unrealistic that I’ll go back to work,” she says.

Three years to heal

The victims encountered by The Press expressed their incomprehension regarding the three-year benefit limit set by the government.

“I was abused for 25 years. It doesn’t take you three years to recover,” Dominique says. She was initially told her benefits would continue for as long as it took for her to recover. She was then told they would end in 2027. Then she got a call saying it would end in October of this year.

“If it had been a work or car accident, we would have compensation for life. Now, we are attacked, beaten, shot at. And after three years, we are no longer entitled to anything,” says Laura Fortin.

She was attacked in 2019 by an acquaintance in the street, who violently threw her to the ground. Her head hit the asphalt. She suffered a head trauma, with visual after-effects. She was not able to return to work afterwards.

Administrative uncertainty

The CAQ reform provides for several exceptions to the three-year limit.

” [Les victimes] will be able to continue to receive financial assistance if they are still incapacitated,” the Justice Minister’s office wrote in an email to The Press. ” [Chacune] has been contacted individually in recent months by IVAC, by letter and by telephone, in order to be informed of the possibilities available to it.

“The Quebec compensation plan is without a doubt the most generous in Canada,” he adds.

The Press was able to consult a copy of this letter sent to the victims. It states that compensation will be suspended, unless they have maintained a link with their employer or if their after-effects are particularly severe.

At the beginning of September, none of the victims encountered by The Press did not yet know whether his compensation would be extended or not, with only one month to go before the deadline.

Lawyer Sophie Mongeon, who assists some of them in their administrative procedures, herself admits that she does not understand the conditions set out in the letter. “It’s completely incomprehensible, it’s really the Wild West »she sighs.

This administrative uncertainty leaves victims in financial uncertainty and psychological distress that is difficult to bear. All fear having no choice but to return to work, when they are unable to do so.

A cry from the heart

“I’m just starting to settle down, to take care of myself again. And you, are you doing this to me?” Nathalie Brulé gasps, addressing Simon Jolin-Barrette.

“If I could, I would like to propose to the minister that we exchange our lives for just three days,” adds Fanny Pimparé. “I am sure that 24 hours later, he would say to me: ‘Take back your body, I don’t want it.’”

“They change the law whenever they want, they put us under enormous stress, they prevent us from healing. They are just killing us a little more,” says Laura Fortin.

“I feel like I’m being taken advantage of again. I feel like I’m not grateful enough. I would really like that, to contribute to society again. But I really can’t right now,” Dominique says.

* Dominique is an assumed name. The victim wished to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals from her ex-partner.