The Elizabeth Fry Society will be receiving a portion of the three-year, $10-million Emergency Sexual Assault Services (ESAS) grant program distributed across 23 BC organizations.
The grant is from the Ending Violence Association of BC (EVA BC) and will help replace any funding that was cut to BC Sexual Assault Centres in 2001.
Funding towards the PG Sexual Assault Response Team (PG SART) will go towards developing new services for survivors of sexual assault in the North, including remote Indigenous communities.
PG SART will provide trauma-informed support including 24/7 emergency sexual assault response, emotional and short-term crisis support and information and accompaniment to the hospital.
“We’re proud to provide this funding through the grant program to organizations that will be supporting sexual assault survivors in their communities,” said EVA BC Executive Director Tracy Porteous.
The program will help organizations deliver trauma-informed, culturally appropriate community-based, emergency sexual assault response services until March of 2023.
“This funding program will provide a huge benefit to survivors of sexual assault in the 23 communities being funded,” added Porteous.
There are a number of other Northern organizations that are recipients of the grants, including the Northern Society for Domestic Peace in Smithers and the Lake Babine Nation in Burns Lake.