Print

Content Policy

Content on The Victim Justice Network website covers topics that will promote awareness, understanding and support for victims of crime in Canada.

The Victim Justice Network will edit or reject content that does not follow these policy guidelines.

Content the VJN includes

The Victim Justice Network website content includes:

  • Information about the Victim Justice Network
  • Resources including news, articles and research about victim justice issues in Canada
  • Services for victims of crime and their families and/or advocates across Canada.
  • Articles and Agency Profiles
  • Research reports related to Victimization
  • Information for Criminal Justice Professionals, Victim Services, Community Service Workers and others supporting victims of crime.
  • Social Media postings

The VJN includes the following types of content on the Victim Justice Network website:

  • Content that relates to supporting victims of crime in Canada
    The VJN will provide links to resources and services to assist victims but VJN project staff will not give legal advice or information for a specific problem.
  • Content that has a Canada focus or is relevant to Canadians
    The VJN may include materials produced by organizations or governments outside of Canada if it provides useful information on policy or research that might benefit Canadians
  • Content produced primarily by government, law enforcement agencies and community organizations
    The VJN may include content from private organizations and individuals, such as private bar lawyers or researchers if the information is provided for free or low cost and is not just promoting commercial activities.
  • Content that is concise and accessible.
    The VJN gives priority to content that is concise, complete, presented in clear language, accessible to a wide audience, and inclusive.
  • Content or services that are free or low cost
    The VJN gives priority to services, resources or notices of events that are free or low cost. For example, the VJN reserves the right to not include service listings for private bar law firms or other fee-based services.
  • Information related to law or policy reform campaigns
    The VJN may include content about law reform campaigns and community meetings dealing with law reform and social issues if they are non-partisan and affiliated with a community organization serving victims of crime and their families or advocates.

Content the VJN does not include

The VJN will not include the following types of content on The Victim Justice Network website:

  • Content that is selling a product or services
    The VJN includes legal content (such as resources) from companies selling products only if no other information is available. For example, a private company such as a law firm or research consulting firm might produce the only plain-language resource or research available on a certain legal topic. Furthermore, the VJN does not accept listings for private bar lawyers, law firms or any other for-profit businesses or agencies as part of the site’s Services listings. Services must be free or low cost to be included. The VJN website will not include content that is made up mostly of advertising, sales pitches, or personal testimonials, or if it is promoting illegal activity.
  • Content that is discriminatory or oppressive
    The VJN website will not include content that: is discriminatory, oppressive, or partisan, has ideas that could hurt individuals or groups, spreads hatred, or promotes a particular religious point of view.
  • Content that is defamatory, obscene, or threatening
    The VJN will not include content that is defamatory, abusive, vulgar, obscene, pornographic, profane, or threatening, or if it invades a person’s privacy
  • Content produced by people or organizations that have complaints against them
    The VJN does not knowingly include content from sources that have complaints against them with a regulatory body or organization, such as The Law Society of Upper Canada or Legal Aid Ontario.
  • Other reasons why content won’t be included
    The VJN may also remove or not include content that is associated with criminal activities, fraud, or misrepresentation.|

Reliability of content on The Victim Justice Network website

The VJN collects information from sources they believe to be reliable but does not guarantee that the information is accurate, timely, or complete.

If the VJN finds out that content is not accurate, they will decide whether to remove it from the site.

Posting news articles and/or links to third-party websites does not constitute an affiliation with or endorsement by the Victim Justice Network.

Verifying information

The VJN must have complete contact information for the producer of any content or the providers of any services listed and the VJN includes contact information for all services/organizations that have content on the site.

For resources such as articles or research the VJN includes the date they were produced and tracks the date they were posted to the site.

The VJN has procedures for reviewing and archiving all content on the site. For resources the VJN will review and archive older materials on an annual basis. For organizations listed as Services, the VJN will review with the organization annually to ensure information is accurate and up to date.

Altering content produced by others

The VJN collects content from many sources and may change it to follow editorial style or project objectives. The VJN may also convert materials into other formats to make them more accessible to users, for example, Portable Document Format (PDF) or HTML. But the VJN does not change, edit, or re-format materials without telling the source or producing organization.

VJN staff writes descriptions for the resources, news, and events added to the site, and writes headlines and headings for all content. The VJN also describes organizations and their services for the Services listings. The VJN reserves the right to follow editorial style or project objectives in describing and tagging this content.

Social Media

The VJN uses social media channels to promote the content posted to the Victim Justice Network website. As with all content posted to the Victim Justice Network website, the VJN posts content to social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook on topics and issues that will promote awareness, understanding and support for victims of crime in Canada.

Social media tools and websites encourage users to engage with and share content they find interesting and the VJN are pleased to see VJN content shared and commented on widely.

For more information on how the VJN uses social media please see Social Media.

Should users have questions or comments specific to an individual legal problem, VJN staff will not respond to these requests through social media but redirect users to contact the Victim Justice Network.

The VJN recognizes that the web is a 24/7 medium, and comments are welcome at any time. However, given the need to manage very limited staff and volunteer resources, the VJN can only monitor comments and postings during regular business hours.

Once posted, the VJN reserves the right to delete submissions or comments that contain:

  • Vulgar language
  • Personal attacks of any kind
  • Comments or content that promotes, fosters, or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, marital status, genetics, status with regard to public assistance, national origin, physical or intellectual disability, sexual orientation or gender identity
  • Spam or links to other sites
  • Clearly off topic
  • Advocate illegal activity
  • Promote particular services, products, or political organizations
  • Infringe on copyrights or trademarks
  • Personally identifiable medical, legal or otherwise private information
  • Information that may compromise the safety, security or proceedings of public systems or any criminal or civil investigations.

If there are repeated violations, then the VJN will ban participation on platforms that permit organizations to ban users.

Please note that the comments expressed on the Victim Justice Website or social media sites used by the Victim Justice Network do not reflect the opinions and position of the Victim Justice Network (VJN), its officers and employees or its funders. If you have any concerns concerning the operation of this website, please contact us at http://www.victimjusticenetwork.ca/contactform

For more information

For questions or concerns about this policy, please contact the Victim Justice Network.