Leaders of several sexual assault centres and organizations in Alberta say the lack of support for survivors in the provincial budget is “demoralizing.”
“Thousands of Albertans who have been impacted by sexual violence… were completely ignored by this budget,” said Mary Jane James, CEO of the Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton (SACE).
“The budget very clearly left us with zero additional funding.”
James said four weeks ago, the waitlist for trauma counselling at the centre was about 13 months; now, it’s already grown to 15-16 months.
“We had 98 new intakes in one month alone. I do not understand how the government does not get this. It’s extremely frustrating and dehumanizing and demoralizing.”
The Association of Alberta Sexual Assault Services (AASAS) has been asking the provincial government for funding to help meet the rising demand. AASAS represents 15 sexual assault centres across the province.
In the spring of last year, AASAS presented data and a business case to the provincial government “for enhanced and ongoing funding to support survivors of sexual violence in Alberta.” The funding would be used to decrease the counselling wait lists, address complex needs of survivors, help them access justice and school and for community-based prevention programs.
“Since then, SACE has been working with government staff, speaking with ministers and advocating for survivors,” SACE said in a news release Jan. 25.
In response, the Alberta government said, after meeting with the AASAS, it offered $4.2 million, which it says “was rejected.”
“We are disappointed that this offered funding is not being used to help those in need of supports, as we know how much of a difference it would have made,” Hunter Baril, spokesperson for the ministry of Seniors, Community and Social Services, said in an email to Global News on Wednesday.
James said the province is mischaracterizing what happened. She said this is especially insulting given that the AASAS is a not-for-profit organization trying to support victims of violence.
James said AASAS “fully intended to get back to the bargaining table” and assumed that would happen. She said attempts to contact the province were not returned and “never once was it indicated this was the final offer.”
The AASAS said “despite numerous attempts to continue a dialogue and find a solution together, the government decided to reallocate their proposed one-time investment.”
James added the proposed one-time funding would not solve the waitlist issues, “nor will it address the critical importance of prevention services and education.”
On Wednesday, during an interview with 630 CHED, James reiterated that groups were asking for $14 million.
“What we really, really need here is sustainable funding,” she added.
“On behalf of all survivors across Alberta — who are your friends, co-workers and family members – I implore you to tell your MLAs, to tell all your candidates in the upcoming election to make sexual violence prevention, and the health of Alberta communities, a priority by providing adequate and sustainable funding to our sexual assault services,” said AASAS CEO Deb Tomlinson.
Baril highlighted parts of what was included in the recently announced provincial budget.
“For sexual assault services, Alberta’s government is providing $17.1 million in 2023-24, which is a 25 per cent increase over the past five years,” Baril said. “We will continue to work hard to ensure survivors can access the supports they need.”
Global News has asked the government if there is an ongoing funding commitment that extends past 2024. Global News also asked where the $17.1 million was to be allocated.
James says the province currently provides about $17 million in funding to the 15 sexual assault centres.
“It means that we’ll still go on providing the services that we’ve been doing but there will be no additional money to hire anymore staff and those staff members are particularly needed in our counselling department,” she explained.
“We are living in a province that is not taking serious, gendered social problems seriously,” said Lise Gotell, the Landrex Distinguished Professor in Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Alberta.
She said Alberta has the third worst rates of sexual assault and domestic violence in Canada.
“The economic, social and criminal justice costs of this problem are probably in the neighbourhood $2 billion a year and the government has not increased the funding for the network of non-profits — the women’s shelters and the sexual assault centres — that are largely dealing with this problem, either through volunteer labour or the underpaid work of largely women workers.”
Gotell is worried about the impact on survivors.
“There are extremely long waiting lists for trauma counselling at the sexual assault centres here in Edmonton — it’s like an year and half. And for an individual survivor who has the courage to reach out, that is going to have enormously damaging consequences.
“I am extremely angry about this budget, from the perspective of a woman, as someone who has researched the problem of gender-based violence for the last three decades and as someone who advocates on behalf of this sector, it’s so disappointing.”
She described what the centres and shelters are going through as a crisis.
“They require an infusion of cash. They’re not private-sector organizations; they’re carrying out a public function, like hospitals, for example.”
And Gotell says this comes after the federal government agreed to implement a National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence. The 2021 federal budget committed $601.3 million over five years to the plan, and Budget 2022 proposed an investment of $539.3 million over five years starting in 2022-23 to support provinces and territories implement it.
“What is happening to those funds?” Gotell asked.
At a news conference March 6, Premier Danielle Smith said Alberta’s minister of mental health and addiction, Nicolas Milliken, would be happy to meet with the AASAS again.
“Maybe we have a little more work to do to work with them, to find out what their actual needs are,” she said.
“We do know this is a priority. It’s very important to us. If we can meet so that we can find a number that they think would be more appropriate that’s within our means, then I know the minister would be happy to do that.”
Milliken said “there are ample aspects with regards to my ministry that, unfortunately, under previous governments weren’t funded to the level that they should have been.”
He said his goal is “to continue to build out the recovery-oriented system of care, that includes, obviously, victims of sexual assault, there’s also lots of opportunities for increased access to counselling services that we’ve been funding.”
The Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters said shelters were also bypassed in the budget.
“The provincial budget announced (Tuesday) revealed a $2.4 billion surplus… but no help for domestic violence shelters, who are struggling daily to make ends meet,” the ACWS said in a news release.
“Alberta is seeing increased violence, increased caseloads, and increased complexity in the clients they support. The only thing that hasn’t increased is the provincial funding.”
The ACWS said domestic abuse shelters in Alberta have seen budget freezes for almost a decade.
“It was hard to hear that,” said Jan Reimer, CEO of ACWS, of the provincial budget. “It’s pretty devastating.
“I think in that ministry, we’re likely one of the few who haven’t had an increase in maybe eight, nine years. That makes it really hard when you start looking at inflation, when it takes a bite out of everything.”
She said it would take about $10 million for the sector just to match inflation. Without any additional provincial support, shelters will have to make tough choices, Reimer said.
“The shelters are getting their contracts today with the same numbers they had last time. I mean, what options do they have if they need money to pay their staff April 1 and their grant agreement is up March 31? We’re really hoping to be able to work with government to solve this because it’s not sustainable.
“Some of our members are looking at closing some of the programs they’ve offered, some have been stretching those provincial dollars so they’re even offering more beds than what they’re funded for. So they’re thinking about that. Some are having a $600,000 deficit because they’ve opened up extra beds, so that’s not sustainable either,” Reimer said.
“When we leave shelters behind, we are creating massive problems for ourselves down the road,” the ACWS news release added. “Think: increased homelessness and addictions, rising pressure on healthcare, more strain on the justice system – the research recognizes that domestic violence is a pathway to all of these social issues.”
In response, the province said it is increasing funding for women’s shelters.
“This year, Alberta’s government is supporting women’s shelters and family violence prevention programs with $64.6 million, which is an increase of $8 million over last year,” Baril said in an emailed statement to Global News.
Baril also said Alberta has invested more than a billion dollars in affordable housing and housing supports.
“We continue to work with our partners in the province in caring for vulnerable women.”
Budget 2023 also includes $102 million per year to increase the wages of more than 20,000 social sector workers beginning in 2023-24.
In February, $24 million was provided to service providers to support wage increases retroactive to Jan. 1, 2023.
James said this promise doesn’t include sexual assault centres or domestic violence shelters.
In a news conference March 6, the premier said she found out the average wage in shelters is $26 an hour. Other areas, she said, were earning much lower wages.
“That’s why we made a priority investment in persons with developmental disabilities,” she said.
“There’s always room to improve, obviously. In all of these, we want to make sure we’re attracting people, but we also need to make sure we’re bringing those who are the lowest level up, as a priority.”