Alison Elsner, left, with Carol Wittal. (Michael Joel-Hansen/paNOW Staff)

By Michael Joel-Hansen

P.A. victim services appreciate national week

May 30, 2019 | 2:53 PM

In times of pain, grief, and fear Victim Services steps up to help those affected by crime.

This week is a commemoration of the staff members who help victims — an event set up by the Justice Canada Policy Centre for Victims Issues. This year’s theme is The Power of Collaboration and aims to get people thinking about removing barriers and gaps in services.

For Alison Elsner, coordinator of Prince Albert Police Victim Services, the week is something they appreciate.

“A lot of people know [victim services is] there, but I don’t know if they know what it’s all about,” she said.

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P.A. Police Victim Services did mark the week by having a barbecue last weekend. Elsner said the event provided them with the chance to get out into the community to generate awareness and raise funds for their work.

Elsner said victim services steps in to help anytime someone is targeted by crime or violence, such as in a robbery, theft or domestic issues.

They’ll find more meaning in attending a sweat versus going to spend an hour doing psychotherapy_{-Erin Parenteau}

From April 1 of last year until no, Elsner and her colleagues worked with 292 victims. Erin Parenteau, an Indigenous resource officer also helped 132 people who had offences committed against them.

Parenteau said a large part of her job involves building relationships with elders who offer traditional recovery methods.

“They’ll find more meaning in attending a sweat versus going to spend an hour doing psychotherapy,” she said.

Parenteau, who is Cree Dakota, said the vast majority of the people who come through the victim services office are Indigenous.

“I think our team is very much knowledgeable in Indigenous practices,” she said. They are “culturally aware of not only Indigenous practices but all the other cultures that exist in P.A.”

Carol Wittal, acting coordinator for Gateway Victim Services, which aims to provide support to people in communities across the northeast said such a week is important to her given how the justice system operates.

“It is always usually about the accused, or the subject of complaint, so the victims are usually left behind,” she said.

Wittal said collaboration is important for her organization given they cover a large geographic location and cannot always bring services to the person.

“It’s so much more rural, so then in order to get them services or connect with services they have to travel and that is a difficult task for a lot of our victims. We have to work in collaboration with a lot of organizations,” she said.

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MichaelJoel.Hansen@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @mjhskcdn