EDMONTON – The Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton has stopped taking new clients and blames the province for cutting funds.
The centre offers counselling and other supports to those dealing with sex assault, but says it is now scrambling to find other avenues of help for the 20 or so new clients who come through its doors each week.
The centre’s chief executive officer Mary Jane James says the change is due to less money from the province.
She says the centre gets $2.1 million in base funding per year but will no longer be getting the extra $1.8 million it had received each year over the last few years to reduce backlogs.
A provincial spokesperson confirmed the base budget funding has not changed but declined to comment on the centre’s concern surrounding the extra funding not being renewed.
Opposition NDP women’s status critic Julia Hayter says the funding cut is a “direct attack on the safety and dignity” of survivors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 11, 2025.
