Highlights

View the most recent version.

• According to the Victim Services Survey, there were over 400,000 victims of crime who sought assistance from victim service agencies between April 1, 2005 and March 31, 2006.

• Based on a one-day snapshot of more than 8,000 victims that were helped by victim service agencies, almost three-quarters of these victims had experienced a crime against the person such as a sexual or physical assault, while the remainder were victims of other crimes such as arson, property crimes and traffic offences. Nearly seven in ten victims who sought assistance were females.

• Among the 697 victim service agencies and 8 criminal injuries compensation programs that responded to the survey, a large proportion were police-based (42%), followed by community-based (19%), sexual assault centres (17%), court-based agencies (8%), Ontario’s Victim Crisis Assistance and Referral Services (7%) and system-based agencies (7%). The remaining 1% comprised criminal injuries compensation programs.

• Services most often offered directly by victim service agencies were: general information (96%), emotional support (95%), liaising with other agencies on behalf of the client (90%), immediate safety planning (90%), information on criminal justice system structure and process (89%) and public education/prevention (87%).

• Almost half (45%) of the agencies reported targeting specialized populations. Families of sexually abused children were most commonly targeted (70%), followed by adult victims of sexual assault (67%), and child or youth victims of sexual abuse or sexual exploitation (65%).

• The cost of providing formal services to victims of crime in Canada in 2005/2006, based on responses from 628 victim service agencies (excluding compensation programs), totaled $152.2 million.