Status of Women committee  I think it's important for government to value women and children, to see them as of value. When you talk about the changes in government and core funding being pulled, it speaks to the fact that this is not as important an issue as it needs to be. I think there needs to be more

Status of Women committee  I would agree with Eva. When we're doing an assessment, we focus a lot of attention on safety. That's just our work.

Status of Women committee  We don't receive any federal funding. Most of our funding is through the provincial government, through BC Housing's women's support program. Probably about 10% to 15% of the funding we receive is through private donations. We are constantly writing grants to support the work tha

Status of Women committee  We do. Actually, our current transition house sits on city property, so we have a 99-year lease with them. We own the actual building, but they own the land. We've had that relationship with them since 1993, and we pay a dollar a year for the land.

Status of Women committee  I think Lesley hit the nail on the head when she said that in order to keep the doors open and the lights on, your core services may not exist, because you have to reinvent them when in fact you're actually doing the same thing. I think about the transition house in particular.

Status of Women committee  Yes.

Status of Women committee  Exactly. The good news is that we have a wonderful association of transition and shelter services in B.C., and so we have this network of being able to phone other shelters. If we can't house somebody, or it's not safe for them to remain in the community, then we can support that

Status of Women committee  Yes.

Status of Women committee  I can speak for what's happening here in Nanaimo. Our organization is working really hard on collaboration within the community. Our executive director has taken a lead role in inviting a variety of resources to the table so that we can work in concert. For example, we deliver a

Status of Women committee  Actually, we're seeing increased need, quite honestly. I also want to say that there are a great many men who act as our allies and are in support of the work we're doing, but even with that in place—and we do—our numbers are increased. We're consistently full, at capacity, and

Status of Women committee  Good afternoon. Thank you for inviting me to appear before this committee. My name is Dawn Clark. I'm the programs director at Haven Society in Nanaimo. The Haven Society was incorporated as a non-profit society and registered charity on December 22, 1978. This year marks our 40