On April 15, 2020, I interviewed Tanya Henck, founding member of the first\u00a0Cortes Island Women\u2019s Centre<\/a>\u00a0which opened in January 2019. A combination of diligent sanitization and long microphone cables, plus a newly constructed and never-inhabited space, enabled us to set up for Covid-19-safe recording.\u00a0 (The room was so bare that you may hear a certain amount of natural reverb in the podcast.)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tanya has lived on\u00a0Cortes Island<\/a>\u00a0for 14 years, and has long been aware of the persistent and under-addressed problem of domestic violence.\u00a0 Every community whether rural or urban has to deal with this issue, she says, and Cortes is no exception.\u00a0 Yet Cortes, she feels, has been for years \u201cbehind the times\u201d in coming to grips with this problem.<\/p>\n Photo credit: \u201cDomestic Violence Hurts<\/a>\u201d by ghetto_guera29 via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n Tanya\u2019s desire to support women in crisis led her into contact with what was then Campbell River Transition Society, a charitable organization offering crisis counselling, shelter, and other resources to women and children at risk from domestic violence.\u00a0 When she first set up a table at Friday Market with Transition Society literature, it was new information for islanders.\u00a0 Most people on Cortes, she recalls, didn\u2019t know we were eligible for services provided by CRTS (now\u00a0North Island Transition Society<\/a>).<\/p>\n As a result of that early contact, Transition Society sent outreach workers over every two weeks to offer free and confidential counselling and support for women on Cortes.\u00a0 Tanya tells me that this relationship slowly built over time until a Cortes Island Women\u2019s Resource Centre was the logical next step.<\/p>\n Though it is essentially a \u201cchapter house\u201d of the parent organization, the Cortes initiative is not funded or subsidized by North Island Transition Society.\u00a0 \u201cDonations are pretty much what keeps us going.\u201d\u00a0 NITS has charitable status, and donations to the Society can be earmarked for Cortes Island\u2019s project. \u201cEvery penny that gets brought in for Cortes Island via Transition Society goes directly to us.\u00a0 They don\u2019t take a cut.\u201d<\/p>\n Grant funding is sometimes accessible for services or programmes, Tanya tells me, but is hard to come by for basic operational expenses like rent and phone.\u00a0 The Centre has succeeded once in getting temporary assistance via a Grant-in-Aid from SRD, but generally must rely on donations.\u00a0 \u201cAnd we\u2019re running out of money pretty soon\u2026 again.\u201d<\/p>\n The Cortes Island Women\u2019s Centre, Tanya emphasizes, is not really a crisis centre.\u00a0 Volunteers staff the centre during scheduled hours, offering services, social events or classes according to their abilities.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ve had writing circles, a seed swap, watercolour painting\u2026 there\u2019s always tea and coffee and some basic food.\u201d\u00a0 Members can access the space at any time.\u00a0 The space is mainly intended for networking and social support.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have free internet, and free long distance to about 60 countries.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s not uncommon for abusive partners to deny women access to internet or phone; and the Centre makes those crucial resources available to women who need to (for example) seek help, communicate with family members or get legal advice.\u00a0 The space can also be reserved by members for private use (such as a counselling session).<\/p>\n Volunteers at the centre adhere to a policy of strict confidentiality.\u00a0 As Tanya says, a woman facing violence or bullying in her home can come to the centre knowing that \u201cif you walk through that door, you\u2019re going to be supported, you\u2019re going to be listened to.\u201d\u2014 and also, that her privacy will be respected.<\/p>\n The centre makes literature and contact information from NITS available at all times.\u00a0 Notes from local workshops are also kept as a resource.<\/p>\n Some may question whether an \u201cidyllic\u201d island community like Cortes really\u00a0needs<\/em>\u00a0a resource centre to address domestic violence.\u00a0 I asked Tanya about how many \u201clive\u201d incidents she was aware of in any given year, during her 14 years here.\u00a0 She said on average two or three per year\u2014that she knows about\u2014in which there\u2019s actually been physical violence, legally-defined assault or battery.\u00a0 And are those the same troubled families year after year?\u00a0 No, she said, though sometimes it may be the same abuser, with different women.<\/p>\n \u201cThe women are the ones who leave the island,\u201d says Tanya sadly.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know of a situation where the woman has felt safe enough to stay on Cortes, and it\u2019s been the abuser who\u2019s left.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/3424785708_13d6f2eb03_c.jpg\")
<\/a>History of the Women\u2019s Centre project<\/h4>\n
A Resource Centre more than a Crisis Centre<\/h4>\n
Patterns of Domestic Violence<\/h4>\n