Domestic violence is no big secret and now SAIF is supporting a new campaign called Make It Your Business to encourage people to get involved in stopping it.
Doreen Slessor, the executive director of Stop Abuse in Families, said that it ties in nicely to the Neighbours, Friends, and Families campaign it already promotes. Make It Your Business is a national collaboration for businesses to put policy in place to protect employees from domestic violence, but also a grassroots movement for our community to step up to the three Rs of domestic violence: “recognize, respond, and refer.”
“In 100 per cent of the domestic homicide inquiries – we had our first one in Alberta a few months ago – someone else knew what was happening: a friend, family, worksite, a neighbour. If they would have known what to do and how to help, the homicide most likely could have been prevented.”
“It’s really prevention at the grassroots level. It’s a way for us to help eliminate the stigma and to get involved and do some prevention so we don’t have to do intervention.”
In an effort to demonstrate to people throughout the community how to make someone else’s domestic violence their own business, SAIF is offering free workshops to businesses and other groups. These one- and three-hour workshops explore domestic violence as an issue that affects everyone and are meant to empower participants by giving them the knowledge and tools to support others who are in a domestic violence relationship.
“If we all know how to recognize, respond and refer, even knowing what to say, we could probably prevent a tragedy in our community or even get the people the help they need when they need it.”
The organization is set to host its annual Red Shoe Gala next Saturday to help start spreading the word on this new campaign. Len Rhodes, president and CEO of the Edmonton Eskimos Football Club, will be the guest speaker during the event.
Putting his name behind the movement is expected to offer a lot of attention, especially as Rhodes will be sharing his own story of growing up in an emotionally and physically abusive household with an alcoholic father, something he first spoke about publicly just last summer.
It was the first time in more than 50 years that he had told anyone but others still knew. He couldn’t talk to his best friends or even counsellors about it. It came to the point where he knew that he simply had to talk about it to get it off of his chest.
“I can’t let that story go to waste. I’ve gotta use that story in helping others,” he emphasized, noting that there are more services available for people today than when he was a boy. “People need to reach out, get help, and know that they are not alone. Unfortunately, many people are going through this as well.”
After his story was published, hundreds of people reached out to him to share their own stories with him: “people I knew, total strangers, men, women … the whole range.”
“I felt so free and released from the weight that I was carrying. No one said, ‘Len, you should be embarrassed.’ It was the total opposite. ‘We wish you had shared this earlier.’”
This isn’t the first time that Rhodes has become involved in making positive change. He has long been an active supporter of the Alberta Council for Women's Shelters and its Leading Change program to educate children and young adults on domestic violence.
He will speak at the gala about the need for others to get involved and how the Make It Your Business campaign should really spur action.
“Perpetrators hope and pray that no one talks about this because they can continue to inflict harm on people, especially women and children. By coming public, we are taking control of the problem and we’re not staying back and keeping silent. Silence is almost acknowledging acceptance. We cannot allow that to happen. Many neighbours in my apartment building knew what was going on but they chose not to act on it. We owe it to one another to help one another. Prevention is everything.”
Slessor continued that the gala is good because it brings so much awareness to this devastating and all-too-common issue.
“It brings men and women together to solve the problem together, to walk that path together.”
SAIF’s Red Shoe Gala takes place on Saturday, April 9 starting at 6 p.m. Tickets are still available at $90 each. The event will be held at the Doubletree by Hilton located at 16615 109 Ave. in Edmonton. For more information, call the organization at 780-460-2195 or visit www.stopabuse.ca. As usual, the event will feature an activities hour, prize and raffle draws, and men wearing red shoes to demonstrate their solidarity and understanding.
Facts
• Domestic violence costs workplaces in Canada more than $7 billion per year as a result of lost work time, reduced productivity, increased accidents, and employee turnover.<br />• 70% of individuals suffering from domestic violence are victimized at work.<br />• 54% of victims of domestic violence miss three or more days of work a month.<br />• 25% of employees report they have worked with someone they knew was a victim of domestic violence.<br />(provided by SAIF)
