The Manitoba government announced Wednesday it will be putting more resources into supporting sexual violence survivors.
The province said more than $147,000 from Justice Canada’s Victims Fund will go toward training, information, and education on sexual violence.
Specifically, $50,000 will be put toward workshops and training sessions on sexual assault for police and other members of the community. Over $75,000 will go toward specialized training for Manitoba Victim Services, the Manitoba Prosecution Service, and other community groups. The remaining $20,000 is for new printed and digital resources intended to give information to victims regarding police reports or other sources of support for those who don’t want to file a police report, the province said.
“Sexual violence is a plague on our society,” said Justice Minister Heather Stefanson in a release. “Every Manitoban has a role to play in reducing and eliminating it. This funding will better equip service providers to help survivors of violence and will better equip those individuals to deal with the consequences of that violence in a way that works best for them.”
The province said data from Statistics Canada indicated there were 1,431 police-reported sexual assaults in Manitoba in 2016, which is nearly double the national rate.
A national survey from Statistics Canada in 2014 showed that 95 per cent of all sexual assaults are not reported to police, the province said.
The public workshops are expected to start later this year.
