The Yukon Territory 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 6 facilities in Yukon Territory and responses were received from 3 (50%) of the shelters.

There were 607 admissions of women and dependant children reported from April 1, 2003 to March 31, 2004¹

A profile of residents, April 14, 2004

In a snapshot taken on April 14, 2004 , there were 17 residents in shelters in Yukon Territory : 59% (10) were women and 41% (7) were dependant children.

All of the women residing in shelters on April 14, 2004 , were victims of abuse: 7 were fleeing psychological abuse, 5 physical abuse, 2 threats, 2 financial abuse and 1 was fleeing harassment.²

Half (5) of women escaping abusive situations were admitted with their children; all (7) of these children were under 10 years of age.

57% (4) of women with parental responsibilities who were admitted for abuse indicated that they were also protecting their children from witnessing abuse of their mother and 43% (3) from psychological abuse.³

50% of abused women indicated that their spouse or partner was the abuser, 30% were abused by a former spouse or partner and 20% by an ex-boyfriend.

For women residing in shelters on April 14 th , 2004 , self-referrals (70%) were the most common sources of referral.

4 of the women residing in shelters on April 14, 2004 , had been there before.⁴

Half (5) of the abused women had reported police intervention for the most recent violent incident to police and in the majority of these reported cases charges were not laid against the abuser.

A profile of shelters, 2003/04

2 of the shelters served urban/suburban populations and all 3 served rural/village populations.

Two-thirds of shelters offered the following in-house services to women residents: culturally sensitive services for Aboriginal women, culturally sensitive services for ethno-cultural and visible minority women, lesbian sensitive services and services for women with disabilities.

Facilities also provided in-house services to non-resident women in need of assistance. The following services were provided by two-thirds of shelters: individual short-term counselling, crisis telephone lines, housing referral, culturally sensitive services for Aboriginal women, culturally sensitive services for ethno-cultural and visible minority women, lesbian sensitive services, services for women with disabilities and advocacy.

In-house services offered to resident children by a third of shelters included: individual counselling, culturally sensitive services for Aboriginal children, culturally sensitive services for ethno-cultural and visible minority children, school classes or tutoring, babysitting as well as indoor and outdoor recreation spaces.

All shelters reported at least one building entrance that was wheelchair accessible, all reported having bedrooms that were wheelchair accessible and all reported having bathrooms that were wheelchair accessible. Two-thirds offered services to people who are blind or visually impaired.

3 facilities reported providing a total 118 outreach⁵ 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. Figures do not add to the total number of women in shelters for abuse due to m ultiple responses.

3. 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.

4. T he number of times that repeat clients had been to the shelter in the previous year was unknown.

5. 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 territorial average was 39 hours per week.