News Release

For Immediate Release
October 21, 2005

Supporting Services For Victims Of Crime To Build Stronger, Safer Communities

TORONTO — The McGuinty government is improving community safety and helping victims of crime by investing in community-based projects that are set up to help those victims, Attorney General Michael Bryant announced today.

"We are investing in local agencies across the province so that they can develop and provide specialized services that are best suited to the needs of victims of crime in their communities," said Bryant. "By expanding the range of victim services available, and by developing partnerships between government and local service providers, our communities become stronger and safer."

The government is investing in community-based agencies across Ontario to provide services and resources that empower victims of crime to rebuild their lives. Over $3.1 million from the Victims' Justice Fund is being made available to 71 agencies through the Community Grants Program in 2005-2006. The government is funding the most promising local projects that assist victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, hate crimes, and child victims of sexual abuse and exploitation as well as under-served and unserved victims.

For the first time, the government engaged members of local victim services organizations and other community representatives in six regional committees across the province. Together with staff from the Ontario Victim Services Secretariat, the community representatives identified the most promising local projects in their areas, including the following:

• Central Neighbourhood House, in Toronto, which works to engage all community members in opportunities to help build healthy, inclusive neighbourhoods, will receive $48,769 for a peer education project to create workshops on the issues of children exposed to abuse and domestic violence.
• M'Wikwedong Native Cultural Resource Centre will receive $55,600 to deliver a project to address the urgent needs of adult male survivors of sexual abuse in Owen Sound and the surrounding area.
• Développement communautaire pour les personnes handicapées will receive $50,000 to involve persons with disabilities in the development of training and public awareness activities for Francophones with disabilities who are victims of crime in Prescott-Russell.
• Guelph General Hospital - Guelph-Wellington Care and Treatment Centre for Sexual Assault will be granted $45,730 to conduct a needs assessment to help provide appropriate assistance for child victims of sexual abuse and exploitation.
• Kingston Police/Kingston Police Service Board will receive $32,100 to raise awareness of dating violence, to help high school victims self-identify and receive support.
• Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office will receive $59,077 to produce multi-lingual and culturally sensitive educational material about violence and hate crimes for unserved immigrant women and youth.

"By making these funds available the government is enabling us to develop tools to help educate the most vulnerable members of our diverse community, to help keep them safe from crimes of violence and hate," said Nesan Bandali, chair of the Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office.

"Our government is ensuring that local communities have a real voice in building effective local victim services," said Bryant. "By working with community agencies we make sure the money goes where it has the greatest impact on the lives of victims."

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