Victim Impact Statements, Community Impact Statements, and Victim Statements in Canada’s justice system: A national overview of available data (English, HTML)

Victim Impact Statements, Community Impact Statements, and Victim Statements in Canada’s justice system: A national overview of available data: English HTML file. From Department of Justice Canada, updated Oct 2026. View metadata, licence and the direct download on CanQuery.

Format

HTML

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Original download only

Publisher-reported update

2026-10-06

This report provides a national overview of available administrative data on Victim Impact Statements (VIS), Community Impact Statements (CIS), and Victim Statements across Canada’s justice system. These tools allow victims and communities to describe the impacts of crime and have those impacts considered in justice system decision-making. Together, they support victim participation in the justice system, including participatory rights under the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights (CVBR). Developed in collaboration with federal, provincial, and territorial (FPT) partners, this study draws on data from Statistics Canada’s Integrated Criminal Court Survey (ICCS); federal corrections and conditional release data from Correctional Service Canada (CSC) and the Parole Board of Canada (PBC); and provincial and territorial administrative data from victim services, court services, Crown prosecution services, and review boards. Findings are descriptive and should not be interpreted as direct comparisons across jurisdictions, as definitions, coverage, and collection practices vary.

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