Far from being recovered from the criminal acts they experienced, the IVAC will be withdrawn from them

Amélie Lemieux, whose two daughters Norah and Romy Carpentier were killed by their father, feels that she will have to stop taking care of her in the fall. Like other victims of crime, on October 14, she will no longer be entitled to Compensation for Victims of Crime (IVAC) benefits.

These services allowed him to breathe a little, to take time to recoverand to grieve, sheltered from financial pressures.

Since the tragic events that occurred in July 2020, in Saint-Apollinaire, she has fought to have the truth and for a public inquiry to be held. These fights over, the year 2024 is particularly trying, since the repressed emotions are finally out suddenly.

A letter received recently told her that another tile was going to fall on her: she was about to lose her livelihood.

If the benefits of theIVAC could previously be paid as long as the victim needed it, the reform of the compensation program adopted by Quebec in 2021 now prescribes a maximum period of three years.

Seeing October 14 approaching, groups defending victims of crime are once again sounding the alarm and urging the government to reverse course on this new provision.

It is not up to the government to decide, through a heartless, soulless and arbitrary deadline, that it is three yearsclaimed Saturday the lawyer specializing in the defense of victims of crime, Me Marc Bellemare, at a press conference. It’s up to the therapists to decide that.

At his side, Émilie Arsenault, the mother of two boys killed by their father in Wendake a few months after the Carpentier sisters, admitted feeling IVAC”,”text”:”abandoned by IVAC”}}”>abandoned by theIVAC while she is still deep in turmoil. She plans a disaster in October.

In October, theIVAC will make me a victim for a second time.

Condemned to poverty

Distress is not only psychological and physical, it is also financialadded Me Sophie Mongeon, lawyer specializing in this type of case.

In 2022, 78.4% of health care providersIVAC were female victims. According to Me Mongeon, the new reform is discriminatory. After three years, she [les victimes] to poverty”,”text”:”condemns[les victimes] to poverty”}}”>sentenced [les victimes] to povertyjudges the lawyer.

Ms. Arsenault is an educator in CPEbut it is inconceivable for her to return to work, when the simple sight of children always brings back to events and reminds him of his sons. I regularly want to join them, but my loved ones manage to bring me back to earth.

The president of the Association of Families of Murdered or Disappeared Persons (AFPAD) says dozens of people have already turned to his organization for help as the deadline approaches. His employees must refuse to help new people because there are so many of them.

He explains that some victims who had received help from theAFPAD in the past came back to get some after the government’s announcement, so great was their desperation.

New diet

Amélie Lemieux and Émilie Arsenault both met with Quebec Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette, but he remained in his positions.

Reform required us to make choices. And it is these choices that allow us today to compensate twice as many victims.justified his office by email.

With this reform, the Ministry of Justice believes it has corrected many gaps that included the old regime.

The new reform broadens the eligibility conditions for the unemployment schemeIVAC. It allows victims of any offense against the person to have access to it, even if it took place abroad. It also abolishes the deadlines for submitting a request in cases of sexual, domestic or childhood violence.

These provisions are welcomed by victims and experts, but the three-year deadline does not pass.

It forces me to stop taking care of myself, completely freeze and go back to workconsiders Amélie Lemieux, who is a worker in a school service center. At some point I will probably burst.

For her, there is no question of having recourse to social assistance, which would constitute another one arrives to his eyes.

She continues to hope that the government will think properly and that he will have humility to reconsider its decision before October 14.

It’s not a joy not to work, it’s not a privilege to be a victim of crime

We experience the consequences of an action that does not belong to usshe recalls.

For the moment, Amélie Lemieux and Émilie Arsenault do not know what they will do after depositing their last check.

With information from Gabrielle Proulx and The Canadian Press