Women and Children Increasingly Turned Away from Shelters
Not only is the number of people turned away each day in the hundreds, it is growing. Statistics Canada figures show the number increased 69 per cent from 539 in 2014 to 911 in 2018, based on data from all of the shelters in the country. The same news source also notes that domestic violence shelters are forced to turn women and children away in significant numbers in all of Canada's major cities. A lack of affordable housing puts rents out of reach for many of the women who use the shelters and keeps some living with their abusers. Even when women are able to get into emergency shelters, their stay is often limited to between one and three months. (Source: "Women, children turned away from shelters in Canada almost 19,000 times a month," by Tara Carman, CBC News, March 5, 2020.)
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A March 5 CBC news
item informs that in November 2019, an average of
620 women and children a day were turned away from
domestic violence shelters across Canada. In more
than 80 per cent of cases, people were turned away
because the shelter was full. The report
notes that the data is incomplete as it is based
on just over half of the 527 shelters CBC
contacted.