Rape crisis centres will have longer waitlists with fewer services for sexual assault survivors if funding from Ontario’s government is not renewed after March this year, according to the coordinator of the Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres, Nicole Pietsch.
Before the Ontario provincial elections, the Liberals had promised $14.8 million over the course of three years, in addition to a supplementary grant renewed every year. Following their loss in the elections, the Conservatives only provided a one-time grant of $1 million, which was divided amongst the 42 centres in Ontario.
Pietsch explains that the supplementary funding allowed the creation and implementation of new programs at many rape crisis centres in Ontario.
If the supplementary funding is not renewed after March this year, these programs will cease to operate.
In early February this year, Ontario’s Attorney General, Doug Downey, met with representatives of sexual assault centres in Ontario to discuss the crisis. However, according to The Toronto Star, there was little discussion about the renewal of the Conservative government’s $1 million supplementary funding.
Pietsch explained that demand for counselling has nearly doubled since 2015, but the funding available to crisis centres has remained the same and is “not enough to meet the need that we’re seeing in communities.”
The funding allowed the Women’s Support Network of York Region to create walk-in hours for survivors to visit a counsellor in case they didn’t have an appointment. Similarly, the Muskoka Sexual Assault Services used their grant to implement a group counselling service to reduce the wait times to have access to counselling.
According to Pietsch, if the supplementary funding is not renewed or increased, Ontario rape crisis centres will see wait times increase again, and these lengthy wait times may impact survivors of sexual assault negatively.
“They feel like their case is unimportant. It also means that some people may choose never to reach out again, that means they’re coping alone,” Pietsch said.
But this is not the situation in every province. In Alberta, the fiscal year of 2019-20 saw a $10.3 million budget for rape crisis centres, according to the Alberta Budget of 2019.
The Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton (SACE) registered more than 400 new clients in 2019, according to Mary Jane James, CEO of SACE.
To provide services to all incoming clients, SACE hired many new staff members, so the “clinical team [now] makes up about 28 people,” according to James.
Despite a larger clinical team, extended hours of operation, and “ramped-up prevention programmes,” James explained that the current waitlist for adults in SACE remains at five-to-six months and two-to-three months for children.
This long waitlist shows that the funding provided to the 15 sexual assault centres in Alberta is not enough. James told the Charlatan that to tackle this problem, SACE “lobbied hard” to the New Democratic Party (NDP). They “designed a business case … and made appointments to see every minister within the provincial government.”
This proved beneficial to Alberta as SACE received significant funding in 2019. However, this funding will expire by the end of March this year. When SACE demanded more funding from the Alberta government to cope with increasing demand for services, “they said don’t ask,” said James.
She said that Alberta Premier Jason Kenney wants to provide ample resources for the prevention of sexual violence and support services for centres in Alberta. For that reason, “no significant cuts” will be made to the funding available for SACE and other centres.
The centres facing shortages in funding in Ontario are all community centres. University and college campuses receive funding from the Women’s Campus Safety from the Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities, and Sexual Assault Support Services (SASS) at Carleton also receives funding from the university.
“Right now we certainly are good and have money for programming,” said Bailey Reid, the senior advisor of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Prevention and Support at SASS.
“Sexual violence is a community problem, that means it needs a community solution,” commented Reid.
She added that in situations where funding is inadequate, it is the community’s duty to come together and support their local rape crisis centre through fundraisers and time.
As a survivor of sexual assault, Tess Posine was disappointed with the services that she was given access to, including group counselling at rape crisis centres in Ontario. Posine explains that it was particularly difficult to find counsellors who specialize in sexual assault because there was a lack of public counsellors and extremely long waitlists for private counsellors.
“I never matched with a counsellor,” said Posine, explaining how “nobody really tells you what emotions you go through,” hence the need for one-on-one counseling.
If the Conservative government doesn’t renew the supplementary funding for sexual assault centres, then the group counselling in some centres, like that of Muskoka, will also have to stop.
According to Posine, she “doesn’t even want to use these resources,” because they require opening up to and trusting a group of people with private details right after a traumatic experience.
“I don’t think people see how important the recovery is,” she said.
A lack of empathy for survivors and the absence of recognition for the trauma experienced by victims of sexual assault also plays a role in the limited funding available.
“The resources should be there when survivors are looking for them, we really need to see these places [rape crisis centres] as hearts of our community,” Reid added.
If you are in need of assistance, find support here.
Feature image from file.
