On Thursday, Cornerstone Family Violence Prevention Centre (Cornerstone), the Cobourg Police Service (CPS) and Port Hope Police Services (PHPS) announced a $100,000 grant had been approved under the Victims Support Grant program to allow Cornerstone to continue the work they started in 2017 with Cobourg Police Service and expand those services to Port Hope Police Service.
The announcement followed on the heels of a Coroner’s Inquest into the deaths of Helen and Tom Ryan back in October of 2017 that concluded earlier this week with a recommendation from the jury that the province formally declare Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) as an epidemic.
For CPS Chief Paul VandeGraaf that inquest just reinforced the importance of the combined efforts of CPS and Cornerstone.
The Ryan inquest highlighted the importance of improving communications sharing between agencies when it comes to intimate partner violence as well as the need for more education and training, something Cornerstone and CPS have been working on for the last seven years.
Cornerstone’s Executive Director Nancy Johnston talked about their collaboration.
Chief VandeGraaf described how that partnership has been making a difference in our community.
According to Johnston, this investment from the Ontario government will help expand Cobourg Police Service and Cornerstone’s Intimate Partner Abuse Response Strategy program into Port Hope.
Johnston went on to say that collaboration with Port Hope has been a bit hit and miss at times in the past, but she’s confident that, with the appointment of Chief Tim Farquharson, the future outlook is very positive.
Those outcomes are in lock-step with some of top recommendations brought forward from the Ryan Inquest: better communication, collaboration and training opportunities.
On the topic of declaring an epidemic, Chief VandeGraaf likened it to COVID which required a wrap-around approach from all levels of government, health care and the community to win the battle.
VandeGraaf said that “Even with the great work that’s been done to prevent this horrible crime from occurring, we still find ourselves very thankful that the resources of Cornerstone exist to provide not only shelter, but resource-support to members of our community who are victims of intimate partner violence.”
The Chief said that “There’s not a person he knows who doesn’t know of someone that has unfortunately had to walk the path of this (IPV), that’s why we walk in red shoes every fall as part of Walk a Mile.
Walk A Mile will be taking place on October 14th in downtown Cobourg. Be sure to show your support by sponsoring a walker, putting on some reds shoes yourself or coming down and cheering on those taking part.
Written by Joseph Goden with files from Noah Lorusso
