Over the last few decades, particularly with the new Bill C-127, health officials, social workers and others who work in the area of domestic and sexual violence have learned that violence does not occur in isolation, rather it is a widespread problem. Many laws and criminal justice agencies try to make it an easier process to accuse, prosecute and convict someone who is guilty of a crime of a violent nature, but some criminals still seem to be falling in between the cracks of the criminal justice system. However, many communities and other small organisations are taking it upon themselves to help prevent the occurrence of sexual violence. For example, in response to the rape and murder of a University of Waterloo student, the student's federation in 1986, raised money and started the Safety Van Program, which focused on women getting home safely in the dark. Many Canadian communities are now taking responsibility for their own members.
Community services are essential for the support and counselling of victims.
An article, which appeared in Chatelaine in March 1989, wrote that victims of sexual assault need medical aid and emotional support and that these services needed to be found within the community. Inconsistencies and contradictions in Canada's sexual assault law. The aftermath of a sexual assault. Treating sex criminals. Maclean's, p. 46-47.