IVAC reform makes victims fear the worst

Photo: Francis Vachon Le Devoir Amélie Lemieux, Guillaume Gosselin, and Émilie Arsenault are all three victims of crime who benefit from IVAC. They told “Devoir” about the effects that the end of the payment of this financial aid will have on their lives.

Indignant, mothers of murdered children and a man tortured by his father want to meet the Quebec Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette, to urgently make him aware of the effects of his reform of the justice system. compensation for victims of criminal acts (IVAC), for fear of seeing “suicides per square meter” in the fall.

“Screw your diet. And you'll understand that it just doesn't make sense. This is a complete lack of humanity and compassion towards victims of crime. We didn’t ask for anything,” says Amélie Lemieux to the minister. His two daughters, Norah and Romy, were murdered in 2020 by their father, Martin Carpentier.

Photo: Francis Vachon Le Devoir Amélie Lemieux says she was unable to return to work after the tragedy that shook her life.

Like other victims, some of whom suffered criminal acts as far back as the 1990s, Amélie Lemieux sees her case fall under the new compensation regime despite the assurances of Minister Jolin-Barrette. The woman received a letter in mid-February notifying her that the financial assistance she is currently entitled to will end on October 13, 2024.

“When I received the letter, the first reaction I had was: “Tabarouette, I should have committed suicide when it was time…” I feel heavy for society, heavy for the government. I don't feel good about not being able [to return to work]. It’s terrible what weight they put on our shoulders, she laments. It pisses me off that I didn't do what Martin did: hang himself. He's good, he leaves me with his shit. And what's more, I have to deal with the government. »

Amélie Lemieux says she was unable to return to work after the tragedy that shook her life, despite the numerous efforts she made to get back on her feet — starting with regular consultations with health professionals. Discouraged and angry, she said she wanted to meet Minister Jolin-Barrette to speak to him “directly”. “I’m ready to do it. To go and tell them [the elected officials]: “It’s not working, go back, you don’t understand.” I’m broken, I’m finished,” she said, her voice cracking.

She imagines the worst for October. “There is going to be a crash in terms of mental health, there are going to be suicides per square meter. […] If they continue with this reform and don’t reverse course, it won’t be pretty,” she warns.

Pushed towards social assistance

Minister Jolin-Barrette and Prime Minister François Legault have so far said they are “proud” of the IVAC reform, which they carried out in 2021 under fire from criticism. This made it possible to financially assist nearly 4,000 more victims in 2022-2023, the Minister of Justice has often emphasized. “Before, we had offenses that were not admissible. […] All crimes against the person are now covered,” he said.

However, its reform also imposed a time limit on the payment of financial assistance. This aid, which comes from an independent fund which accumulates surpluses, is used, for example, to reimburse part of psychology consultations or to compensate for lost wages. With the reform, the life annuity – the lifetime income provided for in the old law – was replaced by the payment of a lump sum. After all, “IVAC is not an insurance plan,” Mr. Jolin-Barrette recently emphasized, refusing the comparison with other plans providing lifetime compensation, such as automobile insurance.

Once the assistance to victims has expired, they can now turn to social aid or solidarity programs, recognized Prime Minister Legault.

“I have responsibilities, I’m now a dad. […] There is no question of me becoming “BS” like my father. If we end up on social assistance, the victims, it will really fuel the feeling I had that the victims, we are shit,” says Guillaume Gosselin. His father, the “Beaumont Executioner”, sexually assaulted, beat, deprived of food and humiliated his two children, his partners and their children from 1980 to 1994. The executioner initially faced 92 charges and he was sentenced to 22 years in prison in 1997. Decades later, Guillaume Gosselin still suffers the repercussions of the abuse he endured as a child. When he speaks to IVAC representatives, he isolates himself in his car to contain his exasperation.

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Photo: Francis Vachon Le Devoir Guillaume Gosselin has received benefits from IVAC since 2016.

Like Guillaume Gosselin, Amélie Lemieux does not dare imagine a life on social assistance. “Honestly, do I want to sink that low ? she asks. I worked, I always paid my taxes, always been a good citizen… Tabarouette, that's how people thank me ? It happened to me. I would rather be poor, but have my children. »

Who funds the IVAC ?

Known to the general public by its acronym “IVAC”, for “compensation for victims of criminal acts”, the Quebec assistance system for victims of criminal acts has come under LAPVIC, the Act aimed at helping victims of crime, since 2021. of criminal offenses and to promote their recovery. Since the end of the 1980s, this assistance has been financed by an independent fund, the Fund dedicated to assistance for victims of criminal offenses (FAVAC). FAVAC's revenue comes mainly from $10 fees added to fines for violations of the Highway Safety Code. Other amounts come from victim surcharges collected under the Criminal Code (a financial penalty required during sentencing) and sharing of proceeds of crime. In 2022-2023, FAVAC revenues represented nearly $30 million. From year to year, the fund has accumulated surpluses: those for 2022-2023 were 18.8 million, down from the surplus of 30.8 million reported the previous year.

Switched to the new regime

Émilie Arsenault’s case is also affected by the new law. The young woman, whose sons, Alex and Olivier, were killed by their father in 2020 in Wendake, learned on February 21 that her services would end next October. “We would like the minister to hear us,” she proclaims, discouraged.

Photo: Francis Vachon Le Devoir Émilie Arsenault will never be entitled to lump sum compensation because she resumed studies in a field too similar to her former profession, which she is no longer able to practice.

“Why he didn’t take the time to listen to the victims ? Why he got involved in a program that was working well ? Where did he take that, three years?” she adds, in reference to the new duration of benefits. “You are proof that it takes more than three years [to recover],” she slips to Guillaume Gosselin.

When Le Devoirreported a shock wave among victims of crime in early February, Minister Jolin-Barrette suggested that people compensated under the old regime would not be affected by the overhaul he piloted in 2021. “The people who benefited from the old regime continue on this regime,” assured the elected CAQ member. “Life annuities for people who were on the old regime, life annuities [lifetime compensation] will follow,” he added.

However, in reality, all victims who received aid for “partial and temporary” or “total and temporary” incapacity – which is sometimes only temporary in name, because some victims receive it for years – will not have no longer entitled to this financial support from October 13, 2024, it is written in full in the new law. It is, however, possible for victims to receive assistance for two additional years “if they participate in a professional reintegration measure, for a total assistance period of five years,” underlines a spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice. , Cathy Chénard.

Le Devoir asked him on what basis the three-year period provided for in the new law had been determined. At the time of the reform, “more than 90% of victims no longer received income replacement beyond a five-year assistance period,” she replied.

Not so “temporary”

Victims like Guillaume Gosselin, who has received “temporary” assistance from IVAC since 2016, are therefore warned by letter to prepare for the end of their benefits. Which plunges them into uncertainty. “I had [the letter] read by someone close to my girlfriend who has worked in papers all her life. I said: “Can you read this to tell me what’s coming ? “It’s worse than politicians’ sentences,” says the young man, stunned by the bureaucratic language of the IVAC.

He understood that after October he would get his life annuity back: a sum of $948 per month which is approximately half of what he currently receives. Émilie Arsenault, for her part, was told that she would never be entitled to lump sum compensation because she had resumed studies in a field too similar to her former profession, that she was no longer able to 'exercise.

In an interview with Le Devoir,a woman who suffered an attack in 2012 also spontaneously expressed the desire to meet Minister Jolin-Barrette to make him aware of the situation of victims. She chose to testify anonymously because she fears for her safety.

On February 12, she received a letter informing her that her benefits had ended four days earlier. This woman, who lives with serious physical and psychological after-effects, has not been able to return to work.

Although she suffered a criminal act in 2012 – therefore nine years before the entry into force of the Jolin-Barrette reform – this victim is affected by the overhaul of the IVAC because her file was not “consolidated » only in 2024. The steps to “consolidate” the case, which are done when a victim has reached a plateau in their recovery, began in 2019. But they stretched over five years, in particular due to the pandemic . Result: The file is subject to the requirements of the new law. This victim will therefore not be entitled to a life annuity, but rather to a lump sum in the six figures for the rest of their life.

If you are thinking about suicide or worried about a loved one, counselors are available at any time at 1 866 APPELLE (1 866 277-3553), by text (535353) or by chat at suicide.ca .