St. Paul now home of regional hub for Victim Services

The pipe ceremony ahead of the new Eastern Alberta Regional Victim Serving Society (EARVSS) taking hold of operations of Oct. 1. 

How victims of crime access the supports they need following an incident won’t change too much, but behind the scenes much is different. 

Many were left wondering what was next when the Bonnyville Victim Services posted that their operations were ending on Sept. 30. 

Now, starting on Oct. 1, there is a regional hub that the Lakeland area falls into. It’s the Eastern Alberta Regional Victim Serving Society (EARVSS), one of four regions that the province has put in place to streamline operations. 

Based in St. Paul, there are 24 detachments that are looked after by this hub, as far north as Slave Lake, to as far south as Consort. 

“We are all under one board and one central office staff, and everybody is able to work together,” Melody Littell, Director of Regional Operations, told Lakeland Connect. 

Instead of each individual community having its own board, having to fundraise, or coordinate separate agreements to work together with a different community, now the hope is efficiency. 

“The people that we have on the ground can actually go out and do client support and not have to worry about, okay, next week we have to go to the casino, or we have this fundraising event that we have to do. We don’t do that anymore,” said Littell. 

“We were all functioning separately for the same goal. Now we’re all functioning together for the same goal.” 

Building opens

Whether it’s connecting with counselling services, getting assistance as you prepare for trial, or various other aspects, hundreds upon hundreds of people every year access Victim Services. 

There are navigators and case workers in each detachment, so there is little difference for the user or client when they support.

Also, if staff is busy, you can call the regional office and they’ll connect you right away. 

“So if you were a victim of crime in Bonnyville, we have staff in Bonnyville. You could just go into your office there,” she said. 

“Let’s say today that person’s in court or homesick, or whatever that case is, and they say somebody’s not in right now, you can call the central office. You can call, and we can either get you to a navigator close by, or someone can help you, we can just get it out to somebody that can help you.” 

The regional office in St. Paul had a pipe ceremony on Sept. 23 with Elder Rick in preparation for the opening on Oct. 1. 

It’s been years since the original provincial government announcement that were vague about how these new hubs would work.

After much workshopping, they’ve gotten to this point of feeling they can better serve victims of crime.

“We’ve had multiple meetings with the new regional director, and I feel very much our community will continue to have that support,” said St. Paul Mayor Maureen Miller. 

“We were concerned about staffing and how we were going to reach that far, but they actually have a plan. I would say our district is actually out in front of the gate. We really appreciate those, first of all, that do that hard work. It’s very hard work. It’s necessary, and that they get up every day and support those victims of crime and incidences that they need to take care of.” 

MLA Scott Cyr made a post on his social media congratulating the move.

“We are committed to keeping services local and shifting to a regional governance model to ensure sustainability, consistency, and predictability for victim services across the province,” said Cyr.

“While some communities previously had full access to victim services, others did not, and this government is taking action to change that.”

The province committed funds from $20 million to $26.7 million with the adjustment, ensuring that more areas of the province have Victim Services coverage.

“The new model being implemented by Alberta’s government ensures every RCMP detachment in the province will have access to consistent victim services,” says Mike Ellis, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services.

“Alberta’s government is providing full operational funding for victim services. The new fully funded model eliminates the need for RCMP-based victim services staff to fundraise money or ask municipalities for additional funding. The new model will be assessed on data collected in the first year of operations.”

Miller comments