The newly-released Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters (ACWS) ‘On the Front Lines’ report paints a troubling picture of domestic violence in the province, highlighting a growing need for more to be done, particularly in rural communities.
Whether the report will generate meaningful and lasting action from stakeholders, including the provincial government, remains to be seen.
What is known is that as one of the nation’s richest provinces, any failure to provide adequate funding for shelters and their related programs reflects badly on those controlling the public purse strings.
Shelters answered 59,215 calls for help over the past 12 months, an increase of more than 12 per cent from the previous year, representing the highest number of calls ACWS has recorded in the past 10 years.
A total of 8,483 individuals were sheltered – 4,852 women and seniors, 3,561 children, 53 men, and 17 who identified as gender-diverse – an increase of 19 per cent.
ACWS examined intimate partner violence levels across the province, finding that more than 40 per cent of all calls for help were in small towns and rural areas.
Officials also found that domestic violence and abuse has increased in frequency and severity over the past year.
Of survivors surveyed, 65 per cent were at severe or extreme risk of being killed by a current or former partner, 51 per cent believed their partner was capable of killing them, 42 per cent were strangled by their partner or former partner, 40 per cent had been forced by their partner to have sex, and more than two-thirds experienced verbal, emotional, or psychological abuse.
As the ACWS report highlights, Alberta’s family violence shelters and related programming continue to provide critical support for domestic abuse survivors.
With Alberta’s population continuing to grow in both urban and rural areas, it is vital that supports for victims of domestic violence also continue expanding to meet the growing need.
As such, MLAs in particular should be encouraged to make shelter support a top priority.
Dan Singleton is an editor with the Albertan
