A team of police and child-abuse investigators is set to receive $2.1 million from the provincial government as part of the province’s strategy to tackle violent crime.

The funding will go to Toba Centre for Children and Youth in its new home at 710 Assiniboine Park Drive. Construction is expected to be complete in mid-May.

The child advocacy centre, formerly called Snowflake Place and located downtown on Portage Avenue, is now going to be offering province-wide “wrap-around” services, provincial officials announced at the construction site Sunday afternoon. The funding formalizes the centre’s partnership with police and child-welfare officials.

Previously, the centre — Manitoba’s only child-advocacy centre — was already collaborating with the Winnipeg Police Service and RCMP and relying primarily on provincial and federal funding. As a non-profit, it still needs to keep fundraising in addition to the $10 million raised so far for the expanded location, said Christy Dzikowicz, executive director of Toba Centre.

Dzikowicz said accessing child-abuse support resources across the province is challenging and the funding will help the centre expand. The centre currently handles about 10 per cent of child abuse investigations in Manitoba (approximately 400 out of a total of more than 4,000 each year).

“That’ll change substantially,” once the new location starts operating in June, she said.

Surrounded by provincial officials, police chiefs, and Winnipeg’s mayor for Sunday’s announcement, Dzikowicz said she felt hopeful.

“I think our community gets it, and knows how important this is,” she said. “Despite the fact this is a dark subject matter, this is a very good day.”

This is the 10th year for the child advocacy centre. Police have been referring child victims to the centre since it began conducting specialized forensic interviews in 2015.

The new location is set to include medical practitioners on site, in addition to the centre’s two forensic interviewers, case navigation team, and anxiety-support dogs Booster and Duke.

In 2021-22, the centre conducted 359 interviews. An annual average of 366 interviews with child victims has been completed over the past five years, according to the centre’s most recent annual report.

The funding was previously budgeted in the provincial budget introduced last week. It is included in the government’s $52-million violent-crime strategy.

Premier Heather Stefanson said “wrap-around” support is critical for children and families going through these kinds of traumas.

“Having dedicated and integrated police resources will help to make this model available to children across our province,” Stefanson said.

“Violent crime, including child abuse and exploitation, is on the rise. This is an unacceptable reality and our government is taking concrete action to intervene to protect children and families and to ensure perpetrators are held to account for their actions.”

Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen said the trauma of child abuse affects investigators as well as children and their families.

“And they need our support as well. It is really a holistic approach to try to ensure that this horrible crime finds hope in a place of darkness. So today is about hope,” Goertzen said.

The premier and justice minister took a tour of the under-construction Toba Centre after making their livestreamed announcement Sunday afternoon.

On March 8, Goertzen spoke about the government’s new violent crime strategy, saying cracking down on child exploitation will be a focus in addition to calling for stricter bail reforms that would make it more difficult for offenders to be released pending trial. He spoke specifically about the need to deal with youth crime in Manitoba.

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When it comes to the roots of violent crime, Goertzen said at the time, “you have to look at the issues of how is it that people are getting to that situation where they’re committing crime and try to meet them at that need before they get there. But there are some people who are committed to committing violence in the community and when they demonstrated that commitment and they demonstrated they’re repeat offenders, there has to be consequences for that. That is generally a relatively small number of those who are committing crimes as a whole, but it’s not insignificant and we’re seeing horrific stories… about children killing children, essentially,” Goertzen said.

“And there needs to be more significant action taken on those who might be perpetrating some of these actions or leading children into this lifestyle, and that will be part of the announcements.”

Police are getting funding via the violent-crime strategy to address youth violence, to combat child exploitation, and other efforts to support officers. Goertzen said it’s not just about police. He suggested community safety officers, such as those proposed to ride Winnipeg Transit, are part of the plan. Provincial legislation is expected to be introduced this session to open the door to transit safety officers.

— with files from Danielle Da Silva

katie.may@winnipegfreepress.com

Katie May
Reporter

Katie May is a general-assignment reporter for the Free Press.

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