Victim Travel Assistance

You may qualify for help to travel to interviews, hearings and other justice-related proceedings.

Victim Travel Fund

The Victim Travel Fund provides funds up to $3,000.00 for a family or victim to attend justice-related proceedings in B.C. (Information on funding to attend provincial parole and federal hearings are below).

Eligible expenses may include meals, accommodation and the most cost effective form of travel.

Who is Eligible for Funding

  1. Victims and non-subpoenaed witnesses who have suffered significant physical or emotional harm because of a serious crime.
  2. Victims and non-subpoenaed witnesses who require a support person in order to participate in a proceeding.
  3. Immediate family members of a deceased victim such as parents, a spouse, children and siblings as defined in the Victims of Crime Act.

Eligibility

You may qualify for funding if you:

  1. Apply for funding before the proceeding.
  2. Must travel more than 100km to attend the proceeding.
  3. Have not already had your expenses covered by Crown counsel, the Crime Victim Assistance Program or any other source.

How to Apply

There are two ways to apply:

  1. Call VictimLinkBC and ask to be connected to a victim service worker who can help you apply for travel assistance.
  2. Contact the Victim Safety Unit and request a Victim Travel Fund application.

Subpoenaed Witnesses

The Victim Travel Fund is not available to help subpoenaed witnesses attend court.

In some instances, witnesses may be able to claim expenses for travel and or childcare through the Crown counsel office.

For more information, speak to Crown counsel or the witness notifier in the case. (The witness notifier is the person who works for Crown counsel whose job it is to ensure witnesses know the trial date.)

For more information, see the Crown counsel website.

Crime Victim Assistance Program

The Crime Victim Assistance Program helps family members of deceased crime victims travel to justice-related proceedings.

To find out if you are eligible for help, call VictimLinkBC and ask to be connected to a victim service worker.

Provincial Parole and Federal Hearings

Victims who need help to attend provincial parole hearings or federal hearings should contact the federal Policy Centre for Victim Issues.