A women’s shelter that helps provide families escaping violence resources and a safe space to stay has received $1.1 million from the Alberta government.
Minister of Community and Social Services Rajan Sawhney announced the funding Friday morning for Jessie’s House in Sturgeon County.
A decade in the making, Jessie’s House opened in Morinville, Alta., last year. The safe house was the dream of Jessica Martel’s family. In 2009, Martel was murdered in front of her three children by her common-law husband.
“We had tried so many times to get her to safety but in our community, there wasn’t a shelter or resources for her to access. She had tried to get into a shelter in Edmonton, but they were always full,” said Lynne Rosychuk, Martel’s mother and founder of the Jessica Martel Memorial Foundation.
“We didn’t want other families to have to go through the same thing that Jessica had to go through.”
The $1.1-million grant is one-time funding for the non-profit organization. Rosychuk said the foundation relies on government grants to be able to do the work it does, and the COVID-19 pandemic had made traditional fundraising efforts difficult.
Rosychuk said the facility has had to turn away families because of the high need. This money will help the facility provide further programming and keeps its doors open to those fleeing violence.
“Without funding we wouldn’t survive,” she said. “This money is huge for us. It’s going to let us continue to do the work that we’ve already been doing.
“For me and my family, since I heard the news we haven’t stopped crying. It’s been… a very hard journey for our family. Ultimately, we would have rather had Jessica with us but we do know that this is going to help so many families and it makes our hearts so happy to be able to do that for everyone.”
Marla Welk, the executive director of the Jessica Martel Memorial Foundation, which operates Jessie’s House, told Global News the funding “is huge.”
“It’s going to give us the assurance that we can continue for the next year,” she said. “Jessie’s House is more than just a bed… When families need support, we help them through crisis through counselling, goal-setting, safety planning, danger assessments when they leave the house.
“We provide outreach, there’s a lot of educational pieces that we do and awareness pieces that we do so the funding is going to allow us to not just have 35 beds, it’s going to allow us to support families in a very big way.”
She added that opening up a shelter during a pandemic “is crazy.”
Jan Reimer, the executive director of the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters, said “it’s always a struggle when a women’s shelter opens because they never have secure government funding.”
“It’s good they’ve got a bit of relief out there,” she said of Friday’s announcement.
“Government funding is really critical to keeping the doors open… add to that the complications of COVID(-19);… staff in a communal living environment is a challenge.”
Sawhney said the COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating impacts on families, with restrictions having unintended consequences on the province’s most vulnerable. The minister said there’s been an “unacceptable increase in family violence” since the pandemic began.
“We know, however, that not all women have the capacity to leave a violent home life,” Sawhney said.
“One woman killed in a domestic violence incident is one too many.”
“We’re very concerned about the level of violence that is out there,” Reimer said of domestic violence concerns amid the ongoing pandemic. “(And) after any kind of natural disaster happens, there’s a surge in the demand for women’s shelters… That may last years. We have to prepare for that as well.”
Reimer said there have been gains made by women’s shelters in Alberta in terms of receiving more stable funding, but “there’s a lot more that can be done.”
Alberta NDP community and social services critic Marie Renaud said she is relieved by the funding, but is disappointed it is one-time funding “which does not provide long-term and stable operational funding for this critical service.”
“I spoke in the legislature April 15 on the need for at least $1.5 million for Jesse’s House to meet all of their needs. I worry this is not enough funding to serve women and families in rural Alberta,” Renaud said in a statement.
“I hope to see permanent and stable operational funding for Jessie’s House in next year’s budget.”
Earlier this year, the Alberta government introduced legislation, informally known as Clare’s Law, which allows people who feel they may be at risk of domestic violence to apply online for information related to a current or former partner’s potential risk for domestic violence.
Police can also choose to warn potential victims if there’s a sense they are in danger.
The law originated in the United Kingdom and is named after Clare Wood, a woman who was murdered in 2009 by a partner she didn’t know had a violent criminal history.
Anyone at risk or experiencing family violence can reach the Family Violence Info Line 24 hours a day at 310-1818.
Family violence supports are also available online.
–With files from Global News’ Phil Heidenreich
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