Province increase funding to sexual assault centres

Ontario is spending nearly $25,000 to help combat sex abuse in Ontario’s northwest.

Minister of Northern Development and Mines Michael Gravelle said the province will give the Thunder Bay Sexual Assault/Sexual Abuse Counselling and Crisis Centre $24,723, part of $1.75 million the Ontario government plans to spend to fund 42 centres across the province.

The announcement increases the centres’ combined budget to $14.8 million, money Gravelle says will be used to improve free and confidential service being provided to victims of sexual violence.

Services include crisis help lines, peer support, referrals to other community services, accompaniment to court, hospital or the police station, counseling services and sexual violence education training for both professionals and members of the public.

“Both of the recognized organizations do amazing work in our community. This increase in funding will help strengthen their capacity to provide much needed support to survivors of sexual violence,” Gravelle said in a release issued Thursday by the province.