The provincial government announced funding for women’s resource centres, but according to a Dauphin shelter director, it will not help in the Parkland.
Kari Prawdzik, the Executive Director of the Parkland Crisis Centre, says there is a difference between women’s resource centres and crisis centres. The big difference is shelters are short term residential facilities and open 24/7. Another difference is the shelters have a crisis line that can be reached at all times. The number to call in an emergency is 1-877-977-0007.
Prawdzik says Manitoba family violence shelters have not had a core funding increase in 11 years. To make matters worse, she says they are seeing an increase in the number of people who use the service. During 2017-2018 MAWS shelters provided 46,350 bed nights to women, men and children who were victims of family violence and assisted with 11,349 crisis line calls.
Shelters are being inundated with people not only experiencing interpersonal or family violence but who are also suffering from severe mental health or addiction issues.
“We personally answer all the crisis lines and often we receive calls that are outside the scope of our work. Because we don’t have the resources, we have such limited access in our areas,” said Prawdzik.
She notes the shelters are equipped to provide support for fleeing victims as well as facilitating the crisis management that is required to navigate the justice system, find housing, and provide counselling.
The lack of funding has greatly impacted shelters, especially the Parkland Crisis Centre. The centre not only helps individuals and families in Dauphin but all across the Parkland. Prawdzik says it’s tough when you don’t have the funds to support the service and the people.
“Although our funding doesn’t increase we still have to keep our skills and abilities up in order to assist clients with their ever-changing needs,” Prawdzik said. “We have less ability now, we’ve had to make cutbacks, we have limited ability to go out in the Parkland area and provide public education and outreach.”
Because they are supposed to be a safe, confidential location, they don’t have the storefronts like other agencies do. Prawdzik often says times women are not aware of the available resources.
Having services in rural areas is vital. Prawdzik notes that often women don’t want to leave their homes. If the Parkland crisis centre was not open, they probably would not be willing to travel to larger urban areas for help.
