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Archive for the ‘news’ Category

Witnessing Victims’ Resistance to Violence and Oppression

Friday, August 6th, 2010

A Two-Day Seminar in Response-Based Practice
with
Dr. Allan Wade, Ph.D.
October 25 and 26, 2010, Ottawa, Ontario
Hosted by the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime

This workshop will present current research on violence, trauma, language and social responses in cases of violence. Participants will learn gentle, straight forward and effective interviewing skills for honouring victims’ responses and resistance to violence, identifying offenders’ pre-existing ability to act respectfully, and promoting positive social responses.

‘Witnessing Victims’ Resistance to Violence and Oppression’ is for human service workers — counsellors, therapists, nurses, physicians, justice and court workers, Crown counsel, lawyers, victims’ services workers, transition house workers, shelter staff, womens’ advocates, social workers, child protection workers, police, journalists, researchers — and anyone in the role of helping others, particularly those who have experienced violence, mistreatment or other forms of violation.

For the event poster and to register visit: http://crcvc.ca/en/2010-training/

Posted in events, news, professional development opportunity |

$2 million for male victims of sexual abuse

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

Tuesday, July 20, 2010
The Canadian Press

Ontario men and boys who are victims of sexual abuse will soon be able to get coordinated help, support and counselling.

Attorney General Chris Bentley says the province will spend $2 million over the next two years to establish four networks across Ontario, each with a lead agency to co-ordinate services for men.

Bentley says it’s the first government program to offer specialized help for male victims of sexual abuse in Canada, and won’t be scrapped after two years.

“It’s a first and you know what, it’s about time,” he said. “We’re doing what’s right.

Bentley says the four networks will provide individual counselling, group counselling, and other support for male victims of sexual abuse. The networks will also assist in training and education initiatives.

A toll-free hotline for male victims of sexual abuse will provide crisis support.

“They’re going to be set up immediately,” Bentley said of the services.

The idea stemmed from the recommendations of a public inquiry into allegations of a sexual abuse ring operating in Cornwall, Ont.

One of the allegations was that a clan of powerful men sexually abused boys at a cottage during strange rituals while clad in robes.

Ontario Provincial Police spent four years investigating allegations of sexual abuse and laid 115 charges against 15 people under Project Truth. One person was convicted.

Provincial funding had been provided for victims in Cornwall to seek counselling, but the funding ran out in January.

Rick Goodwin of The Men’s Project, a non-profit men’s counselling agency based in Ottawa, calls Bentley’s announcement a “historic” first step in supporting men who have been victims of sexual abuse.

However, he says the $2 million will only go so far.

“We would have liked to have seen more as a first step,” he said. “We’ll work with it. We’ll do what we can with it.”

After setting up these basic services across Ontario, the focus will need to shift to addressing the issues that emerge as a result of sexual abuse, such as family violence and addiction, Goodwin says.

“That’s the next big piece that we need to do.”

Goodwin says for years, male victims of sexual violence have been left without essential support and counselling.

“There’s very few places to go to deal with the original trauma,” he said.

Bentley acknowledged that there hasn’t been “the type of co-ordinated response that we should have and need for male victims.”

Bentley says funding will be increased if demand is greater than expected, and the program is designed to be flexible to meet the changing needs of victims.

Posted in helpful resources, helping crime victims, male survivors, news |

Saskatchewan woman named to crime victims’ board

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

By Jana G. Pruden, © Copyright The Regina Leader-Post

28 June 2010 - Saskatchewan’s victims of crime will now have a voice on a national stage, with the appointment of a Standing Buffalo woman to a national victim’s advocacy board.

Lois Isnana was recently named to the board of directors of the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime. She is the first person from Saskatchewan to hold a position on the board.

“I feel that to be able to represent my community and my province is a real honour,” said Isnana, shortly after the appointment was announced.

Isnana’s advocacy comes from her own tragic experience. Her husband, Lloyd, was injured during a violent incident at a house on the Standing Buffalo First Nation on June 16, 2006, and died later in hospital.

Another man was charged with manslaughter in his death, but that charge was stayed during a trial in January.

The experience of her husband’s violent death — and then navigating her way through the slow and frustrating court process that followed — was an eye-opening experience for Isnana and her family.

Isnana says she hopes to help others struggling with the same difficult issues.

“People really don’t know,” she says. “To many people, the justice system is black and white, but it isn’t that way. I learned that the hard way.”

Many of the members of the national board have long histories working in the area of victims’ advocacy.

The board includes members like Charles Momy, president of the Canadian Police Association, and Susheel Gupta, a federal prosecutor whose mother was killed in the Air India bombing.

Isnana says she was “honoured and humbled” by her appointment, and is glad to be able to represent Saskatchewan on a national level.

“When all this started, I couldn’t even do public speaking,” she said. “But the strength has had to come, because who else is going to talk for us, if we can’t speak?”

The Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime represents victims around the country, including by providing resources and support to victims of crime and advocating for victims’ rights.

Four years after her husband’s violent death, Isnana says she has found a lot of her own healing by helping others.

“It helps to help others,” she says. “It’s something I never would have chosen, and I would never wish is on anyone else, but I just think that I’ve been a very lucky person to be able to serve people who have been hurt the way I have.

“My late husband, he loved life so much, and that really motivates me. I like to think that he would be proud of me,” she said.

“I think this is the right thing to do. In my heart, I know that it will help me, too.”

Posted in helping crime victims, news |