Saskatchewan Fact Sheet

The Transition Home Survey is conducted on a biennial basis as part of the federal government's Family Violence Initiative. The 2003/04 questionnaire was sent to 543 shelters in Canada known to be providing residential services for women victims of abuse and their children. Responses were received from 473 shelters (87%).

The questionnaire was sent to 23 facilities in Saskatchewan and responses were received from 78% of the shelters.

There were 3,986 admissions of women and dependant children reported from April 1, 2003 to March 31, 2004.¹

A profile of residents, April 14, 2004²

In a snapshot taken on April 14, 2004 , there were 270 residents in shelters in Saskatchewan : 46% (124) were women and 54% (146) were dependant children.

77% (96) of women residing in shelters on April 14, 2004 , were victims of abuse and the remainder were admitted for reasons other than abuse, such as housing problems. Of those admitted for abuse,³ 89% were fleeing psychological abuse, 80% physical abuse, 61% threats, 56% harassment, 49% financial abuse, and 26% sexual abuse.

82% of women escaping abusive situations were admitted with their children; 61% (83) of these children were under 10 years of age.

82% of women with parental responsibilities who were admitted for abuse indicated that they were also protecting their children from psychological abuse, 74% from witnessing the abuse of their mother, 42% from physical abuse, 35% from threats, and 28% from neglect.⁴

64% of abused women indicated that their spouse or partner was the abuser, 9% were abused by a former spouse or partner, 4% by a relative, 1% by someone from a current dating relationship and 2% were abused by others.⁵ For 20% the relationship was unknown.

The most common sources of referral for women residing in shelters on April 14 th , 2004 , were: self-referral (29%), another community agency (20%), another transition house (14%), and Aboriginal or First Nations organization or reserve (7%).⁶

More than one-quarter (26%) of women residing in shelters on April 14, 2004 , had been there before. 44% of repeat clients had been there once in the last year, 34% had been there 2 to 4 times and 9% had been there 5 or more times.⁷

29% of abused women had reported police intervention for the most recent violent incident and in two thirds of these reported cases charges were laid against the abuser.

A profile of shelters, 2003/04

89% of shelters served urban/suburban populations, 78% served rural/village populations and 67% served reserve populations.

1 shelter was located on a reserve, 1 shelter was owned by a band council and 2 were operated by a band council.

The majority of shelters offered the following in-house services to women residents: advocacy (83%), individual short-term counselling (78%), housing referral (78%), and group counselling, offered by two-thirds of shelters.

Facilities also provided in-house services to non-resident women in need of assistance. These services included: crisis telephone lines (67%), individual short-term counselling (56%), housing referral and advocacy, each offered by half of the shelters.

In-house services offered to resident children included: outdoor recreation spaces (78%), indoor recreation spaces (67%), and group counselling (44%). Individual counselling, culturally sensitive services for aboriginal and ethno-cultural and visible minority children and babysitting services were each offered by 39% of shelters.

72% of shelters reported at least one building entrance that was wheelchair accessible, two-thirds reported having bathrooms that were wheelchair accessible and 61% reported having bedrooms that were wheelchair accessible 28% offered services to people who are deaf or hearing impaired and 22% offered services to people who are blind or visually impaired.

18 facilities reported providing a total of 650 outreach⁸ hours per week.

Footnotes

1. The precise reporting period may vary. Shelters were asked to provide information for the twelve-month period ending March 31, 2004 or their own twelve month fiscal period.

2. No women departed on snapshot day.

3. Totals do not add to 100% due to multiple responses.

4. Totals do not add to 100% due to multiple responses. 'Women with parenting responsibilities' include women admitted to shelters with their children and women admitted without their children. However, it is not known if women admitted without their children had custody of those children at the time of admittance.

5. 'Others' includes friend or acquaintance.

6. Totals do not add to 100% due to multiple responses.

7. For some repeat clients the number of times they had been to the shelter previously was unknown.

8. Outreach work included supplying information, accompanying victims to court, meeting with clients to discuss possibilities/options, and participating in drop-in centres. While shelters varied in the number of hours of outreach provided, the provincial average was 36 hours per week.