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Victim’s rights

Canadian Victim Bill of Rights (CVBR) & British Columbia Victims of Crime Act (BCVCA): These Acts provide certain rights if you are a victim of an offence under the Criminal Code. There are limitations to exercising these rights to ensure they don’t interfere with the proper administration of justice.

CVBR victim definition: A victim is any person who has suffered physical or emotional harm, property dam-age, or economic loss as a result of a crime. The victim must be in Canada, a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident.

Acting on a victim’s behalf: Others that can exercise those rights on the victim’s behalf when they are una-ble: the victim’s spouse; common law partner who has lived with the victim for at least one year prior to the victim’s death; relative or dependent of the victim; or anyone who has custody of the victim or of the vic-tim’s dependent(s). Note, a person who has been charged, convicted, or found not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder for the offence that resulted in the victimization is not defined as a victim.

Victim’s rights: A victim has the right to information, participation, protection and restitution. Upon request, victims will receive the following, information about the criminal justice system and offender; services and programs available to victims; review of an offender’s conditional release and the timing and conditions of that release; details about an offender’s progress in relation to their correctional plan; offender’s release date, definition and conditions of release and current photo of the offender prior to certain releases or the end of the offender’s sentence.

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