| Women’s shelters on Alberta reserves receive 50 per cent less funding on average than their provincial counterparts and it’s leaving them scrambling to provide the necessary programs and services to abused aboriginal women, say shelter staff.
On-reserve women’s shelters receive funding from the federal government whereas provincial shelters receive funding from the province. Alberta has the highest level of domestic violence in Canada and aboriginal women have a much higher risk of facing domestic violence – 53 per cent of shelter users in the province are aboriginal women despite aboriginal people making up less than 10 per cent of the Alberta population.
Sandra Ermineskin, director of the Ermineskin Women’s Shelter in Hobbema,
says she’s had to go to the food bank at times in order to ensure she has enough food for her clients because the shelter is so underfunded.
"We’re constantly fundraising. We’re short-staffed. We have qualified people working for $13 an hour. That’s unacceptable," she says.
Ermineskin says the shelter can only afford to pay for one crisis intervention worker even if there are 16 women at the shelter. She’s currently worried that the shelter won’t be able to afford its liability insurance for the next year.
"We don’t have a cook or janitors…. We all have to do our share because we’re so short-staffed and we have to maintain a healthy environment," says Ermineskin.
She says the low funding levels are evidence of "discrimination" on the part of the federal government.
Dorothy Sam, executive director of the Eagle’s Nest Stoney Family Shelter in Morley, says, because aboriginal women are more likely to experience domestic violence than other women, it’s extremely important for the on-reserve shelters to receive adequate funding.
"I think it’s a really serious issue that they should be paying more attention," she says. "I think shelters are really helping in First Nations community and I think there should be money given to shelters to bring them up to par."
She says her shelter can also only afford to pay staff $13 an hour as a starting wage, despite the fact that employees have degrees. She adds that the shelter can’t afford to fund a child care program or an outreach counselor and, as is the case at the Hobbema shelter, they can often only afford to pay one staff member per shift even if there are 20 women at the shelter.
Both Sam and Ermineskin say they’ve had to refer women to women’s shelter off-reserve because they don’t have enough beds at their shelters.
"The need is so great here," says Ermineskin. "It’s really sad if I have to turn somebody away. I feel bad when the shelters are full all over the place."
The Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters (ACWS) has been lobbying the federal government for months to improve funding levels.
"It’s a pitiful level of funding," says Jan Reimer, co-ordinator of the ACWS. "I think the federal government should step up to the plate and fund them adequately (shelters on reserves). It’s a travesty what’s happening right now." |
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