I rise today on behalf of the Liberal caucus to also pay tribute to the 10^th annual National Victims of Crime Awareness Week.

The 2015 theme is “Shaping the Future Together”. The theme looks to highlight that victims of crime are working to move forward from being defined as merely victims and actually shaping their own futures. Mr. Speaker, sadly, the Yukon has the third-highest crime rate in the country, better only than the other two territories. Too often the focus is on the crime and we allow the offender to be too much of the story and we often forget that for every crime, there is an innocent person who has had their rights violated.

As mentioned, tomorrow Yukon Victim Services will be hosting a services for victims expo. Service providers and community organizations will be on hand to talk services partnerships. As a community, we need to stand together and to provide support to those who have been victimized and help them to move on.