The Wingham Advance Times, 1995-10-18, Page 5111_110; MIER X, XX
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force victims to street
Dear Editor:
Recent spending cuts announced
by the Harris government recently
will have a significant and pro-
found effect on the women and
children of Huron County.
All funding for Second Stage
Housing programs in Ontario from
the Ministry of Community and So-
cial Services will be completely
eliminated at the end of this year.
These cuts came from seemingly
out of nowhere and are met with
great anguish and disbelief by
members of the community who
work with the women and children
whose lives are so dependent on the
services provided by Phoenix of
Huron. Unquestionably, beyond
any and all doubt, these cuts will
effectively annihilate Phoenix of
Huron in one fast and very -foul
swoop.
And lets put these cuts into per-
spective in light of other recent de-
cisions announced by Harris. One
of these has provided for signifi-
cant tax breaks to corporations to
save them millions and millions of
dollars. Looking at the big picture,
why has Harris chosen to hurt
women and children individuals
and families who are least able to
defend themselves?
To fully comprehend the signifi-
cance and tragedy of this, one must
have a full understanding and ap-
preciation of what exactly it is that
Second Stage Housing provides to
women and children in Ontario.
There are 22 Second Stage Housing
facilities across this province, in-
cluding those facilities operated by
Phoenix of Huron in the towns of
Clinton, Exeter and Goderich.
Second Stage Housing, as pro-
vided at the three local sites, offers
women and their children who are
or have been victimized by abuse in
their lives - be it physical, sexual,
verbal and/or emotional abuse - a
safe, short-term living environment
coupled with ongoing support and
counselling aimed at enabling these
survivors towards independence,
self sufficiency and a life free of vi-
olence. Residents may stay in Phoe-
nix for up to one year, however, the
average stay is four to, eight
months.
Phoenix of Huron began its oper-
ations four years ago and since that
time we have witnessed remarkable
and poignant successes in the
achievements and successes of the
women and children who have
come to Phoenix, where we are the
"stepping stone" or "the second
stage" for them as they move from
courageously surviving abuse on-
wards to realizing a successful, pro-
ductive life in which they no longer
arc victimized.
Since opening in June 1991•
Phoenix has been the home to 146
women and 164 children, including
the 34 women and 38 children cur-
rently living at the three sites in
Huron County. A remarkable 90
per cent of these women using the
services provided by Phoenix have
not returned to abusive partners and
are now living non-violent, inde-
pendent lives.
Phoenix is about so much more
than safe affordable housing for
these women and children. During
there stay at Phoenix, the women
are provided with one on one coun-
selling, support with and through
the legal and court systems and
group programming activities to
deal with the issues of violence in
their lives.
Work with children at Phoenix
includes one on one therapy help-
ing them to deal and cope with the
affects of witnessing violence:
teaching non-violent behaviours to
stop the cycle of violence from one
generation to the next: and parental
support for the mothers to assist
them in dealing with their children
who have experienced or witnessed
violence in their lives.
In rural areas such as here in Hu-
ron County, there are no other pro-
grams or services available to re-
place what is presently being
offered by Phoenix of Huron to
meet the critical and integral needs
of the women and children. These
are women who are our neighbors.
our friends, our sisters and our
daughters. these children are the fu-
ture. They arc the "next generation"
Mike harris is professing to be
planning a better future for by re-
ducing a long -held provincial debt.
Unless the Harris government is
forced to re-evaluate this willful ne-
glect of women and children, he
will effectively fail to achieve any
real expenditure control. The de-
mand for police services and inter-
vention will undouhtahly increase
as women and children who would
otherwise have sought out Phoenix
for help escaping violence continu-
ally are abused and live in fear with
no options but to live unsately in
fear.
The health care system will ab-
sorb the costs associated with the
emotioral and physical injuries and
illnesses suffered by these defence-
less women and children. Teachers,
and in fact the entire education sys-
tem, will similarly struggle to help
these children - and their mothers -
in an environment that is already
strained to its limit. And of course,
the demands put on Family and
Children's Services will be over-
whelming and near impossible to
meet.
The Harris government effectively
has said to all women and children
of Huron and across the province
"Your well being and safety are of
no issue or significance to this gov-
ernment". Period. Furthermore,
these cuts have made an ominous
and appalling statement to all of the
next generation, saying clearly that
the future of this province and its
residents is far less important than
are the short term ambitions of this
government.
The Board and Staff
of Phoenix and Huron
OE MM. M W S 5
Equitv can't be mandated
Dear Editor:
In his most famous speech Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr. said that he
had a dream that one day people
would be "judged not by the color
of their skin, but the content of
their character."
To my mind, that phrase sums up
what employment equity should be
all about. Any person applying for
any job, anywhere, should be
judged solely on his or her abilities
and experience. Their color, race,
gender or other such characteristics
should not enter the equation. The
sole criteria should be merit.
While the previous government
tried to pass the system off as "vol-
untary" and talked about "quotas
and timetables", the bottom line is
that under Employme3,t Equity,
companies would have to hire mini -
'Recipe for discrimination,
tokenism, resentment and
racial division.'
Helen Johns
mum numbers of visible minorities,
Native Canadians, disabled people
and women. When you' are legally
required to hire by race, color, sex
or other physical characteristics,
that is a quota.
It is also a recipe for discrimina-
tion, tokenism, resentment, racial
division and fundamental unfair-
ness.
Sleeping Children praise donation
Dear Editor:
I thought I would like to share
this letter with the generous friends
who made it all possible. As I read
the reports about Sleeping Children
Around the World, written by the
distribution team in Bangladesh, I
could hardly imagine how terrible
the conditions were in the girls' or-
phanage when they gave them the
kits.
These girls lived in hot, crowd-
ed, smelly rooms which were
school rooms in the daytime and
bedroom at night. They craved a
hug, or even a smile. The volun-
teers hoped they gave them some
small bit of hope. All the team
members telt very emotional when
the students at the blind school
sang, in perfect English, "We Shall
Overcome".
"Dear Ms. Maclntyre: What a
thrill it was to receive your magnif-
icent gift! Thirty-seven 'hurting'
children will now sleep in a lot
more comfort because of your car-
ing for children. We wish you
could be there to share in their ex-
citement as they receive your bed -
kits. We wish you good health and
happiness in your retirement and
our thanks for bringing the SCAW
story to others."
Nancy Maclntyre,
Lucknow
Quite simply, it is wrong to dis-
criminate on racist, sexist or other
similar grounds while hiring peo-
ple. A system which actually re-
quires such discrimination will end
up forcing the hiring of less quali-
fied people in order to meet the
quotas.
In short, reverse discrimination
is just as unfair as any other kind.
So, what is the answer to the
problems of discrimination and
lack of opportunity that members
of these identified groups still face
in the workplace?
Ontario already has laws prohib-
iting anti -discrimination in hiring
practices. If these laws are not
working, they should be rewritten
and toughened.
But the toughest anti-
discrimination in hiring practices
and, indeed, the toughest quota sys-
tems will still not produce, for ex-
ample, more women engineers.
This will only happen when
more women study engineering.
We must modify and use our ed-
ucation and training system to en-
sure that all Ontarians, especially
members of groups that are under-
represented in certain fields, have
the opportunity to reach their full
potential.
Please see EQUITY//6
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