News release: "The Government of Canada Supports Victims of Crime"

"The Government of Canada Supports Victims of Crime"?

Jesus! Good thing they are not supporting the other side!

Yesterday's news release hyping the Department of Justice's "new online Victim Services Directory that will connect victims of crime with services available in their local communities" was really worthy, wasn't it? Not just another empty announcement, was it? With Harpo's Minister's Whack-nut and Wing-nut both at the podium yesterday morning, the announcement must have been meaningful? No?

Could it be otherwise?

To Whack-Wing's credit, their opportunistic announcement to mark National Victims of Crime Awareness Week was not without benefits. If you have been robbed, raped or buggered in B.C., Alberta, or Ontario this announcement had real import. The new online Victims Directory site indeed has a list of agencies that can help. In B.C.'s case there are 109 support agencies listed. In Alberta and Ontario there are 63 and 93 agencies respectively. Good. Victims of crime need all the support they can get.

But if you happen to live in Manitoba, and have been robbed, raped or buggered ... well, this announcement probably won't do you any good. You see, clearly the Tory's were more interested in getting the "news" out than in ensuring that it was providing all with equal information. If a victim of crime in Manitoba needed to rely on this site today they would find their options severely limited. You see, according to the federal government, in all of Manitoba, there are only 5 (five) agencies apparently able to offer victims of crime the support they need? And if you require counselling? Well, there is only ONE, and it, apparently is only for the elderly. Wow. Is this the best they could do?

Could Harpo's minister's not have ensured their much touted site was better equipped before they made an announcement? What is the battered woman from Churchill to do with this information? What are the abused in Snow Lake, Swan Valley, or Souris to do?

Well, apparently, unless you live in either Brandon, Hamiota, or Winnipeg you are shit out of luck. Because, apparently in my province, these are the only locations that have victim services agencies. By the way, if you live in Newfoundland and Labrador, your chances of finding support via this website is also extremely limited - 3 agencies.

So what does this tell us about Harpo and his Ass-Clown government? .

It tells us they are more interested in optics than details. It tells us that their pathetic attempt to be seen to be caring about ALL victims was more concerned with politics than results.

It is not so much that Whack & Wing do not care about VICTIMS in Manitoba, or Newfoundland and Labrador (probably no one believes that?); rather, it is that, in their rush to portray their Tory government as compassionate, these two Ministers of the Crown could not even be bothered to ensure the announcement they were making was really accurate (i.e. that their vaunted "valuable tool" would actually, as far as possible, help "victims and family members to identify local services in their area.") At a bare minimum, in Manitoba's case, they should have made an effort to incorporate the information from this site to see that victims here have as many options as possible.

But, when Tory time is of the essence and PR is the name of the game: Who really cares if the rape victim in Flin Flon, Manitoba has meaningful access to victim counseling agencies courtesy of Harpo's Government of Canada!

In Harpo's World all that matters is that the announcement got made. That the minions stayed on message. Yesterday's news release proves again that we are governed by those live by the mantra: "Fuck substance"!