Nova Vita Domestic Violence Prevention Service showed their support of survivors of gender-based violence with Wrapped in Courage flag raisings in the City of Brantford and the County of Brant on Monday, November 25, 2024.
Nova Vita raised purple Wrapped in Courage flags at Harmony Square in Brantford, the Brantford Police station, the County of Brant Council Chambers, and the Brant OPP station to mark the beginning of the campaign.
“Today is International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls,” said Anne Ruddell, Nova Vita’s Community Development Manager. “It also marks the first day of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence in Canada, and it is capping off a month-long campaign in November, which is Woman Abuse Prevention Month.”
The Wrapped in Courage campaign engages local communities in Ontario throughout November, with the support of gender-based violence services, to build awareness, connect survivors to services and to call on decision makers about the social change that is needed.
“Wrapped in Courage started in 2013 as a campaign to show that the courage of women alone is not enough, so we wear purple today and we wear purple all year round as a lovely symbol to let folks know that they are not alone if they’ve experienced gender-based violence or intimate partner violence,” said Ruddell. “We raise the flag today as a form of action, as a way of raising awareness that gender-based violence and femicide is a serious epidemic and that it has a long term devastating impact on our community as a whole. … In the last year, OWAITH [Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses] has identified more than 59 femicides; that number works out that approximately every six days, a woman or girl is killed in Ontario by a loved one they know that is male. That is really not okay and that is why it is so important to talk about femicide, and that we work to change those statistics.”
During each of the flag raisins, Ruddell thanked both the City and the County for joining the over 95 municipalities across the province who took action in saying it was time to do more. Last year, both Councils put forward and voted unanimously on motions to declare intimate partner violence as an epidemic in each community.
“We take action at Nova Vita in the work we do every day to support all members of the community that are impacted by gender-based violence, whether they have been abused or they are using harm, or they are trying to break the cycle of violence that they grew up in,” said Ruddell. “It’s a lot of work and we can’t do it alone without our partners which is why we are so grateful for the partnership and support we have from the County of Brant and the City of Brantford.”
At the County’s flag raising, Ruddell also thanked the Council for taking further action in providing Nova Vita with emergency funding, and that the team has put the investment to immediate use.
“The County took action this past year in providing emergency funding to support the full-time role of a Rural Outreach Support Worker so that we can use our Cowan Health Hub office here in Paris, to get connected to more women and more families in our community here in the County of Brant,” said Ruddell. “I’m really pleased to say, after a lengthy onboarding process, in just under two months, Heather now has a portfolio of over 23 clients that are actively utilizing her services. That’s 23 clients actively receiving anything from safety planning to transitional housing support, court support, helping to navigate other systems and services in the community, and getting some of our clients on the Christmas hamper list, as well as helping them access services like our Brantford Food Bank.”
David Bailey, Mayor for the County of Brant, later thanked the Nova Vita team for all that they do to help women and girls receive the support they need.
“There was a whole generation where women were taught they were there to take care of the house and to raise children, and they didn’t have the qualifications or the education to leave and to instantly become successful even if they had the skills to move on,” he said. “…To leave is to leave everything and when you have to leave everything, it takes a long time to get the courage up because there’s nothing promised at the end of your leaving. I understand your struggle and I thank you for your time and I thank you for your dedication. [Violence] is a terrible thing and it happens to affect all of us at some level sometime in our lives. Thank you for what you do.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
