VICTIMS SERVICES PROGRAMS EXPAND IN SASKATCHEWAN

The Government of Saskatchewan is providing funding to establish a police-based Victims Services Program in Sandy Bay, and to expand the Northeast Regional Victims Services Program to include Kelvington, Rose Valley and the Yellowquill First Nation.

Victims Services Programs offer help and support to victims of crime or traumatic events immediately after a crime, and throughout the criminal justice process.

"Victims of crime have needs directly related to their involvement in the criminal justice system, and it is our goal to enhance supports to victims in Saskatchewan communities," Justice Minister Frank Quennell said. "In addition, providing expanded services to victims of crime in northern Saskatchewan and Aboriginal communities is another of our Government's responses to the recommendations of the Commission on First Nations and Métis Peoples and Justice Reform."

Annual funding of $50,000 will support the establishment of a new part-time Victims Services Co-ordinator position in Sandy Bay.

The Northeast Regional Victims Services Program currently provides services to a number of communities, including Porcupine Plain. The program will expand to cover the entire Greenwater RCMP detachment area.

The addition of the new Victims Services Program in Sandy Bay will bring to 19 the number of such programs across the province. More than 83 per cent of Saskatchewan's population will now have access to police-based victims services. Each year, approximately 300 victims services volunteers give more than 15,000 hours of their time to help almost 13,000 victims of crime in Saskatchewan.

"We are pleased to be working closely with our partners to enhance Victims Services Programs in these communities," Quennell said. "Through the work of victims services volunteers and staff, the criminal justice system will be better able to respond to victims of crime during a difficult time."

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For More Information, Contact:

Andrew Dinsmore Justice Regina Phone: (306) 787-8606 Email: adinsmore@justice.gov.sk.ca