Every victim has the right, on request, to information about (a) the criminal justice system and the role of victims in it; (b) the services and programs available to them as a victim, including restorative justice programs; and (c) their right to file a complaint for an infringement or denial of any of their rights under this Act.
Canadian Victims Bill of Rights

Dr. D. Scharie Tavcer [she/her]
I am an Associate Professor in the Criminal Justice Degree Program at Mount Royal University and a Gladue Writer for Alberta Justice & Public Safety.
I live, work, and teach in the place the Blackfoot call Mohkinstsis. My acknowledgment of this is only one of many steps towards Truth & Reconciliation. Personally and professionally I support the work that individuals and communities are doing to promote equity for Indigenous and other racialized peoples.
I feel privileged to teach and supervise students – future justice workers. One particular agenda I always include within my curriculum is to inspire students to put compassion and empathy in their toolboxes. I want my students to realize that each of us has a story – we know someone who struggles with addiction, sexual violence, mental illness, or is in an abusive relationship … or maybe it’s us. And how people treat us, how people make us feel, has a huge impact on the way we navigate in this world and deal with and recover from trauma. How we treat our clients is the same: how we make them feel will make a difference in how they recover and how they reintegrate back into society. Doing that with compassion and empathy will make all the difference.

Celebrating Multi-disciplinary Scholarship
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Scholarship & researcH
- Feminist lens to understanding crime, law, gendered violence, and the criminal justice system.
- Intersectional examination of gendered-violence, sexual violence, and sexual consent education.
- Criminalized people and the challenges they face reintegrating into the community.
- Trauma informed care and practices.
- Occupational stress injuries in justice workers.
- Criminal law and sentencing.
- Research Associate with the University of Guelph Centre for the Study of Social and Legal Responses to Violence.
- Advisor for the Gender-Based Violence Collective.
Education & experience
- Doctorate in Sociology, major in Criminology (2007) with the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law and the Albert-Ludwigs Universität both in Freiburg, Germany.
- Masters of European Criminology (2000) with the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Belgium.
- Dr. Tavcer worked for the Correctional Services of Canada in Alberta & British Columbia, as a parole officer, correctional worker, and program therapist.
- Member on the Board of Directors Governance Committee for NextGenMen.
- Canadian Sociological Association Book Award Adjudication Committee member (2023).