French is in decline in the largest cities of northern Ontario. But a new wind seems to be blowing through Timmins, since the appointment, in October 2022, of a first Franco-Ontarian mayor. The duty went there to take stock of the state of French in the city with a heart of gold, overtaken by numerous crises.
The only house in Timmins for French-speaking women victims of domestic violence is overflowing. As Queen’s Park debates recognizing an “epidemic” of this type of violence in the province, the cases become more complex, intertwining with issues of addiction and housing.
“The house has been in overcapacity for a long time,” says the general director of Ellevive, Chantal Mailloux. The only center for French-speaking women victims of violence in the region has ten beds, but it would need twice as many to meet demand.
After the pandemic, “we really saw a big increase in the demand for services, then, since then, it has never stopped,” says Mme Mailloux. “As soon as one leaves, another one comes back. »
According to her, cases of violence today are “much more complex” and are intertwined with substance dependence, mental health problems as well as the housing crisis. Result: women who should stay “five to six weeks” at Ellevive spend on average “two good months” in the shelter.
All these “barriers” preventing them from establishing themselves on their own push some to return to a violent situation that they think they can better control. On average, “it takes a woman at least eight times before she leaves for good.”
Recognizing the “epidemic”
Despite dire needs, Mme Mailloux does not feel like the situation is “a priority for the government” of Ontario. Last April, however, Conservative House Leader Paul Calandra declared that the ruling party would support a bill, tabled a month earlier by the opposition NDP, aimed at recognizing the “epidemic” of domestic violence experienced by Province.
However, the Ford government opposed the idea last June, even though more than 30 Ontario municipalities had declared that this was the case. Today there are nearly a hundred, including Timmins.
This change of direction gives “hope” to Mme Mailloux. “Violence is not decreasing. It’s all well and good to have band-aids, but, at some point, you really have to do something big. »
The mayor of Timmins, Michelle Boileau, also calls on the provincial government to adopt “a more strategic approach for Northern” Ontario, where the challenges are “unique”. According to the elected official, Ellevive “works at overcapacity every day because it is also serving [une] region” which extends over nearly 500 kilometers and which includes municipalities without services.
She adds that the closure of a bilingual accommodation center in Matheson in 2019 created an “overload” in Timmins establishments. However, the Ontario government believed at that time that there were “enough services in the region” to meet demand.
Services in your language
When forced to move to other shelters in the region due to lack of space, women risk being ostracized from their community. The closest bilingual accommodation is almost a two-hour drive away, in Kapuskasing.
There is a second shelter in Timmins, but it is English-speaking. The establishment, also often at maximum capacity, works closely with Ellevive so that the French-speaking women it welcomes can receive transitional support services and help finding housing in their language. Workers also accompany children who testify to the violence suffered by their mothers and support women, mainly indigenous women, victims of human trafficking.
The possibility of conducting these sensitive discussions in their language is “important”, according to Mme Mailloux. “When you are more comfortable in French, then you are experiencing a personal crisis, it is really difficult to have to manage that in addition to the translation,” she says, believing that the presence of a “French-speaking culture” within the house puts victims “at ease”.
Trust the police
The Timmins Police Service is also making efforts to gain the trust of women. Since 2018, a committee in which the municipality’s two shelters participate has been reviewing complaints of sexual assault which did not lead to charges. An approach which has generated “a lot of improvements”, notes Mme Mailloux.
But there is still a way to go. “The number of women victims of violence who will report it to the police is very, very, very minimal,” laments the one who has been at the head of Ellevive since 2019. Her team at the Center for Assistance and Combating Assault of a sexual nature takes care to “be honest” with them about the heaviness of the process. “In sexual assault cases, the proof is on the victim. It’s really the victim against the aggressor, their memory, their memories. It’s a very painful process,” explains M.me Mailloux. As for “expecting justice to be served, probably that won’t happen.”
The fact that the police “lack resources” in a context where the city’s crime rate is “quite high” also puts “a lot of pressure on the police force”. “They have a special team to deal with sexual assault cases, but because they’re such a small team, it’s really difficult for them to keep up with all the demand. »
“Sometimes there’s a murder, and then after that, you have a woman who comes in and says she was sexually assaulted. […] The murder will take priority, so the woman will fall on the backburner “, she says.
The Timmins Police Service did not respond to questions from Duty.
This report is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.