ST. PAUL, Alta. – The shock of dealing with suicide, rape, domestic abuse or a home invasion is hard enough. Trying to navigate the maze of government bureaucracy to get help is almost impossible for some.
As a part-time co-ordinator and volunteer advocate for the Victim Services unit in St. Paul, Francis Harder helps victims of crime get what they need.
“I can’t imagine what it’s like to be a victim. If we can make it a little easier going through the whole system, it’s a help,” said Harder at a Victim Service’s satellite office in the Saddle Lake reserve RCMP office.
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Harder and the other volunteer advocates are not counsellors but more like traffic cops who know the short cut to each government agency. Advocates often accompany police to a home to deliver news of a family death, co-ordinate trauma counselling at schools, sit with victims through a court case, find housing for women trying to leave an abusive marriage or arrange financial benefits for victims of crime.
“It’s most gratifying to help people in a really tough situation,” said Harder.
Before Victim Services, it was up to the police to help victims pick up the pieces, said sgt. Brent Sawatzky with the RCMP’s Saddle Lake detachment. Few police officers have the time or expertise to look after victims after a crime.
“It really frees up our time and takes the pressure off us,” said Sawatzky, who works closely with the Victim Services staff and volunteers.
Victim Services also acts as a buffer between the RCMP and the troubled First Nations band. Domestic violence is a major issue at the reserve. When police are called to a home, the RCMP refers the woman to Victim Services. It’s up to the victim to make contact with the service. The agency can’t solicit clients because of strict confidentiality guidelines.
Sawatzky said Victim Services has also helped the RCMP have a presence at local First Nation round dances and community feasts. It’s a way of joining in and letting the community know about support available through Victim Services.
“I think it’s a help to the community being in the community,” said Harder.
Harder’s husband, Stan, former chair of the Victim Services unit board of directors, said it’s often a help to have someone who is not in uniform travel with the police.
“It does soften things a bit, if one person is not in uniform,” he said.
Statistics show an increasing awareness and use of the program, which Harder believes points to its success.
As a schoolteacher, member of the Saddle Lake community and volunteer advocate, Mavis Giant hears first-hand from students about troubles in the family, but she also hears stories about the positive benefits she and other advocates have in the community.
“I come from here and know about the issues,” said Giant who volunteers with Victim Services during summer.
“I think I am making a difference. They ask me,” said Giant.
“We can’t change their situation, just get them through the crisis and back to what’s normal for them,” Harder added.
Victim Services doesn’t just deal with issues on the reserves. It also works with industrial accidents and troubles on farms and in rural areas across the province, said Guy Genereux, Victim Services co-ordinator for the St. Paul region in northeastern Alberta.
Genereux said they’ve tried to direct resources to prevention programs like sexual assault and dating violence workshops in schools and youth camps.
The local Victim Services unit co-ordinated a three-part PARTY program, Prevention of Alcohol and Risk Related Trauma in Youth, to help raise awareness of youth issues. The program focused on Grade 9 students who were tested about their awareness of youth violence. The second all-day session took the students on a tour of health centres and a funeral home for a stark reality lesson. The last session gives a second test of the students’ awareness of the issue. The results of the second test make it clear students have a better understanding of possible crisis situations, said Genereux.
“We feel we reached a lot of kids.”
Staff has also tried to find ways to reach out to isolated farm women in violent domestic situations who don’t know about available services.
Genereux said a woman in a troubled marriage isn’t going to go to a meeting about Victim Services, but can maybe read about the services in news stories. Recently staff helped a woman in a violent marriage develop an escape plan. When phone access was cut off, Victim Services gave the woman a cell phone to use in an emergency and found a neighbour she could trust.
“That gave her a tremendous feeling of safety,” he said.
Terry Holmgren, chair of the local Victim Services board of directors, said until recently most Victim Services boards spent much of their time fundraising to support the program.
Volunteers wanted to help victims, not spend weekends working casinos and bingos raising money and it was always a struggle finding good board members.
When the St. Paul unit objected to spending time fundraising for the government agency, the provincial government changed its funding mechanism across the province.
Staff sgt. Andy Routhier, the detachment commander at the St. Paul RCMP office, said the Victim Services program has been a huge benefit to police and victims, freeing up their time and improving the service to victims.
“I’m not sure (police) did the greatest job at the time,” said Routhier. “The level of service to clients has never been as good.”
