Feds conduct cross-country consultation on Victims’ Bill of Rights

WATCH: Federal Justice Minister Peter MacKay is interviewed on The Morning Show about the Victims’ Bill of Rights.

TORONTO – The federal government wants to give more rights to victims of crime by creating a bill of rights, and are conducting a cross-Canada consultation to gather community input on the new legislation.

The consultation follows the Conservatives’ intention—made public in February—to entrench the rights of victims of crime by bringing forward legislation into a single law at the federal level. It is slated to be presented in Parliament this fall.

“We think it’s a priority as a government to see that victims have rights that they can point to, just like the accused have rights, I reference the Bill of Rights, the Charter of Rights, there’s nothing similar in legislation for victims,” MacKay said, adding that most services for victims are provided at the provincial level.

MacKay suggested that the Victims’ Bill of Rights will help ease of what some say is a complicated and intimidating Canadian justice system.

“The intention here is to encapsulate a national Victims’ Bill of Rights, entrenching those rights in the system, and give them the right to information, the right to be consulted on certain decisions throughout the process, the right to have that knowledge when decisions are being made in advance of those decisions,” he said.

MacKay cited an example of a victim hearing about the release of an offender after it has happened, which he says can be an “extremely overwhelming experience.”

The cross-Canada consultation process has taken the justice minister to Vancouver, Edmonton, Yellowknife, Moncton, and Toronto.

The online consultation is available until September 3, 2013 on the Department of Justice website.