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City answers S.O.S., provides funding to Child Advocacy Centre

Agency 'will probably fail to exist' without sustainable funding, says mayor
2018-11-29 OPSB child advocacy centre 1
Tracey Carter, right, executive director of the Child Advocacy Centre Simcoe/Muskoka, and OPP Det.-Staff Sgt. Tracey Bednarczyk made a presentation recently, asking for support from the city. Nathan Taylor/OrilliaMatters

The city is stepping up to help the Child Advocacy Centre (CAC) of Simcoe Muskoka.

Earlier this month, Tracey Carter, the facility’s executive director, made a passionate plea for support to city council.

She noted the fledgling organization, which assists children who are victims of sexual or domestic abuse or human trafficking, does not receive any operational funding.

While the organization is lobbying the new provincial government for funding, it cannot wait. Without support from local municipalities, said Carter, the agency could be in peril.

She asked for $15,940 from the City of Orillia - $2 for each child and youth in Orillia.

At Thursday’s budget committee meeting, city councillors unanimously voted to provide the funding annually for the next four years. The decision must be ratified at council’s Feb. 4 meeting.

Coun. Pat Hehn recalled her days as executive director of North Simcoe Victim Crisis Services.

“Unfortunately, during my work with victim services, some of the most difficult cases we had to deal with were children who were victims of sexual assault or domestic violence,” said Hehn.

Up until the CAC opened its doors in Orillia almost five years ago, those young victims had to go to the OPP detachment to provide evidence or had to talk to police while they were in the hospital.

“Neither is a pleasant place to take children,” said Hehn. “It’s difficult for them to tell their story. When you take them to the CAC, it’s much more comfortable. Their story is recorded (via video cameras) and they only have to tell their story once. They even have service dogs.”

Coun. Mason Ainsworth agreed the CAC does “phenomenal work. They do a tremendous service.”

He also acknowledged what others spoke of, that it is an emotionally-charged issue.

“But the thing I have to do as a councillor is separate that emotion from what we’re up to,” he said, referencing the budget process and the finite funds available.

The Ward 3 councillor said he agreed the program is valuable “but I don’t think Orillia should be supporting this at this time.”

Coun. Ted Emond agreed that  council faced a tough decision as there were also large requests from The Sharing Place food bank, a new sustainability task force, among many others.

“There is no question about the need for this and the service it provides,” Emond said of the CAC. “But I find it hard to rationalize the CAC provides a service that is any more or less required than that of The Sharing Place ... people in need are people in need.”

Despite that, he said he was in favour of the funding.

Coun. Jay Fallis noted that while there are many competing demands, it amounts to just 50 cents per citizen.

Mayor Steve Clarke also acknowledged the challenge of providing annual funding to an external agency, but he noted this funding is to help “kids in our community who are having the worst time of their life.”

The mayor said the city’s funding is critical.

“I believe this is a last resort for them,” said Clarke, noting the agency has suffered the impact of a number of funding cuts. “I believe if they don’t find some sort of sustainable funding, they will probably fail to exist.”

He also said Orillia “is fortunate” to have the CAC in the region; the agency has offices in both Orillia and Barrie. Barrie has also stepped up to help; they agreed to contributed $90,000.

As Carter noted in her presentation, the problem is only likely to increase.

The centre has seen a 25 per cent increase in interviews over the past year. Since opening in January 2014, more than 700 forensic interviews have been conducted at the centre’s Orillia office.

In contrast, she said the value of the agency is “immeasurable.”

That was something all councillors, in the end, agreed with. Ainsworth said he was swayed by his peers and supported the funding.

The debate wa one of many Thursday as city councillors continued to work its way, line by line, through the operating budget.

Council's hope was to wrap up the $56-million operating budget by the end of the day Thursday. That did not happen. 

Because of that, council will finish off the remaining items, including the $150,000 request from The Sharing Place, in addition to determining how much to set aside in various reserves Monday morning.

Once they wrap that up, they will move on to the capital budget. Both Monday and Tuesday have been set aside for the capital budget deliberations.

Council entered the budget process projecting a 2.95 per cent tax hike.

Watch for further stories about decisions made Thursday later today and on the weekend.


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Dave Dawson

About the Author: Dave Dawson

Dave Dawson is community editor of OrilliaMatters.com
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