Organization that provides refuge for families of violent crimes marks first anniversary

WINNIPEG -- After a violent crime, the court process can be a victim’s family’s worst nightmare.

For the last year, Candace House has been helping make the process easier by giving families a place of refuge to make life feel a little more normal.

Executive Director of Candace House, Cecilly Hildebrand, said the organization fills a need for so many.

“We work extensively with families who are going through court proceedings, so with one to three families at a time, providing a really intensive wrap-around support,” said Hildebrand. “We have worked with 23 different families in the last year and that represents about 200 unique individuals. So we have had 800 visits to our place, we have spent time with families in court providing that support.”

Since the doors of Candace House opened last year, Hildebrand notes there has been a positive response.

“We will have families that have come to Candace House for two or three week trials and on the fourth or fifth day they are walking in the morning and saying ‘we’re home’ and that is exactly what we want that place to be, is that safe, comforting, home-like place to go during the day to escape.”

Candace House was the first of its kind when its doors opened in the fall of 2018 and it continues to be the only facility of its kind in Canada.

Hildebrand hopes one day there will be Candace Houses across Canada.

“It is the realization of a need and a need that we hope we can now begin to fill across the country,” said Hildebrand.

Focusing on the future of Candace House, Hildebrand realizes it has been a violent year in Winnipeg and many families will need support and the organization is doing everything it can to fill that need.

“We know that there is a lot coming, and we are thinking that through, how we’re going to need more space, and we’re going to need to have to think through how we are going to support these families that are going to go through these trial proceedings in the next little while and so there’s lots of opportunities, and we’re trying to figure out how we can best provide support for families.”

If people are wanting to see Candace House, there will be an open house on Thursday from 3 p.m. until 7 p.m., where people can learn more about the organization and all the support it provides to families.

Candace House was the brainchild of Wilma Derksen, whose daughter, 13-year-old Candace, went missing in 1984. Six and a half weeks after she went missing, her body was found in a shack not far from the Derksen home.

It took 22 years before a suspect was found and in 2011, that suspect was found guilty of second-degree murder.

During a re-trial in 2017, Derksen saw what her husband Cliff and the rest of her family was going through and envisioned a safe place for people to go.

After the trial, she joined the board of an organization that was trying to help create safer communities and eventually the idea for Candace House came to be.