The leaders of Fort McMurray’s family violence shelter say roughly half of clients are children while fundraising becomes difficult.
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The Alberta government is giving $665,644 to Waypoints to support 15 unfunded beds at their family violence shelter. The funding is welcome, says executive director Michelle Taylor, but economic uncertainty has made fundraising difficult.
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In the meantime, pleas for help have been rising in the community since the COVID-19 pandemic. Taylor says half of the people using their 45 beds at any given moment are children.
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“We’re running a very, very skinny budget,” she said in an interview. “There’s nothing much to cut without cutting actual programs.”
Waypoints has 45 beds. The 15 beds that the province is funding were previously being supported through fundraising, donations and sponsorships. Years of economic uncertainty that started before the pandemic means raising money from the community is becoming harder every year.
The Fort McMurray Food Festival will return and a charity pub crawl on March 22 was a success. However an annual dinner theatre was cancelled because there were few sponsors. An annual charity baseball tournament has ended.
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Waypoints has also not had an increase in operational funding since 2014, meaning staff have not had a raise in a decade. The situation had gotten so bad that last year, Waypoints nearly drained its sustainability fund to keep the 15 beds open. The provincial funding will help Waypoints keep the beds open for the rest of the year.
“When the economy’s been this bad for this long, there’s not too many places to turn other than the government,” said Taylor. “The government funding needs to be sustainable.”
Since the end of the pandemic, there are fewer women coming to Waypoints and more women arriving with children. Taylor says the stress that follows disasters leads to more destructive and violent behaviours. This includes abuse and sexual violence against children and partners.
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“It’s fantastic news that we got that money for this year, because many shelters would have gone under or cut back programming,” said Taylor. “We would have had to close those 15 beds without that funding because we can’t fundraise enough money to fund that.”
The Alberta government put $55.8 million into women’s shelters in 2024-25. The funding for Waypoints is part of an extra $5 million for shelters for the 2023-24 year. This increase is part of a $10 million boost that has been committed to shelters during the next four years. The province had not increased funding for domestic violence shelters since the 2015-16 budget.
A report from the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters (ACWS) released last week says shelters are answering 46 per cent more calls for help than they did in 2015, but with 25 per cent less spending power. Amid high levels of staff turnover and burnout, the report notes resources have not kept up with demand.
Searle Turton, Alberta’s children and family services minister, said at a March 19 press conference that the new funding is about stabilizing the system. He acknowledged shelters across Alberta have asked for a more long-term, strategic approach.
“It’s a long-term comprehensive conversation, and it’s one I’m eager to have,” he said.
-with reporting from Lisa Johnson
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vmcdermott@postmedia.com
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