I found this Toronto Star article about the parents of murdered children who have applied for monetary compensation from Canada’s Criminal Injuries Compensation Board. The money is supposed to help pay for things like funeral expenses, medical expenses, counseling, lost earnings, etc., for crime victims and their families. However, several people whose children were killed did not get compensation, supposedly just because they did not witness the crimes. One woman quoted in the article had to wait three years after she filed her application, before they would even consider her request.
Meanwhile, says the article, law enforcement officers routinely receive thousands in compensation payments even for minor injuries.
That’s really cold. And disturbing.
The Charley Project Blog 
This is on fb and a lot of ppl are outraged. It’s awful to think that you have to witness your child’s murder to be considered for compensation. As one mom said, her daughter’s body parts were located in 2 places 10km from each other. Just imagining what her daughter caused her so much distress. The lack of compensation for this doesn’t seem just at all.
It is horrible that you have to witness a child’s murder in order to qualify for criminal injuries. And once again even if you do witness your child’s murder that’s no garauntee that you’ll be compensated in any serious way. 😦
It’s all of the red flags and bulls–t that families have to go through in order to get what they’re entitled to. 😦
I don’t want to seem insensitive about this—but what business does a government have in compensating the families of victims? Money cannot restore their peace of mind, much less their loved one. It makes some sense if this money is needed to give the dead proper burial and memorial, when a family lacks the means to do so; but whether one witnesses the death of a child or not, what are families “entitled” to, except for government to pursue justice on the behalf of the dead, which only it has the power and force of law to do? If a criminal or mental patient has not been properly monitored, and the crime arguably occurs because of malfeasance on the part of those charged to do just that, aren’t there civil courts to deal with recovery of damages?
I would guess that LEO are compensated for injuries incurred on the job, because their job is defending the public: this is comparing apples and oranges. I’m sure abuses occur—like compensation for fallen arches, say. But LEO are also uniquely vulnerable in that in the performance of their job, they may make a mistake that is actionable, like shooting an unarmed man, or killing an innocent motorist while pursuing a speeder.