It will be the first shelter to open in Saskatchewan since 1989.
A new women’s emergency crisis centre in Melfort will have sixteen beds for women and children leaving violent homes.
It’s part of a 4.3 percent increase in Social Services spending in this year’s budget.
It’s not that rural Saskatchewan hasn’t needed services for abused women in almost 25 years, but it’s difficult to address the problem among rural populations because the victims are so spread out.
Instead, violence workers have been focusing on getting information to those women.
“I think there’s a perception that across the province we provide kind of a broad expansive service,” said Diane Delaney, the Coordinator for the Provincial Association of Transition Houses of Saskatchewan (PATHS). “We don’t have shelters in all the areas, but we do have services there.”
But in a province where the centres are maxed out, some say opening more shelters is only putting a band-aid on a bleeding issue.
“The answer to preventing violence isn’t to have more shelters,” said Kirk Englot, Director of Operations for Family Services Regina. “Having a place to go in a time of need in critical, but that’s only a first step.”
Social workers are increasingly turning their focus from dealing with the fall out of violence, to addressing why it’s happening.
Family Services Regina used to provide a counseling program called, Choices for Change. It gave men who used violence a place to talk openly about their problem.
“You need to be able to provide services for those who experience violence, but as well for those who might use violence so they can try and shift ways of relating and functioning to be more nurturing and supportive,” said Englot.
The program was successful, but it was cut from their roster because of funding issues.
Now that there’s an increase in the Social Services budget, they’re hoping to get it back.
“If we can get to the root causes now, we can actually save a lot of money,” said Englot.
PATHS is in the midst of a three year research project exploring the root causes behind domestic violence. With help from Status of Women Canada, they’re hoping to turn research into policy to end a disturbing upward trend.
“When we look at it from that perspective, a broader deeper analysis, I think we’re more likely to come up with solutions that are going to work,” said Delaney.
The province has allocated $6.7 million more dollars to Child and Family Services in this year’s budget, but hasn’t announced exactly how that money’s will be spent.
Comments