5 second-stage shelters to share operational funding earmarked in Sask. budget

Five organizations throughout Saskatchewan will receive the money earmarked for second-stage shelters in the recently released provincial budget.

Saskatchewan had been one of the few provinces that did not provide operational funding for second-stage shelters. That changed in the latest budget, when the province committed $876,000 over three years toward those shelters.

"Bottom line: we have to do something," Minister of Justice and Attorney General Bronwyn Eyre said during a news conference in Regina Tuesday morning.

"Our government is working … to try to break the complex cycle of violence that has such a negative impact on women and children in Saskatchewan."

Funding for second-stage shelters had been an issue of debate for years in the province's Legislative Assembly.

Saskatchewan has had the highest rate of intimate partner violence — especially against female victims — reported to police of any province since at least 2019, Statistics Canada data shows.

More than 5,700 women in Saskatchewan reported being victims of intimate partner violence in 2021, the most recent year for which StatsCan data is available.

Emergency shelters offer an immediate lifeline, but second-stage shelters provide a long-term solution to help women transition to independent living. They offer a secure living space for women fleeing abuse and their children, while they participate in counselling for issues such as trauma and poverty, and programming that can help them become stable.

"There is, unfortunately, a really high need for these types of services in our community," said Tmira Marchment, executive director of Sofia House, a second-stage shelter in Regina.

Sofia House was among the five organizations receiving provincial money. The other four are Adelle House and YWCA Turning Points in Saskatoon, North East Outreach Support Services in Melfort, Sask., and Sapohtewan House in La Ronge, Sask.

Each organization will receive $4,000 per unit it operates, according to a government spokesperson.

The five organizations were selected because they could immediately spend the money on intervention and counselling operations, Eyre said.

Over the next three years, the government will monitor the impact the money has and if there are more areas of concern that arise during that time, she said. It's possible that money could be given to more second-stage shelters, she said.

In the meantime, the money Sofia House receives will provide some financial security, Marchment said, adding that it has operated on donations and fundraising until now.

"We're really, really pleased to see this funding announced," she said.

"We're able to provide that wraparound support.… without fear of having to cut these programs, or cut these positions, or offer less quality programming because we don't have the funding to offer that."

Sofia House, which currently has 20 units, will use the money to expand its operation to 39 units, Marchment said.