Thank you, Mr. Chairman. From speaking with people in the communities, not only people who, as individuals, have dealings with the court, but those who are charged with responsibilities within the court system, it is clear that there are some difficulties with the Victim Impact Statement. There were some difficulties with the distribution of this statement to the pilot project communities, how the statement was to be used, the role of police officers in obtaining the statement and explaining to a victim that she could in fact be cross-examined on the statement if the statement was not accepted. These are not simple issues to resolve, particularly the issue surrounding cross-examination on the Victim Impact Statement. In that situation you may find someone who has been a victim of a violent or traumatic assault who is breathing a sigh of relief because they do not have to give evidence in a trail on that matter. The guilty plea has been entered and the matter is just going to sentencing. That victim fills out a statement saying this is how this crime has affected me and how I will think it will continue to affect me in the future. If that statement is not accepted by defence
counsel, the witness is then asked to attend court and can be cross-examined. The trauma of the whole incident may be revisited upon her as a result of this.
There are issues to be worked out in the use of Victim Impact Statements and the resources that are allocated to support obtaining Victim Impact Statements in ways that are meaningful and useful to the court system. I would be hard pressed to disagree with the Minister in terms of his comments about assessing the usefulness of Victim Impact Statements. I think that with all kinds of issues associated with the administration of justice we have to be in a period of constant assessment to see whether these things are working for us. Mr. Dent has indicated that it may be appropriate to try those statements in communities where there may be more in the way of resources to support their use within the court system. I think that is a valuable comment.