More funds to help sex-assault victims

The B.C. government is dedicating $10 million to improve services for sexual assault survivors, a move advocates say could help women experiencing gender-based violence during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also comes amid a spike in domestic dispute calls to police departments across Greater Victoria.

“There’s no question that we are in challenging times right now and unfortunately gender-based violence, including sexual assault, is known to increase during these times,” Minister of Public Safety Mike Farnworth said in announcing the funding.

“Violence is never acceptable and it has absolutely no place in our province. We’re committed to ensuring all British Columbians have timely access to the services and supports that they need when they need them.”

The Ending Violence Association of B.C. has received the funding and, in partnership with the government, will issue threeyear grants to sexual assault centres and anti-violence programs across the province.

Tracy Porteous, the association’s executive director, said while it’s too early to tell whether gender-based violence has gone up due to COVID-19, front-line support workers are worried there will be “a tsunami of demand for their help once the lockdown is lifted.”

“While people are still being asked to stay home, survivors aren’t free to reach out for help,” she said.

Porteous said things were “eerily quiet” in the first four weeks of the pandemic, with very few reports of sexualized violence.

In the next two weeks, she said, more reports of gender violence and referrals from police departments started coming in to sexual assault centres.

Porteous pointed to the situation in China, where an “onslaught of survivors” asked for help once the lockdown was lifted.

“Once we are in Phase 3 [of B.C.’s restart plan] and people are a lot more free to move about, we are bracing for a higher demand,” she said.

The new funding will allow sexual assault centres across the province, some of which are staffed by one person, to meet that demand, she said, and could help establish new services in remote areas and in Indigenous communities where they didn’t exist before.

MLA Mitzi Dean, parliamentary secretary for gender equity, said as people are forced to stay home during the pandemic and limit contact with family and friends, at-risk women could be further isolated.

“For many, staying home is not safe and now they are even more afraid of violence and abuse,” she said.

Municipal police departments across Greater Victoria have reported an increase in domestic dispute calls during the pandemic compared to the same period last year, but a decline in reported sexual assaults.