Northwest Territories 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 7 facilities in the Northwest Territories and responses were received from 5 (71%) of the shelters.

There were 722 admissions of women and dependant children reported from April 1 2003 to March 31, 2004¹

A profile of residents, April 14, 2004²

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

90% (9) 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, 8 were fleeing psychological abuse, 7 physical abuse, 6 financial abuse, 5 threats and 3 were fleeing harassment.³

56% (5) of women escaping abusive situations were admitted with their children; 57% (4) of these children were under 10 years of age.

67% (6) of women with parental responsibilities who were admitted for abuse indicated that they were also protecting their children from psychological abuse and 56% (5) from witnessing the abuse of their mother. ⁴

78% (7) of abused women indicated that their spouse or partner was the abuser. The remaining women were abused by a former spouse or partner, or by a friend or acquaintance.

For women residing in shelters on April 14 th , 2004 , self-referrals (42%) were the most common type of referral. Referrals also came from other house residents, the police, community agencies and government ministries.⁵

3 of the women residing in shelters on April 14, 2004 , had been there before. All of these repeat clients had been to the shelter at least once in the previous year.

A third (3) of the abused women had reported police intervention for the most recent violent incident to police and in 2 of these reported cases charges were laid against the abuser.

A profile of shelters, 2003/04

All of the shelters served urban/suburban populations and 1 served rural/village populations and 1 served reserve populations.

All shelters offered the following in-house service to women residents: housing referral, advocacy and culturally sensitive services for Aboriginal women.

Facilities also provided in-house services to non-resident women in need of assistance. The following services were provided by the majority of shelters: crisis telephone line (90%), advocacy (90%), culturally sensitive services for Aboriginal women, culturally sensitive services for ethno-cultural and visible minority women and lesbian sensitive services, each offered by 60% of shelters.

In-house services offered to resident children by 90% of shelters included indoor and outdoor recreation spaces. Individual counselling, culturally sensitive services for Aboriginal children and culturally sensitive services for ethno-cultural and visible minority children, were offered by 60% of shelters.

40% of shelters each reported at least one building entrance that was wheelchair accessible, bedrooms that were wheelchair accessible and bathrooms that were wheelchair accessible. 40% offered services to people who are blind or visually impaired and 20% offered services to people who are deaf or hearing impaired.

5 facilities reported providing a total of 131 outreach⁶ 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. Figures do not add to the total number of women in shelters for abuse 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. Totals do not add to 100% due to multiple responses.

6. 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 26 hours per week.