The province is putting money into the Rainy River District that is aimed at helping protect those who are most vulnerable.
At an announcement outside the Rainy River District Social Services Administration Board (RRDSSAB) office on Monday, Kenora-Rainy River MPP Greg Rickford made three funding announcements that will directly benefit organizations in the district who work with mental health, anti-human trafficking efforts and the homeless. In total, the funding announced – both new and top-ups to previously announced funds – totals more than $2-million.
The first announcement made Monday was more than $840,000 in funding for the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Fort Frances, which will allow the organization to enhance their programs relating to mobile crisis and support, as well as a boost to their supportive housing initiatives.
“These investments will enhance our local programs and help CMHA Fort Frances continue to make a difference in our community,” Rickford said.
“This investment will increase capacity for mobile crisis services that involve police-partnered response teams to support people in crisis and minimize their interactions with the criminal justice system.”
With the funding that Rickford announced for CMHA, the organization will be able to add another crisis full-time support worker to the Atikokan service area, and add more resources to the Fort Frances, Rainy River and Emo areas. Fort Frances currently has one full-time crisis response worker who works with an OPP officer to respond to calls regarding mental health and addictions emergencies. Rickford also noted the money will be used to create an expanded safe beds program, which will run in the Out of the Cold shelter in a partnership with DSSAB, and additional addiction specialist positions, all to better help those individuals in the community who would otherwise find themselves in more severe outcomes.
“We know there’s a better alternative for them,” Rickford said.
“The justice system and unnecessary hospitalizations can be avoided if boots on the ground, people on the ground and frontline workers have the right resources and that’s exactly what we’re committing to today. It’s intended to serve persons in immediate contacts with police and stabilization of initial crisis, help you guys do your job and hopefully have a better outcome than just the justice system for people who are in crisis.”
The money from the province will also go towards helping CMHA pay for eight additional supportive housing units that will further help those vulnerable individuals who require a place to live.
The second announcement made on Monday was a dedication of $1.193 million dollars to Fort Frances Tribal Area Health Services (FFTAHS) for their Anti-Human Trafficking project, which aims to support the prevention, intervention and aftercare services for children and youth who are 12 and older. The funding is part of $46-million provided by the government of Ontario for new community-based services like Tribal Health’s.
Rickford noted the funding is specific to Fort Frances because of the sheer size of the district and the recognition that human trafficking is not a one-size-fits-all problem.
“Not speaking as a politician so much as I am a father of two young daughters, I can’t imagine, and I want to thank Kayla Caul Chartier and her team for their fine work and support for the community,” he said.
“I understand and respect that… there are nuances around human trafficking and I know that both the Treaty 3 police and the OPP deal with its complexities on a day-in-day-out basis and you can’t always compare Fort Frances to Kenora and the challenges that are going on there. This needs to be done by people who are taking up the challenge here and stepping in the way of arguably one of the most concerning issues we have in our society, and that is violence against girls and women in all of its forms, including human trafficking and sexual exploitation.”
Relating to this announcement, earlier this year the government of Ontario unveiled a $307-million Anti-Human Trafficking Strategy, which aims to raise awareness surrounding the issue, protect the victims and intervene early in the process. the program will also offer support to victims and help ensure offenders are held accountable.
Rounding out a trio of announcements aimed to assist vulnerable individuals in the community, Rickford shared that DSSAB would be receiving an additional $106,600 through the Social Services Relief Fund to be used to improve the delivery of critical services t protect homeless shelter staff and residents, renovate and purchase shelter facilities and create longer term housing solutions. Some of this money will go towards the continuing renovations and repairs being done at the Out of the Cold shelter, located at the Apostolic Way Church on Victoria Ave.
Rickford stressed that while the funding is going to separate organizations, the efforts they each undertake are along similar paths that will help to ensure that those in need get the help they need.
“It’s a fully-integrated action plan for Fort Frances and Rainy River,” Rickford said.
“The additional funds for the Service Board, the Mobile Crisis Support Team, mobilization of more frontline workers to deal with people who are in mental health and/or addiction crisis, and intervention right at the front line, so police officers have other people they can work with and provide alternatives for people in crisis. COVID has had an impact, but this is an ongoing challenge and I work closely with the mayor and the district services board.”
