
The province of Saskatchewan is investing a total of $3.8 million to 16 agencies over the next two years under the National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence.
Justice Minister and Attorney General Tim McLeod and the Minister Responsible for the Status of Women and Prince Albert Northcote MLA Alana Ross made the announcement on Monday in Regina.
The investment will provide for enhanced programs, supports and tools in Saskatchewan communities. The funding includes money to increase space in transition homes and second stage housing facilities, provide learning resources on healthy relationships to Saskatchewan residents, support enhanced early intervention for families at risk of violence, and develop additional tools to ensure appropriate responses to survivors and perpetrators of interpersonal violence.
Among those receiving funding was the Prince Albert Safe Shelter for Women, which received $40,0000 for Second Stage Housing Capacity.
“Any provincial funding to help address gender based violence in this community is welcomed and appreciated,” Prince Albert Safe Shelter executive director Sheri Bates said. “It makes a tremendous difference in our community and the jobs that we do here at the shelter.”
The funding will be used for the Safe Shelter’s own second stage housing, The organization’s current second stage housing is a six-plex roughly a block away from the shelter.
The building helps gender-based violence victims transition to independent living.
“They are there with supports in place,” Bates explained. “They still access programming at the shelter, so it’s kind of a bridge to independent living.”
Bates said it was nice to receive funding for that aspect of their operation.
“(I just want to add) How grateful we are to the province and the government for addressing this issue in our community,” she said.
The Second Stage Housing funding was a total of $215,000 split between the Prince Albert Safe Shelter for Women, Lloydminster Interval Home Society Inc. ($40,000), Sofia House Inc. ($40,000); YWCA Regina Inc. ($38,855); YWCA Saskatoon Inc. ($36,000) and Saskatoon Interval House Inc. ($20,000).
Also in Prince Albert, the YWCA received $39,000 for Transition Home Capacity, which saw $214,000 split between the Prince Albert YWCA, Lloydminster Interval Home Society ($40,000), Regina Transition House ($40,000); YWCA Regina Inc. ($39,644), Moose Jaw Women’s Transition Association Inc. ($35,000), Saskatoon Interval House Inc. ($20,000), and Safe and Together Training ($42,000).
Chrissy Halliday President of the Prince Albert Council of Women noted that the investment was announced after the Domestic Violence Death Review was released on Friday. She welcomed the funding, but said more could be done.
“I know most people think 3.8 million is a lot of money. It really isn’t. When you see how it’s broken down like Prince Albert’s getting $79,000, (with) $39,000 is going to the YWCA and $40,000 is going to Prince Albert Safe Shelter for Women. It really isn’t enough, unfortunately.”
Halliday said there are other ways to invest in support of stopping gender-based violence.
“I think the biggest issue is always going to be putting the money in having SaskTel expand services into rural communities, putting up more cell towers, giving more money to organizations like Victim Services so that they can hire more staff because I hear it on the streets and they get overrun on quite a regular basis. They need more staff and they need
more availability to support those staff. But we also need more mental health services in the provinces,” Halliday said.
Funding will also be provided to community-based partners and agencies to develop tools which can be used for outreach, programming and advocacy. The list includes the Natural Supports Program ($635,000): Saskatchewan Toward Offering Partnership Solutions to Violence, Enhanced Early Intervention Supports ($1,100,000), Collaboration between Family Service Regina Inc. and Family Service Saskatoon, Healthy Relationships Program ($513,000): The John Howard Society, Adverse Childhood Experiences Awareness and Prevention ($485,000): Praxis Consulting Inc., Common Intimate Partner Violence Assessment Tool ($300,000), Provincial Association of Transition Houses and Services of Saskatchewan Inc. (PATHS) and Human Trafficking Prevention Toolkit ($297,000) and Saskatoon Downtown Youth Centre (EGADZ).
Under the plan, the federal government is providing a total of $539.3 million over four years in cost-sharing agreements with provinces and territories to implement the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence.
“The funding and programming we are announcing today are a critical part of our ongoing work under the National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence, and align strongly with the recommendations contained in the recently released Domestic Violence Death Review,” Justice Minister and Attorney General Tim McLeod said in a press release. “I am grateful to all our partner organizations for collaborating with us on this, and the work they do across Saskatchewan to address and prevent gender-based violence.”
“Saskatchewan’s implementation of the National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence is focused on prevention, awareness, and building supports for survivors and their loved ones,” Minister Responsible for the Status of Women Alana Ross said. “Our government remains committed to preventing interpersonal violence and abuse in all forms.”
According to the province this year, the Government of Saskatchewan is dedicating a total of $31.7 million to community-based partners that facilitate interpersonal violence programs and services. This includes the $14.2 million per year being provided to community-based partners, annualized funding for second-stage shelters and additional funding for Victims Services and other important supports.
–with files from Jason Kerr/Prince Albert Daily Herald
Michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca