In honour of the victims.

The phrase flashed across the big white screen at the front of the room. Soft music played in the background.

On Sunday morning, victims of crime, their families, service providers working with survivors of violence and the general public sat together in the University room at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel in Toronto for the annual victims’ commemoration ceremony.

Every year, victims of crime in Ontario mark the anniversary of the Proclamation of the Victims' Bill of Rights, proclaimed as law on June 11, 1996.

The Act includes a set of principles that guide how justice system officials should treat victims at different stages of the criminal justice process.