YORKTON – RCMP and Shelwin House have collaborated to deliver domestic violence resource cards for women experiencing intimate partner or family violence.
The idea for the cards came by way of the police service and the shelter for women meeting over the winter and establishing how they could work better together.
"I thought that having a resource card that RCMP members would be able to pass out when they felt it was safe to do so would be beneficial," told Dolores LeVangie, Outreach and Education Coordinator with Shelwin House, in an interview with SASKTODAY.ca
"There is a lot of information around abuse and some great apps that are available now but not everybody knows about them," said LeVangie, adding that in situations relative to domestic violence victims aren't always aware of the emergency shelters in Yorkton.
As well, LeVangie said there are other factors that effect a victim's decision to leave an abusive relationship.
"Sometimes when the police attend domestic violence calls they're only able to take it so far and you may have situations where people aren't open to hearing the information at that point in time," said LeVangie, adding, "by giving somebody a card it's something they can hold on to and then they can make the decision later on if they want to follow up with those resources."
"It's nice for them to be able to say 'if you're not interested in pressing charges this card has some resources on it that you may want to look into down the road' because we know that domestic violence is repeated patterns over a period of time and the average woman leaves the relationship eight times before she leaves for good," said LeVangie.
LeVangie said that members of the RCMP will carry the cards with them and supply them to women who they feel are effected by domestic violence.
And it makes sense to do so, as according to a 2022 Statistics Canada Report, Saskatchewan has the highest provincial rates of police-reported family violence and intimate partner violence in the country with 730 victims per 100,000 population.
LeVangie said that she plans to reach out to other RCMP detachments within the service area with the intention to supply them with the resource cards as well.
For those currently experiencing domestic violence, LeVangie said 2-1-1 is a great resource to find help.
"You can call them and they would connect you to agencies in your area," said LeVangie, noting their website has information related to domestic violence as well.
"Something else women don't often realize is that you can still call an emergency shelter because we do offer support on the phone," said LeVangie, adding, "emergency shelter services are available even if you're not planning to leave your house. Part of the services would be counselling on the phone."
And when it comes to the resource card, LeVangie said she is happy with how it's turned out noted that sometimes a small thing can have a larger ripple effect.
