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Media Coverage - National Victims of Crime Awareness Week 2009

Regina Leader Post, Page A4 April 29, 2009

Conference to offer support to victims of crime

Kerry Benjoe, The Leader-Post

Victims of crime will have an opportunity to come together and support one another at the Creating Strength and Making Change Through Supporting, Connecting, Evolving conference.

The one-day conference is being organized by the Qu'Appelle Haven Safe Shelter. It is to be held at the Ramada Inn in Regina on Friday.

Lois Isnana, one of the conference organizers, said she felt that such a conference is needed in Saskatchewan.

"My life, not only through work, but my personal life has been affected by crime," explained Isnana. "This conference is held in recognition of National Victims of Crime Awareness Week."

Isnana said response to the conference has been overwhelming; At last count 240 participants were registered to attend. The organizers had planned for 200, which she believes shows the need out there.

"We're not just thinking about homicide but other serious crimes," she explained.

She attended a similar conference in Edmonton last year and thought that such an event was needed in Saskatchewan.

"I just felt that there are a lot of families that are affected by violent crime within our communities. I wanted to make a connection with those families," explained Isnana.

She said there are three main speakers, one of which is from Family Service Regina, who will speak about stalking and other criminal acts. An RCMP officer is also scheduled to speak about the police's role in investigation.

The keynote speaker is Wilma L. Derkson, a Winnipeg-based author, who is to share her personal story of grief and loss. Derkson's daughter was murdered in 1984.

"She's going to talk about the 15 elements of serious crime. It's how the individual deals with the aftermath of serious crime either to themselves and or family members," said Isnana.

She hopes the conference will become an annual event.

"Personally, what I am hoping is that we will have further support for victims of violence and that we can become more organized," said Isnana. "I do know in other places they have support groups."

She believes victims of crime need support particularly during the court process.

"It's one thing to grieve, but the justice system is a whole other aspect of an individuals grief. We have to try to support one another through this time," said Isnana.

The province has declared April 26 to May 2 to be Victims of Crime Awareness Week.

More information about National Crime Awareness Week, services for victims or volunteer opportunities can be found by calling the Ministry of Justice Victims Services at 787-3500, or by visiting the government website (www.justice.gov.sk.ca/victimsservices).

Edmonton Sun, Page 12 April 29, 2009

Justice program linked killer with victim's family

Jasmine Franklin, Special to Sun Media

Bruce Stanley still grapples with the horrific killing of his dad, who was driving a school bus when he was fatally struck by a boulder teens threw off a Whitemud Drive overpass.

But instead of seeking vengence, Bruce has helped give one of his dad's two convicted killers a second chance through the Edmonton Restorative Justice Network (ERJN).

Robert Stanley, 75, was killed June 1, 2002, when the boulder slammed through his bus window and struck him fatally in the chest.

Despite a pact to never talk about the incident again, one of the teens came forward after another individual had been wrongfully accused.

The two teens - one of whom pleaded guilty and went through the ERJN program - were sentenced for manslaughter to six months' house arrest and 18 months' probation.

"(The program) helped me to know what I look for in an individual - I (used to) scrutinize and penalize but that's not me anymore," said Bruce, speaking at an ERJN conference yesterday at the MacEwan college downtown campus.

The event was held in conjunction with National Victims of Crime Awareness Week. The ERJN program allows victims and criminals to speak face-to-face or over the phone.

"It gives victims a voice in the system," ERJN member Harvey Voogd said.

"Victims have a chance to tell the criminals directly the impact of the offence and can ask questions of the offender."

Bruce Stanley said that through the program, about 26 people - including his family and the killer - met for seven hours to talk about his dad's death.

"We each had a chance to say what we wanted out of this," Bruce said.

"(The killer) didn't have a criminal record and he was an honour student, so we felt jail wouldn't be the right thing for him."

The ERJN was a process that allowed the Stanley family some kind of closure.

"It wasn't complete closure," said Bruce.

"But it helps us understand what took place and why."

Vancouver Province, Page 17 April 26, 2009

Apology helps to heal one terrible moment of past

Reformed killer, victim's daughter share their stories

Brian Lewis, The Province

Mission resident Glen Flett, 58, says he doesn't think Margot Van Sluytman will ever truly forgive him. But at least she's accepted his apology and understands the kind of person he is today.

After all, Flett was very different that day in 1978 when he shot and killed Van Sluytman's father Theodore during a robbery of the Toronto store where he worked.

As Flett recalls, he was fleeing when the victim grabbed his arm and tried to stop him. "Give it up, son," were Theodore Van Sluytman's last words.

Margot, now a highly regarded Calgary-based poet, was then a tender 16-year-old. The bullets shattered her life, and that of her mother, two sisters and brother. Flett was handed a life sentence for second-degree murder following what at the time was the longest murder trial in Canadian history.

By his own admission, Flett was one bad dude. He'd been in trouble since he was an 11-year-old in his native Oak Bay, B.C.

Fast-forward to this Tuesday in Mission, where Flett and Van Sluytman will sit side-by-side and share their stories at a special public forum for National Victims of Crime Awareness Week (Clarke Theatre, 33700 Prentis Ave., 7.30 p.m., free admission).

One of the event's sponsors is the Long-term Inmates Now in the Community (LINC) group, co-founded by Flett and his wife to help recently released prisoners adjust.

How these two were drawn together from opposite ends of a tragedy is a remarkable story.

Flett began his sentence in Ontario's infamous Kingston Penitentiary ("Alcatraz North") but was subsequently transferred to B.C.

It was at Kent Maximum Security Prison near Agassiz in 1982 that Flett let go of his bad ways. "I became a Christian, found a meaningful life even in prison and realized I must help others," he told me.

The change also helped Flett to meet and marry the love of his life, Sherry, while he was still in prison, where he also began work on the bachelor's degree in anthropology and sociology from Simon Fraser University that he now holds.

However, Flett's resurrection came freshly wrapped in strong guilt over what he'd done. "As a Christian I had this huge desire to tell the Van Sluytman family how sorry I was for ruining their lives," he says.

Out on a temporary pass the year before his full parole in 1992 to see his wife's family in Ontario, Flett visited his victim's grave "to pay my respects."

After several failed attempts, Flett established Margot Van Sluytman's whereabouts in May 2007. On learning she was a renowned poet, Flett's wife sent what she thought was an anonymous donation to help Van Sluytman with her career.

But a curious Van Sluytman managed to uncover her benefactor's name and e-mailed her asking if she was related to Glen Flett. "He's my husband," the reply said.

Immediately, Van Sluytman asked Flett for an apology for his terrible actions almost 30 years previously. She got it the next day, and the two began corresponding regularly.

They met for the first time in July 2007 and attended a ceremony honouring her father at Mission's Westminster Abbey.

This incredible experience inspired Van Sluytman's poem The Other Inmate. "We were both in jail for many years," she says. "I've now come out from behind my bars and, I believe, so has Glen."

Regina Leader Post, Page B9 April 28, 2009

Deny, deny, deny Colin Thatcher a single dime from murder book

Murray Mandryk, The Leader-Post

Any conversation on JoAnn Wilson's murder does not begin with Colin Thatcher's forthcoming 110,000-word book, Final Appeal: Anatomy of a Frame.

It begins a few moments before 6 p.m. on Jan. 21, 1983, when Wilson stepped out of her Audi 5000, which she had just parked in the garage facing 20th Avenue behind her fashionable Regina home, a mere block from the Saskatchewan Legislative Building.

As this petite five-foot, four-inch woman emerged from her car, she was grabbed from behind with such force that the metal clasp on her jacket dug into her throat.

Immediately, she sustained a series of vicious blows to the head from a sharp metal object delivered by her much bigger assailant.

Bleeding profusely, she tried to escape, but was trapped like prey in the tight confines of the small garage containing two cars.

She fell to her knees, throwing her hands over her head to protect herself from the blows that continued to rain down. The fingers in her leather gloves were smashed and severed. Her left forearm was broken, yet she somehow found the strength to manage to crawl between the two cars. It was there her life would end -- the result of a .38 calibre bullet that was fired into her right ear and lodged in her brain. The bullet came from a heavy, semiautomatic handgun -- likely a .357 magnum Ruger, but possibly a Smith & Wesson or Colt.

Any conversation about Colin Thatcher's innocence ended in a Saskatoon courtroom at 10:53 a.m. on Nov. 6, 1984, when the foreman of the seven-man, five-woman jury announced the word "Guilty" on a count of first-degree murder. It came after four days of jury deliberation and a three-week trial highlighted by a secretly recorded conversation between Thatcher and key witness Gary Anderson. The two talked about getting the blood out of the car, about how Thatcher's alibi witnesses would never crack, how the police had nothing and how Anderson should, as Thatcher famously advised, "deny, deny, deny." These comments have never been explained. Appeals to higher courts were of no avail.

Thatcher spent 22 year behind bars before being paroled to his Moose Jaw ranch in 2006, after promising the National Parole Board that he only wanted to live a quiet life out of the public eye.

Now 71 years old and a free man, Colin Thatcher appears to have abandoned his desire for a quiet life out of the public eye. That he has the right to protest his innocence is a given (although one wonders why Justice Minister Don Morgan would be so quick to pick up the free-speech cudgel less than a month after doing his utmost to suppress a CBC interview with Curtis Dagenais.) That Thatcher felt the need to present his cockamamie theories in book form is also his business. Maybe he is simply doing this to restore his standing in the community, his standing with family and friends, or to appease an ego that might not have been humbled by decades behind bars. Who knows? But trying to stop its publication would be about as futile as trying to re-educate the idiots out there who already buy into Thatcher's hogwash that he's been "framed." However, there is one thing the Saskatchewan government can and should do. It can honour the memory of JoAnn Wilson and all similar victims, past and future, by ensuring Colin Thatcher does not earn one dime from this book.

In no small irony, Morgan has declared this week of April 26 to May 2 as "Victims of Crime Awareness Week." Wouldn't preventing criminals like Thatcher from profiting from crimes be a better way to create awareness? What's next for Thatcher? Speaking tours? Other provinces have similar laws. We have some of the best legislators in the country and the NDP Opposition has made it clear it won't stand in the way of a bill being passed this spring.

Surely, we can still do something for JoAnn Wilson.

Red Deer Advocate, Page: A2 April 27, 2009

Blackfalds residents eager to address crime threat in their community

Susan Zielinski, Red Deer Advocate

Blackfalds continues to band together to fight crime. Mayor Melodie Stol said the shooting on April 2 that frightened Westbrooke Road residents has encouraged many people to step forward to help make the community safer.

"In just three weeks, we've pulled together a Neighbourhood Watch. We've got a society, an executive, and already 25 block captains have been assigned. That's in three weeks," Stol said on Sunday at a community fair to mark National Victims of Crime Awareness Week.

"We've taken a negative like that and the whole community has embraced it and turned it into a positive."

No one was injured in the shooting in which someone fired at least two gunshots into an unoccupied vehicle outside the house.

At least one more round hit a neighbour's house, causing more than $1,000 in damage.

Stol said Sunday's fair was a way to educate people about crime and help prevent neighbourhood problems before they get out of hand.

"Crime is not a simple solution. Crime is so multi-level it needs multi-level solutions and events like this and the services that it's highlighting are the solutions."

Steve Marissink, director of victims programs with Alberta Solicitor General and Public Security, said the fair was also an opportunity to recognize the victims of crime that don't make it into the headlines.

Since 2003, the province has increased funding for victim service units from $2 million to $9.5 million in 2009, as well as promote the development of the program, he said.

"There is now a victim services program associated with every police service and detachment in this province. Victims now have access no matter where they are," Marissink said.

When serious incidents like the Blackfalds shooting happen, it has a tendency to create fear. But there is assistance and support available from the many hardworking victim service volunteers, Marissink said.

Gloria Derksen, victim services co-ordinator with Red Deer Rural RCMP, said her unit has received a few calls in recent weeks from people who thinking about becoming volunteers.

Currently, the unit has seven volunteers, but there's enough work for 12 or 14.

"We're always looking for more volunteers."

The Kingston Whig-Standard, Page A1 April 27, 2009

Memorial recalls six tragic murders

Rob Tripp

It is a memorial event that no one wants to repeat.

A cairn near the main entrance of the Division Street police building will be dedicated today with a plaque attached that's engraved with the names of six Kingston women who have been murdered by partners since 1997.

"That's the tragic and unfortunate part, there are spots for additional names," said Const. Lisa Damczyk, the department's domestic violence coordinator.

"We hope we never have to add any names to it," said Lisa Fox, a counsellor at Interval House, Kingston's shelter for women.

It is likely that more Kingston women will die, statistics show.

An average of 28 women and children are killed in Ontario each year at the hands of a violent partner. The rate of killings has not declined in recent years and men are perpetrators in 94% of domestic killings.

Each year, more than 50,000 women are admitted to shelters nationally. In the majority of cases because they are fleeing extreme domestic violence.

It's estimated more than 650 Canadians -- men and women -- are violently assaulted by partners every day.

Roughly one in five homicides in Canada is a domestic killing.

In the five years from 2002 to 2006, 121 women were murdered by a partner in Ontario, according to the Domestic Violence Death Review Committee, which reports to the Office of the Chief Coroner.

Interval House has 25 beds but has sheltered 30 women, on average, in the past six months, executive director Joanne Young said.

"We will put them on a mattress on the floor if we have to," Young said.

The strain of the economic recession that has put tens of thousands of Canadians out of work is beginning to tear at Kingston families, leading to more violence.

"Here in Kingston, anecdotally, we believe it's having an effect," said Young.

In other communities, such as Oshawa, where widespread auto sector layoffs have left families struggling, tangible connections have been drawn between the economic misery and rising domestic violence, Young said.

Damczyk said Kingston's memorial is, as far as she can tell, the first of its kind in Canada.

"It very much is a societal problem," Damczyk said. "It affects everyone."

She recounted a recent call from a Kingston employer who was concerned about an employee who regularly appeared at work with black eyes. The woman offered feeble explanations.

Damczyk explained community options.

A woman can visit the hospital emergency department, where a specially trained nurse will assess the situation and offer the victim the option of contacting police.

Once police officers are involved, they must lay charges if they have reasonable grounds to believe a crime has happened.

Damczyk said a program that involves women in the bail and court process, and other efforts to support victims, have made prosecutions easier.

"We have a very low recantation rate," she said. "We're almost at zero."

She's also involved in outreach efforts designed to ensure that people in the community who may be well positioned to detect and intervene in domestic violence know what to look for and what to do.

For two years now, Damczyk has spoken to students in law and medicine at Queen's.

"The goal is not to rip these families apart," she said. "The goal is to get (them) help."

Fox said the memorial was conceived by members of an anti-violence co-ordinating committee serving the city and Frontenac County.

"We just thought it would be nice for the Kingston community to have some sort of spot ... dedicated to the victims," she said.

The list of names is not inclusive and dates only to 1997.

The cairn may be used in future as a focal point for events.

"It is symbolic in lots of ways," Fox said.

There is an inscription on the bottom of the plaque, below the names of the victims: "To break the cycle of violence, we must break the cycle of silence."

The dedication ceremony begins at 11 a. m and is open to everyone.

- - -

Memorialized

The names of six women who were killed by partners in Kingston appear on a domestic violence memorial at the Kingston Police station at 705 Division St. It will be dedicated in a ceremony at 11 a. m. today.

Danielle Duchesneau: The 26- year-old woman was beaten to death in an alley off Princess Street in 1997. Her boyfriend, Jeffrey Auclair, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to five years in prison.

Jutta Weber: The 48-year-old woman was suffocated and then dismembered by her estranged boyfriend, James Nelson Wall, in 1997. He was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.

Jeanine Perry: In 2001, the 20-yearold Amherstview woman was shot to death in the parking lot of the Cataraqui Town Centre by her estranged boyfriend, Michael Shawn Martin, who then killed himself.

Patty Ann Killingbeck: The 29- year-old Kingston woman was murdered by her husband, Ian Esford, in 2001. He pleaded guilty to second- degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 years.

Maureen Nicholson: Two days before Christmas 2003, Kingston Police officer Ian Nicholson shot his 39-year-old wife to death with his police handgun, then committed suicide by turning the gun on himself.

Lindsey May Dibert: The 23-yearold was stabbed to death by her boyfriend, Steven Steacy, in 2005. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 years.

The Northern Light (Bathurst, New Brunswick) April 29, 2009

A national awareness campaign this week is making it known that victims of crime are not on their own.

James Mallory

James Mallory/Northern Light Photo

Lisa Godin (left) and Andrea Losier Doucet have been busy in preparation for National Victim Services Awareness Week, which is April 26 to May 2. The two are coodinating activities this week to make people aware of services available for victims of crime. One event includes an information booth at the Place Bathurst Mall from Wednesday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

April 26 to May 2 is National Victims of Crime Awareness Week. In Bathurst, Victim Services, in collaboration with Nepisiguit Family Services Inc. will have information booths set up at the Place Bathurst Mall from Wednesday through Saturday.

"The focus on this week is to make awareness of the public, the population, that there are victims of crime and to involve all the partners in the community to sensitize the population that there are services for victims of crime," said Lisa Godin, Victim Services coordinator for the Chaleur region.

Victim Services is located inside the Bathurst Courthouse on St. Patrick Street. Mrs. Godin said Victim Services, which is under the auspices of the provincial Department of Public Safety, assists those who have been a victim of crime.

"I (assist) a lot of sexual abuse victims...violent crimes such as assault, robbery, break and enter and theft, fraud, harassment, threats. I've also dealt with murder cases and the survivors, the families," she said in an interview.

She said the victims are given services from counseling to preparing for court proceedings.

"We offer different services to help them out. We do offer counseling services, support services in court, court preparation if they have to testify in court. We do the full court prep for adults and kids as well."

Continued Mrs. Godin: "We do have the victim impact statement program. Whenever an accused is found guilty in court or pleads guilty, all victims of crime can do a victim impact statement. It gives them a chance to describe in their own words the impact of the crime on their life."

She hopes this awareness program will shed some light on the situation so more victims come forward.

"They are not alone. There are services," she said.

Mrs. Godin said she will be making a presentation on her services today, Tuesday, at 2 p.m. at the Pabineau First Nation band office. The information booths at the mall will be open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.

New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, Page C4 April 30, 2009

Help for the victims of crime

Public safety Service provides counselling, support for those whose lives have been shattered

Jeff Ducharme, Telegraph-Journal

Through counselling and support, the employees at Victim Services try to pick up the pieces of lives shattered by crime.

National Victims of Crime Awareness Week recognizes the contribution of Victim Services co-ordinators to the justice system and highlights the services they offer. The federal government is hosting a symposium in Ottawa this week to mark the event and help the service evolve further.

Dianne Fox and Theresa Higgins are the Public Safety Victim Services co-ordinators in Saint John. Victims are referred by the Saint John Police Force's victim services unit, Crown prosecutor's office, the court system or request the assistance themselves.

Police deal with the immediate issues and the provincial group deals with the longer-term counselling and support issues.

Fox and Higgins have 80 to 100 cases ongoing at any one time.

Before a person is sentenced, the victims have the option of writing a victim impact statement that the judge takes into account during sentencing.

Higgins said judges are excellent in their support of Victim Services, but what effect it has had on sentencing over the last quarter decade is not the issue.

"It's more about empowering victims and being heard," Higgins said.

Victim Services helps clients prepare the statement and follow certain guidelines. The statement can't be about the person who committed the crime or suggest sentencing.

"It's all about the victim, how the crime affected the victim - physically, emotionally and financially," Fox said.

The victim can also choose to read their victim impact statement in court.

"We help them through that," Fox said.

Victim Services co-ordinators often accompany the victims to court to provide support and help them navigate through the often confusing and overwhelming legal system.

"It's a big impact because the judge actually finds out how the victim is feeling, how the victim is impacted financially, emotionally and physically and the impacts that the crime has had on this person," Fox said.

In 2008, Victim Services celebrated its 25th anniversary in New Brunswick. It's come a long way since its humble beginnings as a volunteer-run service.

Depending on the nature of the crime, free counselling is offered to help the victims move on with their lives. Before the trial begins, the victim can be directed to trauma counselling and after the trial short-term counselling is made available.

But what services are offered, Fox said, depends on the person.

"Some people don't require counselling or don't think they require counselling," Fox said.

The counselling service, which is provided by a wide range of professionals, is paid for by the province.

While the work is rewarding, the feedback Victims Services gets from victims makes it even more so.

"It's nice to know they felt we've helped them," Higgins said.

Edmonton Journal, Page B1 April 30, 2009

Art of teenage victims exposes emotions 'beneath the surface'

Multimedia exhibit shines light on how young people cope

Tim Cooper, The Edmonton Journal

Sylvia Hoang understands how artistic expression helped her deal with the difficult aspects of being a teenager.

In a self-portrait created when she was 18, she looks composed, even while perched atop ominous dark rocks. "The chalk pastel drawing was an assignment that asked me to substitute my face into another drawing that fits me," she said.

"I felt it was appropriate at the time, because on the outside it looks like I'm put together, but really there's more beneath the surface."

The 22-year-old, who recently graduated with a biology degree from the University of Alberta, will have that drawing and two sculptures on display at the What's It Like To Be A Victim multimedia art show at Kids in the Hall Bistro in City Hall tonight.

Art from teens aged 13 to 17 will be presented along with Hoang's work to demonstrate how they understand and experience victimization, and how they cope.

"Being a teenager is hard, and it's getting much harder," said event curator BrennaKnapman.

"I'm stunned by some of the things I hear about now, like kids using their cellphones to record others changing in locker rooms and posting them on YouTube."

She thinks art is important for grappling with the difficulties of evolving identity, and connecting young people with the artistic means to do so is her passion.

"The sooner they gain artistic tools to examine themselves, the better off they'll be," she said.

Three judges will look at each of the submissions, which include more traditional art forms, as well as rap, spoken-word performance and short film.

The top three entries will receive cash awards, with $300 going to first place.

The exhibit is being held in connection with National Victims of Crime Awareness Week, running from April 26 to May 2. It was organized by the Edmonton Restorative Justice Network.

"We wanted to put this on to highlight that young people can be victims of violence and crime as much as anyone else," said ERJN spokesperson Harvey Voogd.

"Often we hear about them as young offenders and tend to forget about the other side."

This will be the second event of the week organized by ERJN.

On Tuesday the group brought Myrna Roy and Bruce Stanley to speak at Grant MacEwan College about their experiences of healing after tragedy struck their families.

Roy told an audience of 30 people about the death of her brother, and Stanley spoke about his father's death in 2002, when two teens dropped a boulder onto his windshield from a Whitemud overpass.

Both described how face-to-face meetings with the offenders helped them heal.

"My family, along with the one person charged with manslaughter and his family, met in a conference that lasted seven long hours," Stanley said. "Each person had the chance to tell how the (killing) of dad affected them, and the accused also had a chance to explain his actions."

This is something Voogd believes is critical to the restorative process.

"It gives the offender an opportunity to have a really deep personal understanding of the impact and harm on the victim," he said.

According to Voogd, restorative practices are not yet widely embraced in Edmonton, but that will likely change. "It's a small but growing process," he said. "Increasingly various programs throughout the city are getting referrals from the Crown prosecutor's office through schools and police services."

Tonight's exhibit runs from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and admission is free.

CBC-Radio Saskatchewan. April 29, 2009 17:35 HRS.

INTERVIEW: VICTIM OF VIOLENT CRIME - CONFERENCE BEING HELD ON FRIDAY FOR] CRIME AWARENESS WEEK

MICHELLE HIGLI: Host

A violent crime can happen to anyone as Lois Isnana knows too well. She's one of the organizers of a special conference in Regina on Friday to recognize national victims of Crime Awareness Week. Lois works at the Qu'Appelle Haven Safe Shelter and violent crime has touched her own life closely. Lois joins me now on the line. Lois can you tell us how violent crime has touched your life?