On December 19, on behalf of the Honourable Arif Virani, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Sameer Zuberi, Member of Parliament for Pierrefonds–Dollard, and Marie-Vincent Executive Director Stéphanie Gareau announced that the Department of Justice of Canada will provide Marie-Vincent with $498,685 in funding over 5 years (2023-2028). These funds will help the organization:
- increase access to its services for young victims of sexual violence;
- consolidate its offering of police, medical, psychosocial, sociolegal and psychotherapeutic services under the same roof;
- reduce waiting times for services so young people have timely access to the help they need for their physical and mental well-being; and
- consolidate the services it offers in collaboration with partner organizations and develop new partnerships to continue to better support young victims of sexual violence in Montréal.
During the announcement, Stéphanie Gareau stated:
“We are grateful for this five-year funding of nearly $500,000 and the renewed trust of the Government of Canada; it will allow us to support a greater number of young victims of sexual violence, consolidate existing partnerships and forge new ones. We will continue to build a protective community around our children and help those who overcame the unimaginable to look toward a more hopeful future.”
Additional resources to meet ever-increasing demands
Since 2017, in the wake of the #metoo movement, Marie-Vincent has had to contend with an ever-increasing demand for services to support young victims of sexual violence. This led to the opening of a new Marie-Vincent centre in the Montérégie in 2022. This second location, as well as the wide range of expertise of our newly hired professionals and our close collaboration with our partners, has allowed Marie-Vincent to:
- improve our Sexual violence intervention program;
- increase the number of group therapies;
- reduce the average wait time to access our services (from 24 to 15.5 months);
- provide 351 children with psychosocial and/or psychotherapeutic services in 2022-2023;
- carry out 71 police investigations in our offices over the same period;
- provide 535 advisory services to our partners;
- train nearly 7,000 caseworkers and professionals across Québec.
Read the Department of Justice Canada press release.
