March 10, 2006
More families and children in the province
will benefit from domestic violence prevention programs with groundbreaking
legislation, an additional $573,000 in provincial support and the establishment
of the Manitoba Domestic Violence Intervention Unit, Family Services and
Housing Minister Christine Melnick and Attorney General Gord Mackintosh
announced today.
“We are working with our
partners to provide more support to women, children and families so community
organizations can expand the outstanding work they do to prevent tragedy in our
homes and communities,” said Melnick.
“If families can get help at
the right time, there are steps that can be taken to stop the cycle of violence
before criminal acts take place,” said Mackintosh. “The Manitoba Domestic Violence Intervention
Unit can provide services that counter domestic violence while new legislation
will help protect victims coming to Manitoba with protection orders from other
provinces.”
New initiatives
under Manitoba Justice include:
·
leading other Canadian jurisdictions by proclaiming
legislation March 22 that will recognize protection orders from other
jurisdictions in Canada, and
·
launching of the Manitoba Domestic Violence
Intervention Unit, modelled after a pilot in Winnipeg, that will connect social
workers with police agencies to take action before potentially volatile family
relationships escalate into criminal acts and tragedy.
Manitoba
Family Services and Housing will also work in financial partnership with
community groups to provide new family violence prevention supports with a
special focus on children.
A new program under development will
address the increasing need for services for children who witness domestic
violence. Community groups, police
agencies and child protection services have identified a growing number of
these children as a needed focus for supports.
Additional
assistance will be provided so organizations can provide enhanced services
including:
·
the Winnipeg Children’s Access Agency for
a safe setting for children to visit a non-custodial parent in situations where
there has been domestic violence;
·
the Wahbung Abinoojiiag Family Violence
Counselling program for culturally-appropriate services to women and their
children who are caught up in the cycle of family violence;
·
the Laurel Centre for specialized
counselling for women who are survivors of childhood abuse; and
·
the Men’s Resource Centre for its unique
Manitoba facility that provides counselling and other services to men.
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