Building Healthy Communities
Prisons: The Latest Solution to Homelessness, Poverty and Mental Illness
Kim Pate, Executive Director, Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies
Since 1952, the Elizabeth Fry Society of Toronto has been a respected and empowering advocate for women who are, have been, or are at risk of coming into conflict with the law. Our clients work on developing positive coping mechanisms and securing employment and/or an education. A successful transition means that they are far less likely to re-offend and more inclined to contribute positively to the community. Of the offences committed by women, 85% are non-violent, most of them being of an economic nature.
Our Residential Program enables women on parole to live in the community under supervision while they acquire the skills to re-enter society and resume their lives with a renewed sense of purpose. Women in our Community Counselling Program develop coping strategies and maintain community ties as they address social problems such as family breakdown, addictions, poverty, racism, sexual abuse and lack of personal support systems that have led them into conflict with the justice system.
Elizabeth Fry’s range of transitional housing, life skills counselling, and community reintegration services:
- are more effective than incarceration or detention without bail
- help to break the downward spiral of poverty, isolation and crime
- contribute to the safety of the larger community
Our Community Outreach
The agency provides a practicum for students in the Masters of Social Work Program at the University of Toronto, York University, and Ryerson University. The Elizabeth Fry Society of Toronto’s support team collaborates with and serves as advisors to a range of other organizations to ensure that the programs we offer are readily accessible to women who need them. We offer consultation services to staff in community agencies, shelters, and hospitals serving clients who have experienced physical and sexual abuse, severe trauma, addictions, and self-injuries. A few of those organizations include:
- Groups Involved in Justice Activities, particularly the provision of half-way houses and related supports. We participate in groups and coalitions that provide services to clients residing in half-way houses and ex-offenders. We participate in meetings focused on women's justice-related concerns, i.e. Criminal Justice Advisory panel for Legal Aid Ontario.
- Women's Organizations – We maintain linkages with the GTA network of women's services to ensure that our client referrals are timely and appropriate. We work with other women's organizations to share resources and knowledge pertaining to women and the criminal justice system and to develop program initiatives, e.g. a Woman Abuse Council collaborative effort to bring to light the issue of women being charged in domestic violence situations resulted in the creation of our Partner Intervention Program.
- Formal and informal partnerships with Toronto Drug Treatment Court; member of the Community Advisory Committee; partnership with Dixon Hall ("60 Richmond" Shelter) and Central Neighbourhood House, Women Abuse Council of Toronto, Metro Network for Social Justice, Ontario Association of Community Corrections, Ontario Halfway House Association, Mental Health Courts.