Hundreds of people will no longer have access to Compensation for Victims of Crime (IVAC) starting this fall, due to the reform of the program implemented by the Quebec government.
Since 1972, the IVAC has allowed victims of a criminal act to benefit from income replacement, “like work accidents or road victims,” explains Me Marc Bellemare, criminal lawyer, in an interview with LCN.
Victims could then be compensated without time limits, as long as there was proof of incapacity to work, added Me Bellemare.
In October 2021, a reform of the program was implemented by Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette. After this date, “the government imposed a limit of three years maximum to benefit from income replacement,” he adds. In October 2024, “thousands of victims of crime in Quebec will lose their income replacement, even if they are still considered unfit for work,” he insists.
For crime victims who still need compensation after three years, it’s more difficult. “In October, we no longer have the right to anything. It creates immense stress, financial anxiety,” confides Émilie Arsenault, adding that she “did not choose to be a victim.”
Initially, these victims were to “be under the old law forever,” according to the government, until Minister Jolin-Barrette “circumvented this law,” mentions Émilie Arsenault.
Me Bellemare explains that Minister Jolin-Barrette “put a clause in the law which ensures that it is only three years, so it ends on October 14, 2024”. The limit is three years, regardless of the seriousness of the criminal act experienced by the victim.
According to Me Bellemare, psychiatrists or psychologists should decide on the end of the incapacity to return to work. “It is not up to the government to put a three-year deadline, when this is not based on scientific data,” he continues.
This is why they are asking the government to remove this three-year limit by harmonizing the IVAC regime with other compensation regimes, since these compensate up to age 68.
“We are heading towards an autumn where thousands of victims will be abandoned by the IVAC, it is very serious. They have no income replacement […] It is not normal for the law to impose a deadline,” concludes Me Bellemare.
For more information, see the interview above.
