Service Providers Collaborate To Help Victims Of Crime

By 250 News

Balli Bassi, Chris Dalziel, and Krista Levar at today's news conference

Prince George, B.C. -  'Alone we can do so much, but together we can do so much more'...

It's a quote from Helen Keller that is the theme for local events being held this week to mark National Victims of Crime Awareness Week.  And at a joint news conference, the three local Victims Services Providers have emphasized how well the programs work together to get victims the help they need.

Between the RCMP's Victims Services, the Aboriginal-based Victims Services at the Native Friendship Centre, and the Elizabeth Fry Society's Community-based Victim Services - the programs devoted ten-thousand hours of staff time and more than seven-thousand hours of volunteer time to the victims of crime last year.

Spokesperson for the Aboriginal-based program, Chris Dalziel, says, "Combined, all of our services saw over two-thousand new clients last year."  She says those clients come following murders, attempted murders, sexual assault, historical abuse, partner assaults, as well as sudden deaths.  "When people come to us because they've been the victim of crime, we generally deal with the crisis then refer them out (to other resources in the community)." 

There were four-thousand such referrals in 2010.  RCMP Victim Services Coordinator, Krista Levar, says those referrals and cross-collaborations highlight the importance of working together - she says, sometimes, people might not be comfortable with going directly to the RCMP, so they may approach one of the other service providers for assistance and a level of comfort, first, and then eventually make their complaint to the RCMP.

A community roundtable tomorrow will look at mobilizing community leaders to help end victimization.  A full-day workshop on Thursday will focus on the prevalent, but often overlooked issue of human trafficking that goes on in communities.

"This is an issue that's out there, it's in each community, but it's not talked about as much and the reason being - it's not in the forefront, it's underneath and it stems from a lot of other areas," says Balli Bassi with E. Fry's Community-based Victim Services.  "And so she (workshop facilitator, Rosalyn Currie) will be providing us the tools to be able to look at putting this on the map and how do we work with this and how do we address this issue."

The roundtable is free, Thursday's workshop is $25.  To register, call the Elizabeth Fry Society at 250-563-1113.

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