Make our voices count

Dear editor:
Statistics Canada has reported the number of women murdered by their intimate partners increased by 25 percent in 2001. The largest jump was seen in Ontario, which rose from 68 to 86.
Jury inquests into the deaths of Arlene May and Gillian Hadley in 1998 and 2000, respectively, recommended that the Ontario government ensure all community-based women’s anti-violence services, including women’s shelters, are appropriately funded.
In 2002/03, the Atikokan Crisis Centre provided safety and security to 164 women and 135 children, which was an increase from 128 women and 116 children the previous year. Crisis calls numbered 1,612 and the occupancy has increased from 39 percent in 2001 to 82 percent in 2003.
Our annual budget does not change to reflect either the level of occupancy nor the increases in costs of things such as utilities, etc. We have been forced to eliminate one permanent full-time management position and one part-time front-line position.
Following a lengthy legal battle between the provincial government and several unions, the government agreed to partially offset the cost of pay equity for VAW shelters; however, it has yet to be determined whether or not the agencies that paid out these monies will be reimbursed.
What will each candidate running in the Oct. 2 provincial election do, if elected, to protect women and children who are victims of women abuse, and will this include increasing core funding for shelters for victims of domestic violence?
Women: our votes count!
Since women form the majority of the poor in Canada, women are at greater risk of being in poor health (Health Canada Population Health Approach).
Violence is a major cause of injury to women (CRIAW, Women, Health and Action, 2001). Women make up two-thirds of the 250,000 Ontarians who are employed at minimum wage (CAW, June, 2003). One in five Canadian women is living in poverty (Statistics Canada, Women in Canada 2000: A Gender-based Statistical Report).
Some 39 percent of Canadian women reported having had at least one experience of sexual assault since the age of 16 (Statistics Canada, The Daily, 1993), 93 percent of sexual assault survivors do not report to the police (Statistics Canada, The Daily, 1993), and women’s shelters across the province rely more and more on private donors to help them operate (OAITH, 2003).
The only shelter in Hamilton designated to serving homeless women had to turn away women from accessing shelter beds on 1,437 occasions in the last fiscal year alone (Good Shepherd Centres—Mary’s Place).
There are less than 174,000 regulated child care spaces for Ontario’s two million children (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Ontario Alternative Budget 2003).
Now, more than ever, women’ voices need to be heard by all candidates running for office in Ontario. Make sure your voice is heard on Oct. 2.
Women represent 51 percent of the electorate. Let’s make it count!
Yours truly,
Donna M. Kroocmo,
H.B.S.W., RSW
Executive Director,
Atikokan Crisis Centre