Ontario’s court-ordered domestic violence program is endangering the safety of some of the women it was designed to protect, veteran program leaders have told the province’s attorney general.

It is too often being used in place of a criminal conviction and jail time, creating a false sense of security, according to the head of one Toronto agency formerly in charge of overseeing the program.

Another leader in domestic violence said the situation has reached a “crisis.”

Partner Assault Response programs are group counselling services overseen by the Ministry of the Attorney General and delivered by community agencies across the province, where men meet once a week for 12 weeks.

The program was originally designed as a way to hold first-time or less-violent offenders accountable without clogging the court system with cases unlikely to result in a conviction.

More than two dozen provincial agencies and experts have raised the alarm to the ministry, writing to complain about funding changes, recent cuts to the program’s length and that the PAR program has no system to determine if it is working.

Harmy Mendoza, the executive director of the Women Abuse Council of Toronto (WomanACT), wrote to the ministry in March describing “a revolving door system that may not be protecting victims after all.”

Mendoza reported that her agency had tracked an increase in the number of dangerous men — who used a weapon, attacked a pregnant partner or have a history of domestic violence — being released on what is known as a conditional discharge, or through another option known as a peace bond. That means after a period of good behaviour they will end up without a criminal conviction.

“Essentially, if the accused reoffends two years later he has no criminal history of the first assault,” wrote Mendoza, of the peace bond option.

It also means they are sent home to live with their partners and do not face the stricter supervision that would follow a conviction, she said.

Despite what Mendoza and others have witnessed, ministry rules stipulate that dangerous or high-risk men should face a conviction first and then can be sent to a program as part of probation.

A ministry spokesperson told the Star they are trying to improve the program using a two-year “staged initiative” that started a year ago. Those changes included tightening the rules around men with a history of violent behaviour. By 2017, the ministry hopes to release results of a recidivism study.

“We remain open-minded about possible reforms as long as victim safety, accountability and program integrity are not compromised,” the ministry spokesperson said. They have met and will continue to meet with agencies throughout the fall and are investigating all concerns, he said via email.

WomanACT used to handle program intake and referrals for nine agencies from five courts across Toronto. They also tracked and reported trends to the ministry, such as an increase in dangerous men being sent to the program rather than facing a conviction, back to 2009. The ministry, Mendoza said, told them that was not part of their contract.

Board co-chair Carla Neto said their position gave them a bird’s-eye view of a broken system. “At one point you need to decide whether you want to be part of that train wreck or not ... we didn’t want to stop,” said Neto.

They cut ties with the ministry in March because the government funding wasn’t enough to pay their staff.

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Among the critics writing to the ministry is the Building a Bigger Wave Ontario Network, a coalition of agencies, academics and health care providers.

Colleen Purdon, on behalf of the network, wrote to the ministry in March describing an “emerging crisis,” because, she said, changes to the program were made without properly consulting with agencies across the province.

They also surveyed coalitions made up of agencies and experts in domestic violence across the Ontario. Almost half said they expected the changes would have a negative impact on the safety of victims in their communities. Purdon presented the information to the ministry in July.

“The ministry is not on the ground and we are,” Purdon told the Star. “Changes to (PAR) have a direct impact on the safety of victims of violence ... We actually do feel it’s a crisis and the ministry doesn’t.”