If the worst happens, Cori and Emma are there for you, if you want them.
Both women are victim services case workers based at the Squamish RCMP detachment.
(Due to safety concerns related to their roles, The 小蓝视频 agreed to keep both women's last names confidential.)
They are not police officers but instead offer support to victims of crime.
Their jurisdiction covers Squamish, up the corridor to the Daisy Lake Dam, and south down to Lions Bay. It also includes Bowen Island.
Cori has been in her role for a little over a year, while Emma has been in hers since 2020.
The 小蓝视频 sat down with them in the boardroom at the detachment on Finch Road on March 24 for a wide-ranging conversation that included what they do, what they don't do and why they pursued this career.
What follows is a version of that conversation edited for length and clarity.
Q: Can you tell me a bit about what victim services offers clients?
Emma: So, we work with victims of crime and trauma. We are not police officers, but we work with the police.
We offer crisis response and crisis intervention. We will go out with the police on call-outs—on scene—for incidents, but then we will also have clients referred to us through police files. So, victim services will be offered, and then, if it's accepted, they get referred to us. And then we work with them through whatever support they need.
Cori: We provide short-term emotional support while connecting clients to long-term resources within the community. The court is part of our role as well. Not all victims we come across proceed through the criminal justice process, but if they do, that is something we can do— explaining the whole process. If it gets to the point where it is a trial situation, we can be attending the trial with the victim, supporting them if they have to testify, and kind of walking them through that and offering them some support and guidance.
Q: So the service is offered, but it is up to the victim; they don't have to engage with victim services, correct?
Emma: If they decline, then we won't reach out to them.
But there's no timeframe for accessing us. If they decline it and then they change their minds, they're welcome to get in touch with us at any time.
Cori: And we can even take general inquiries. If someone has a general question, they can always call the front counter and be connected with us. If anyone's curious about the program or what we offer, we're always happy to answer those questions.
Emma: And it's not always necessarily for a crime as well. It might not meet the criminal threshold. We always say there's a difference between crime and bad behaviour. Sometimes it's just having trouble with their roommate or their neighbour or something, and it's not criminal, but it's really causing them a lot of stress and trauma. We can work with them through that.
Q: Without disclosing anything confidential, can you provide some examples of scenes you would go to?
Cori: We deal with many different types of files, anywhere from sudden death to a domestic violence file, if the scene is determined safe by the police officers. It can be lots of different files, and that's what I really enjoy about the job. It's always different.
Q: It is clearly not an easy job. What drew you to it?
Emma: It's not easy, but, at the risk of sounding really cliché, it's very rewarding to be in a position where you can help people at a time of crisis. A lot of people who we come across are having the worst time of their lives ... and to be the person who can help them through that is really a unique and special thing. It can be emotionally difficult sometimes for us too, coming across those situations that people find themselves in, but to be the person who can help them through that is really rewarding.
Q: In a small town, people know each other. How does that play into your role, in terms of perhaps knowing or recognizing a victim?
Cori: Within all aspects of my job, I keep it professional. If there ever is a conflict of interest, that person can be referred to a different program, maybe to North Van, or maybe Whistler or a different co-worker.
We try and mitigate that the best we can, but also still want to be providing service to people who need it.
And, [in terms of running into former or current clients], I talk about it with them: if I ever see you in the community, I'm not being rude, but unless you approach me, I'm not going to acknowledge you. People understand that.
Emma: And a lot of our work is done over the phone or email, so it's not like it's an issue with every client we have. We might not even know what they look like.
Q: What do you think is misunderstood in the community about what victim services do or how you can help?
Emma: We often tell people that we're not police officers. That's one of the first things we would say to differentiate ourselves.
And the police don't have access to our victim services system. It is all confidential unless there is something that we have a duty to report. We often tell clients, "Everything you tell us, we won't be sharing unless it is outlined in our confidentiality agreement.”
Another [clarification] is that we're not personal counsellors. I think some people think that when we reach out to them that we are. We can help them get funding for counselling and things like that, but we're not therapists ourselves.
Q: Can you explain further some of the resources you can help victims access?
Cori: Within the community, we refer clients to different counselling services through Sea to Sky Community Services, as well as PearlSpace—they're a great community resource—as well as resources like the food bank. Then there are also provincial resources, like the family law line and legal aid.
Then, in terms of financial support, the Crime Victim Assistance Program (CVAP) is a provincial program, that we can assist with. We can provide them with the paperwork and help them through the application process. And generally, that's used for counselling services, but there are other areas they cover. They're basically there to provide support for victims of crime through financial means.
Emma: We also work closely with Crown counsel, if it's a court file. We can help clients if they want to provide a victim impact statement. The statements have to be done in a certain format so we can guide them through that process. Also, some clients like us to accompany them to support them while they're testifying and guide them through the court process.
Q: Are you available for historic crimes or just current and recent ones, specifically, I am thinking of historic sexual assaults?
Cori: Yes. For sexually motivated crimes, there is no time frame. There are people who come forward 10 or 20 years later, and describe these events, which are horribly traumatic, and they deserve the same support as someone who just went through it.
Q: For young people who may want to pursue victim services as a career, can you tell us how you got into it?
Cori: I worked in health care before this, and then COVID happened, and I switched gears.
I think in order for someone to get into it, you just have to have a really big passion to help someone, and then pursue any education you can that would help you work in that field. So, whether that's social work or psychology, things like that, and then real-world experience, I think, is another big, important piece of it—being able to feel comfortable in hectic environments.
There is no formal training, but once you are in the role, we have access to so much training.
Emma: When I was 18, I trained to be a counsellor. I finished that when I was 21, and I felt I needed more life experience before I pursued that career. I was still interested in the realm of psychology and counselling, so I went and did my undergrad in psychology. I was living in the U.K. at the time, and fell into some management positions. It wasn't actually until I moved to Canada seven years ago that I was ready to get into something in this field. This was a really good in-between for me, still using my education and background, but not being a counsellor.
Q: What else are you hoping to get across in this story?
Cori: We're here. We can be accessed by either contacting the front counter of the detachment or by phone or email. We're here to help people who need it.
While the goal of the department is to have coverage 24/7, currently, victim services are available Monday to Friday.
Contact victim services at the detachment, 1000 Finch Dr., by phone 604 892-6153 or via email: [email protected].
Disclosure: While it is our strict policy that sources do not see stories before publication, The 小蓝视频 agreed in this case to allow the RCMP to check the story for factual errors prior to publication. We made this very rare agreement due to the importance of the topic for members of the community.
