Tri-County Women's Centre
The Provincial Association of Women’s Centres is responding to Minister Kelly Regan’s recent efforts to end sex trafficking in the province.
Executive Director for the Tri-County Women’s Centre, Trish McCourt says its a good start but doesn’t go far enough.
“We appreciate what has been done so far and that there has been some acknowledgment of a situation that really needs to be resolved,” said McCourt. “But we are also feeling like its always too little too late.
They say the root of the problem is the province’s basic income assistance rate. The current rate for a family of four is 14,316 dollars. For a single adult, the rate is 7,032. In a release the association said that the rates are too low.
“They are desperately low and we’ve been advocating for a long time for them to be increased,” said McCourt. “The income assistance rates are not even covering basic needs let alone any kind of extra expenses that might come up.”
McCourt says that the amount of financial assistance needed is unique to each situation but that the rate should start at the poverty line.
She added that there are women’s centre’s across the province to try to support women but they are in need of additional funding.
