Stakeholders
Canada Crime Victims Foundation was established to deal with the issues of the victims of crime. It looks into the issues of the victims as well as their families given that these victims have often been ignored by the legal and other systems. The foundation has links with York University and LaMarsh center to enhance research on the victims of violence as well as their families. Lozanne Wamback joined Joe in founding this foundation and it targets victims of fatal assaults.
The foundation chose York University, a renowned institution of academic excellence to ensure that the needs of the victims and their families are well understood. The foundation also supports other agencies within Canada who have the intention of raising awareness on issues affecting the victims of such fatal violence (Wamback, 2010).
Lozanne is also the chair person of the victim support of the foundation. Other people involved include Harvey Skinner, who is also the dean at the Faculty of Health. There are also the psychology professors Jennifer Connolly and Stephen Fleming. Joe Wamback is the chairperson of the foundation’s board.
The university’s department of psychology has taken the responsibility of training its students on the best ways to help the victims of violence. Nicole Arnold is the university’s chief development officer whose responsibility includes giving guidance on how to contribute to the York foundation.
Brief History
The foundation was started by Joe Wamback in conjunction with Lozanne Wamback after their son became a victim of violence in 1999. It targets victims of fatal violence and their families, ensuring that research is done to the same effect particularly in trying to help these victims.
The foundation was officially started in 2002 to address the plight of such victims and it aims at providing basic education particularly to those dealing with victims of violence, in addition to undertaking comprehensive research on the issues of violence and its impact on the individuals and their families as well. It aims at bringing to the limelight the aftermath of such violence, its impact and the steps to be taken in helping such victims.
Operations
The foundation mainly targets the Canadian population. For this reason, the foundation has teamed up with Canada’s best learning institution to ensure that its efforts are felt across the country. The country has particularly been known to ignore or do very little for such victims hence the need to sensitize people as well as the government on the same.
Other countries have managed to put the necessary strategies in place so as to deal with the same while Canada has been lagging behind and the foundation in collaboration with the university are meant to impact positively on the affected victims (Wamback, 2010). Well wishers are also involved in the funding of the activities of the foundation.
Goals and Mission
The foundation aims at raising awareness on the plight of the victims of violence and coming up with the ideal ways of assisting them. It engages in funding activities for research to be done on the issues of violence and ways of helping the victims.
The foundation’s goal is to provide a ground for the study into children as well as the families that have been victimized by fatal violence and provide the expatriates with new insights into the victims of such violence as well as providing the required remedies and ways of dealing with such traumatized victims. It also aims at providing guidance to the policies governing the rights of the victims and ensuring that the violators are brought to justice.
Given that the legal system has been on the forefront in trying to protect the rights of the offenders rather than the victims, the foundation aims at ensuring that justice is done and the offenders are brought to justice while the victims are compensated. The other objective of the foundation is to create awareness among the public particularly concerning the issues of the victims and the demand for changes in dealing with such victims in all perspectives.
The foundation also undertakes and funds research on the victims of violence, hence providing both short-term and long-term remedies to their plight. It also aims at providing equal opportunities for education to such victims.
Activities
The foundation has been at the forefront in sensitizing the government about the rights of the victims of criminal violence and in ensuring that laws are passed to the same effect. It has been pressing for the recognition of the victims and ensuring that they receive financial benefits from the government as well as medical assistants.
The foundation has also been pressing for justice to be done whenever someone is assaulted by criminals whether they are young offenders or adults without partiality so as to stop the escalation of the cases of violence and give protection to the victims of such violence especially the children (Wamback, 2010).
There has been an outcry to increase the accountability of offenders and the taking of appropriate measures to ensure stronger rehabilitative measures are taken so as to prevent them from committing the offence as well as discouraging the others from doing the same.
The justice system has been reported to be slow and at times very pardoning to the offenders hence blurring the course of justice. The criminals have been granted privacy and even offered lawyers who are paid by the tax payers’ money to ensure that the criminals get away with it and the foundation intends to stop this by fighting for justice. The foundation tries supports the research concerning crime and the reasons behind such crime hence coming up with the possible solutions to the same.
The foundation funds research activities that involve the victims of violent crime as well as their families hence coming up with the appropriate recommendations for the government in tackling the problem and help the affected. The foundation has also been involved in offering scholarships to the children of the victims of such violence.
The foundation also aims at offering counseling services to those traumatized by the violence especially when the services are most needed and those given first priority are those that are not supported by any agency. It also offers scholarship to most of the students that involve themselves in campaigns or programs against violence (Wamback, 2010).
It sensitizes people on issues of violent crime and its effects and this is done from school to school. It is a charity that is not profit oriented and it aims at providing support to the victims. In the recent the foundation has been receiving significant support from the government and this has significantly boosted its activities.
Reference
Wamback, J. (2010). Giving victims a voice: Ontario: Canada Crime Victim Foundation. Web.