The Pacific Association of First Nations Women is putting crime prevention dollars to good use to help heal the lives of some of the city’s most vulnerable, abused women.

With a $30,000 grant from British Columbia’s civil forfeiture proceeds, the association is developing the Restoring Relationship training program to train front-line support workers who work with Aboriginal women at risk of, or experiencing, violence and abuse.

Through this program, train-the-trainer workshops specifically tailored to social workers, counsellors, emergency response personnel and other front-line staff with B.C. Aboriginal organizations will transform students into teachers. In turn, participants will gain insight and expertise to coach women and families in vulnerable situations.

Restoring Relationships will focus on non-violent communication, conflict reduction and resolution and bystander intervention. Notably, the workshops will embrace and reflect First Nations cultural beliefs and symbolism, including traditional family structures, strategies for holistic healing and community restorative justice. Project partners include the Native Courtworkers and Counselors Association, the BC Association of Community Response Networks and the BC Problem Gambling Association and the University of British Columbia’s school of social work, all of which contributed to the advisory group that helped to create the program.

Aboriginal organizations in Vancouver working with vulnerable women on the Downtown Eastside will be first to benefit from the program, including the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre, the Aboriginal Front Door Society and the Vancouver Aboriginal Policing Centre. The goal is to eventually offer the Restoring Relationship program provincewide.

Quotes:

Mike Morris, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General –

”This project is what’s needed to build the capacity to empower and help Aboriginal women who are at risk of violence and abuse in ways that are respectful and reflective of their roots. The culturally-based approach was developed thoughtfully and thoroughly with the help of experts who spend their lives working with people in the most vulnerable situations. Crime prevention and victim support efforts like this program are exactly what we seek to support through our annual civil forfeiture grants, which contribute to safer, stronger communities throughout B.C.”

Ruth Alfred, executive director, Pacific Association of First Nations Women –

 “We are so thankful to be able to develop this program. It allows us to do the work that is most important to us, while respecting First Nations traditions and beliefs. Restoring Relationships puts the power back in to the hands of vulnerable women by equipping them with the tools to reduce conflict and help end to the cycle of violence.”

Quick Facts:

• Over the past decade, B.C.’s civil forfeiture program has returned more than $27 million to communities in support of programs and projects focused on preventing crime and helping victims.
• This is over and above the more than $70 million the Province invests each year in prevention and intervention services and programs to protect vulnerable women.
• The Violence Free BC strategy outlines the path to creating a province where all women have the supports they need to help prevent violence, escape from violence situations and recover if they have been victims of violence.
• The Restoring Relationships training program has adopted practices from It’s Not Right: bystander and lateral violence intervention skills, developed by Western University’s Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women and Children.

Learn More:

Information on helping to prevent domestic violence and sexual assault, and resources for victims: http://www.saysomethingbc.ca/

It’s Not Right: bystander and lateral violence intervention skills: http://itsnotright.ca/

Non-violent communication based in Indigenous practice: http://www.bcncc.ca/