The Canadian Centre for Elder Law’s (CCEL) project on exploring law and policy responses to support vulnerable victims and witnesses of abuse is in its final stages. The study paper will highlight existing frameworks in B.C. for supporting vulnerable witnesses with a view to raising awareness across sectors about the policies that guide Crown Counsel and the supports available for vulnerable adult witnesses. This project also examines how this issue is addressed in other jurisdictions, extracting best practices and developing educational tools to support Crown counsel, the RCMP, Victim Services staff and support workers for vulnerable adults. As part of Victims and Survivors of Crime Week in May, CCEL conducted a webinar highlighting some of their research and ways in which victim support workers can assist vulnerable adult witnesses in accessing testimonial aids.

The presentation, which was co-hosted by the Canadian Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse and Elder Abuse Prevention Ontario, can be found on the project page
on bcli.org.