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SYDNEY, N.S. — Helen Morrison says she can’t understand why Cape Breton hasn’t had its funding for sexual violence outreach programming renewed by the provincial Department of Community Services.

The most recent provincial budget did not renew funding for all nine community support network locations that had previously received community grants.

Of the four that will be funded, neither the program administered by Cape Breton Transition House Association nor a separate program that ran in the Strait area made the cut.

“I can’t begin to understand the logic of the decision-makers about this,” Morrison, the executive direction of the association, said in an interview Tuesday. “When I try to think about it myself, I can’t imagine why they would leave the second-largest populated area in the province without services ... It was shocking to hear that we were left out completely.”

After a collaboration among local agencies, it was determined what was wanted locally was a program involving education, workshops and counselling for both survivors and the broader community, and a proposal was put forward to the province.

Under Cape Breton Transition House, the $100,000 grant from the Department of Community Services allowed for the hiring of two people as outreach navigators, with the service launching in Cape Breton-Victoria in September 2016. It first received funding in 2016 and then received a slightly smaller amount in 2017.

“Technically, we’ve really only been operating in the community since September of 2016, which is really only less than two years,” Morrison said.

Locally, the program involved the staff members travelling throughout the region, introducing themselves to representatives of different bodies and discussing what the program would offer.

Community education, including in local schools, is another component of the program.

A dedicated sexual assault support line was also launched.

Morrison said she received a call in November advising that it was unclear if the grants would be available for a third year and the department was launching an evaluation of the programs. That appraisal did take place — Morrison and a staff member were interviewed — however Morrison said she never heard how the local program fared in the assessment.

Then last week she learned of the department’s decision to fund four locations.

While there are mental health and counselling services available in the community, she noted there is no other dedicated sexual assault service in Cape Breton.

Given the nature of the violence involved, developing trust is a huge consideration when trying to meet the needs of survivors, she said, adding that is something that takes time to build.

“It’s quite angering, because I think that we did a really good job in the year-and-a-half that we were allowed to operate, and in a year-and-a-half what can you expect of a new program?” Morrison said. “I know we exceeded all of our expectations for this program.”

The funding application did ask how the program would work to become sustainable, but Morrison said she noted she believes the only real sustainable funding source is government, as the province doesn’t have private corporations or foundations funding this sort of work.

There is some money left in the program which will allow for one person to continue to be employed for a few months as it winds down.

Cape Breton Transition House is scrambling to see if it can continue to offer some sort of service, she added.

In an email responding to several questions posed by the Cape Breton Post, Department of Community services spokesperson Bruce Nunn noted that Cape Breton Transition House had received a time-limited community support network grant through the sexual violence strategy in 2016 and 2017.

“These grants were always intended to be, and were communicated as, two-year grants, so they have come to an expected completion,” Nunn wrote.

“The purpose of these grants was to mobilize community responses to support victims/survivors in a timelier, co-ordinated, and trauma-informed way. It was communicated at the onset that networks wishing to carry out activities past the term of the grant would need to find a way to sustain the work, as the grants were time-limited.”

Nunn went on to say that the three sexual assault centres, as well as a counselling agency that supports male victims of sexual assault, will receive funding through the Department of Health and Wellness to continue providing specialized trauma therapy for victims of sexual assault. They include Avalon Sexual Assault Centre, Antigonish Women’s Resource Centre and Sexual Assault Services Association, Colchester Sexual Assault Centre and New Start Counselling.

Nunn wrote that an evaluation of the department’s sexual violence strategy was conducted, not an evaluation of specific projects or programs. He said results of that strategy review will be shared with stakeholders in the near future.

nancy.king@cbpost.com

Related coverage:

Community outreach sexual assault program launched in Cape Breton