Crime victims should get a share of prisoners' wages: ombudsman
Janice Tibbetts, Canwest News Service
Published: Thursday, August 14, 2008

The Conservative government is "seriously considering" garnisheeing the prison wages of federal offenders to help pay for victim services to counter a trend among sentencing judges to routinely waive a special victim surcharge that is mandated under Canadian law.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson's parliamentary secretary, Rob Moore, said that the government is contemplating the measure after it was proposed by the federal victims' ombudsman, Steve Sullivan, in a letter late last week.

"We are looking at it closely," Mr. Moore told Canwest News Service during an interview yesterday. "He's put forward a good idea. We are seriously considering it."

Mr. Sullivan wrote to Mr. Nicholson and Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day to warn them that victims' programs in several provinces are struggling because judges have the discretion to forgive the "victim federal surcharge" of around $50 when it would cause "undue hardship" to the offender.

"When it comes to victims' rights, judges are not onside," Mr. Sullivan, Canada's first victims' ombudsman, said in an interview.

Victim rights and services are a key component of the Conservative law-and-order agenda, which the government has been aggressively promoting in recent weeks in advance of a possible fall election.

Mr. Sullivan was appointed to his new post last year, in keeping with a promise in the 2006 election.

In his letter, Mr. Sullivan asked the government to change the Criminal Code to make the 20-year-old surcharge automatic.

Failing that, inmates in federal prisons should be docked up to $100, taken from their daily wages, to contribute to victims' funds, said Mr. Sullivan.

Federal prisoners earn a maximum of $6.90 per day.

© The Ottawa Citizen 2008