Dear Editor
The provincial budget came out last month and there is plenty to talk about, but I can’t seem to wrap my head around the zero per cent increase to sexual assault services province wide, yet again.
Statistics Canada says one in three women and one in six men will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. That’s not just your friends and family, it’s you and me, too. Not only that, Saskatchewan has one of the highest rates of interpersonal violence in Canada.
I don’t need to tell you people who experience sexual violence carry a lot of guilt and shame, often in silence. Fact is that less than 0.5 per cent of all cases go to court, leaving over 99 per cent of survivors without any closure.
Province wide, local sexual assault centres have seen a spike in the demand for their services. With #metoo, sexual assault survivors are reaching out for help more than ever, and are telling their stories.
I spoke with a friend, the executive director of the Battlefords Area Sexual Assault Centre, and she told me they saw a median increase of 70 per cent in their clientele last year. They expect the need for services will only continue to grow.
Despite demand, the 2018 provincial government promised no funding increases to any services targeting gender-based violence, all of who are funded through the Ministry of Justice. BASAC has not seen an increase in six years and have been told they won’t for another three. Nine years without even a cost of living increase is basically a decrease in funding.
Knowing this, I can’t help but feel sick when government ministers are quoted saying “we believe and support survivors,” or using survivors’ stories for cheap political points and to avoid answering serious questions about their own integrity as leaders. It’s obvious to me that, when the chips are down, this government honestly doesn’t give two hoots about survivors.
As it stands now I have been told that, due to the lack of funding, BASAC’s board and director are having to make the tough decision to cut their services. They have been forced to suspend counselling services in Meadow Lake and the north, their 24-hour crisis line and after-hours hospital support and their prevention education programs in schools and communities.
With #metoo happening today, if we don’t educate the kids now, what will we see tomorrow?
Avery Beaudin
North Battleford
