The victim impact statement

You have the right to submit a victim impact statement to the CETM. This statement allows you to express how the crime has affected your life. CETM judges are required to take your statement into account before rendering their decision.

The harm and fear that resulted from the crime

In your statement, you can describe the consequences of what you experienced. For example:

Physical consequences

Physical consequences could have serious repercussions on your daily activities, your work or studies or, more broadly, on your overall quality of life and that of those close to you. Physical consequences include:

pain
illness
fractures
temporary or permanent injuries
disability
hospitalization
surgeries
treatments
medication

Emotional consequences

Emotional consequences can have serious repercussions on several aspects of your life. They can affect your ability to work, study or concentrate on a daily basis. You may also have trouble sleeping, experience memory loss or other major changes in your lifestyle, your relationships and well-being, as well as that of those close to you. Emotional consequences include:

anxiety
nervousness
anger
depression
isolation
suicidal ideas
apathy
trauma

Financial consequences

Financial consequences can have a major impact on your quality of life and that of those close to you. Financial consequences include:

loss of salary or income
fees for medical or psychological services
stolen, destroyed or damaged property
cost of repairing or replacing property
expenses not covered by insurance
loss of life savings
loss of your family home

Your fears

You can also express any fears you have for your safety or that of your family and others who are close to you. You may, for example, be concerned about having contact with the accused.

Writing your statement: where, how and when

You must use the Victim Impact Statement form to submit your statement. You may have already received your form in an email from the Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales or DPCP. You are free to include a poem, a drawing or a letter if it will help you to express the consequences the crime has had on your life. You can ask someone to help you prepare your statement. This could be a friend, a family member, or an organization that supports victims of crime. The Guide de déclaration de la victime may also help you fill out the form. (Please note that this guide is available in French only.) Once you have completed and signed the form, mail it to the CETM prior to the hearing or email it to taq.divisionsantementale@taq.gouv.qc.ca

If you prepared a victim impact statement during the course of the trial, you may send it to the CETM or write a new one if you prefer. The choice is yours.

Need more time to complete your statement?

If this is your first hearing before the CETM, you may ask for a postponement (also called an adjournment) to give yourself more time. The CETM will decide whether to accept your request based on the circumstances.

However, you won’t be able to request a postponement for future hearings — even if you haven’t completed your statement by the first hearing or want to submit a new one later.

All parties will receive a copy of your statement

A copy of your statement will be forwarded to all involved in the hearing:

the accused,
the representative of the designated hospital, and
the prosecuting attorney.

The judges will also read your statement, of course, because they are obligated to take it into account in making their decision. Your statement will not be available to the public, however.

You can ask the CETM for permission to read your statement yourself. You can also request another way for your statement to be shared — for example, by having someone you trust read it for you. The CETM will decide whether or not to accept your request.

There are limits to what you may include

The victim impact statement is an invaluable means for expressing yourself and telling the CETM what you have experienced. You may not write anything you want in your statement, however. You may not use your statement to do any of the following:

report any behaviour of the accused that is not related to the harm you suffered as a result of the criminal offence
make unfounded accusations or spread baseless rumours
comment on the behaviour of the accused that is not related to their verdict of not criminally responsible
complain about the work of anyone involved in the file (police officer, lawyer, judge, etc.)
make recommendations to the CETM about the decision they must make, unless you have been given permission to do so.

If you include any of the above, the CETM may redact those parts of your statement (make them unreadable).