A non-profit organization in Alberta’s capital that supports people impacted by sexual violence says it has been forced to temporarily suspend intakes for some of its clinical services because of provincial funding cuts.
“We are deeply disheartened by the reality we are facing as an agency, and understand that this news may land heavily for our community,” the Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton (SACE) said in a post on social media on Monday, adding the pausing of intakes was “a difficult decision.”
SACE said the services impacted will include adult counselling, child and youth counselling, and some “core therapeutic groups.”
The organization said people who are current clients, who are on the waitlist for services, or who have an intake booked, will continue to be able to access services as scheduled.
Mary Jane James, the CEO of SACE, told Global News on Tuesday while the operational funding of just over $2 million has been renewed by the provincial government, her organization will lose grant funding on March 31 that it had received from the provincial government a couple of years ago.
“The pot of money in question is a pot of money that was given to us in 2023 in the amount of $1.8 million when our waitlist was at 18 months long,” she explained.
“So we were lobbying the government at that time: ‘Please help us. We need to reduce this waitlist. Clients are really not being cared for the way they need to be.’ And they gave us an additional $1.8 million on a two-year grant.”
“(They) promised us that that would be a sustainable grant that we could count on. Because we emphasized, of course, that if we don’t have the money to hire extra therapists, our waitlists will just go back up to where it was.
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James said about six months ago, she found out that $1.8 million grant was not going to be renewed.
“I reached out to various government staff and ministers about what would happen if that was not renewed and unfortunately I was not successful.”
In an email, Daniel Verrier, the press secretary for Children and Family Services Minister Searle Turton, said “any indication that this is a cut is false.”
“SACE received a one-time $1.8 million grant in 2023 to address waitlists and that work was complete, and the grant requirements were met.”
In a news release, Opposition status of women critic Julia Hayter accused the Alberta government of “reckless funding cuts” that she believes will hurt vulnerable people who access SACE’s services.
“It’s a direct attack on the safety and dignity of survivors,” her statement read in part.
James said in addition to pausing intakes, the centre has had to lay off some staff in anticipation of the cuts. She said sex assault survivors, including those referred by private psychologists, won’t have a place to go.
She said SACE hopes to reopen intakes once the organization has regrouped and come up with an alternative source of funding.
Jess Hiebert is an advocate for victims of sexual assault and told Global News she was concerned to hear about the pause on new intakes.
“Seeing those supports taken away from people who are in dire need of them is just very alarming,” she said. “Without SACE’s treatment, I would probably not be a functioning Albertan.”
Verrier said the Alberta government recognizes the role sexual assault centres have in supporting survivors.
“Budget 2025, if passed, invests more than $88 million for prevention of family and sexual violence, which includes $15.3 million, an increase of $1.5 million, for sexual assault centres across the province,” Verrier wrote.
“Alberta’s government continues to be on track to meet our mandate commitment to invest $10 million over four years for sexual assault centres. We will continue to work with sexual assault centres, child advocacy centres and sexual violence agencies to ensure this funding goes where it is needed most.”
James said SACE has recently been taking on an average of 21 new intakes a week and that at the end of the fiscal year, it had 1,096 new clients.
“We do not charge a fee,” she said. “Many of the clients that we see would not have the financial flexibility to be able to pay for private counselling, so we are their option and we do it well.
“I certainly understand the financial impacts that are hitting our province and impacting our provincial budget but … $1.8 million is a very small amount of money relatively speaking.”
James said sexual assault continues to be a very pervasive issue, which makes the work SACE does so important.
“Sexual violence is probably the most egregious and devastating crime that can happen to a human being,” she said. “It causes severe trauma impacts.
“It’s disappointing but we are not giving up. We are going to find a way to regroup.”
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