Two new initiatives hope to target domestic violence in northern, remote, and rural communities
On Jan. 22, 2016, Minister of Community and Social Services Dr. Helena Jaczek announced two new initiatives to help northern, rural, and remote Ontario communities address domestic violence.
The province plans on introducing a new, $1 million, two-year Rural Realities Fund to help Violence Against Women agencies and shelters fund additional support for women and children in remote communities. This funding will also support and improve emergency shelters, crisis and support services, counselling services, housing support services, transitional support services, and province-wide crisis help lines.
The initiatives come in response to last March’s Roundtable on Violence Against Women—the first government roundtable of its kind. Co-chaired by Sly Castaldi and Farrah Khan, the roundtable sought to advise the government on emerging issues of gendered violence. The creation of the permanent roundtable was one of the recommendations of the government’s “It’s Never Okay: An action plan to stop sexual violence and harassment.”
“It is critical that women and their children experiencing violence in their homes in rural, remote and northern communities have access to the help and support they need from Violence Against Women agencies,” said Jaczek, in a Jan. 22, 2016 news release. “The Rural Realities Fund will help those agencies to develop local solutions that address the unique challenges in serving their communities.”
Some of the most important challenges faced by rural Violence Against Women Agencies are the lack of transportation and the lack of cellular coverage for emergency calls, as well as the inability to find safety.
Previous reports on rural poverty in Canada cite anecdotal evidence that stressing factors, like rising unemployment, declining population, and sessional work lead to an increase in reported incidences of domestic violence.
Violence Against Women agencies face specific challenges in delivering services to rural and northern communities, due in part to the responses to domestic violence being largely based on the experiences of urban residents. In other words, many of the solutions for traditionally urban domestic violence incidents—such as removing the victim [pullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]…face specific challenges in delivering services to rural and northern communities…[/pullquote]
from the environment—may not be sustainable for small, isolated populations. In many isolated communities, the nearest shelter could be over two hours away.
The Ontario government also plans to work with Violence Against Women agencies to create and implement a new framework that will help agencies design and develop plans to respond to tragedies or crises involving violence against women in their communities.
Incidents of domestic violence are often exacerbated by a victim’s inability to adequately escape her attacker, her fear of involving the police, or her internalized belief that the violence was deserved. According to a recent poll by Toronto’s Interval House, one-in-three men, and one-in-seven women in Ontario believe that it is possible for someone to bring violence upon themselves. Furthermore, only three-in-five Ontario citizens would help a friend were they to disclose abuse. The funding and the changing framework around public perception of domestic violence will hopefully help more victims, much faster.
Government-supported agencies must apply for the extra funding, and must submit proposals for one or two-year-long projects.