By Jeff Labine

Victim services opens again

Feb 17, 2017 | 11:00 AM

After a brief restructuring, Gateway Regional Victim Services is once again open to help victims of crime and traumatic events across the region.

Back in 2014, the Ministry of Justice shut down victim services in Prince Albert and Meadow Lake in order to combine the two. Laegan Myers, co-ordinator of Gateway Regional Services, said the two organization’s boarders were in close proximity to each other so it made sense to extend the services to Meadow Lake.

This caused the organization to close down so the former Prince Albert and Region Victim Services could restructure to what it is today.

“We got a new board, a new name and incorporated from there,” Myers said. “It did take some time to get all of that done and finished and for staff to be hired. We are fully staffed as of February. So we will be providing services right away.”

She said the goal is to ensure people aren’t victimized again while going through the court system. She said Gateway is available for people from Prince Albert to Wakaw and Meadow Lake.

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Gateway is also offered to 17 First Nation communities.

A total of five staff members, including a First Nations liaison cover the region.

Myers said people can figure out the court system on their own but Gateway wants to make sure the journey is seamless as possible.

“We want to make sure people aren’t re-victimized,” she said. “We want to make sure they feel complete and that they feel heard. Often times, they are re-victimized by some of the processes that are in our traditional system.”

Myers said re-victimization happens a lot in the court system especially when people give testimony or give personal accounts to those they don’t know.

The organization works in partnership with the RCMP and the Ministry of Justice. The organization is funded through the ministry’s victim’s service branch. The services are available to a range of people from someone who received a ticket to helping to pay a victim surcharge, which is usually included in a serious court case.

The funding provided to the organization comes from money police bring in from speeding tickets and committing criminal offences.

For more information on Gateway, visit their website.

Email: Jeff.Labine@jpbg.ca.
On Twitter: @labinereporter.