By Ashley Lavallee-Koenig

PARTNERING WITH CASASC

Red Deer Queer Community Association partnership aims to address rising violence and improve services

Jul 30, 2024 | 4:08 PM

The Red Deer Queer Community Association (RDQCA) and Central Alberta Sexual Assault Support Centre (CASASC) are partnering to improve education and services for 2SLGBTQIA+ community members and address rising anti-2SLGBTQIA+ sentiments.

“We need to work together; we can not work separate, as islands. We need to make sure that we integrate. They have access to the LGBT community and I have the services. If we come together, we can be more effective and the service delivery will be much more appropriate for them with the language and all the cultural differences that they may require at any time,” says Patricia Arango, executive director of the CASASC.

Data released by Statistics Canada shows that incidents of police reported hate crimes relating to sexual orientation and sex and gender have increased since 2019. Hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation rose to 860 in 2023, up from 265 in 2019; those motivated by sex and gender rose to 123 in 2023 from 56 in 2019.

“In the last couple years there’s been an increase in anti-2SLGBTQIA rhetoric, which does increase the risk of sexual violence and base violence towards our community and towards other members of the community because it increases harmful attitudes,” says Stephanie Hodgkins, chairperson of the RDQCA. “There is an intersection where, particularly trans men and women, can have an increased risk of violence against them.”

In addition to providing a safe and knowledgable space for the queer community, Arango says the CASASC also provides administration services to smaller partner organizations to support them in the grant application process.

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“The idea is to help them to be able to fly on their own and make sure that they also have an opportunity [the same] as everybody else,” Arango says.

Aside from improving grant application abilities and service language, Hodgkins says that the RDQCA will look into creating focused support groups and other programs that are still to be determined.

“For the queer community, what this is going to mean is: we can improve access to support and information; we can ensure they know it’s there; we can give them education on things that maybe they’re not sure about,” says Hodgkins, “It means that we can show them access to different forms of therapy and support that the support centre can offer them. We can work with them to ensure that they know that the support is always going to be there for them, that they don’t have to be afraid to come forward and say, ‘I need help.’”

Arango says the CASASC has worked in similar partnerships with other organizations in the past, including the Central Alberta Child Advocacy Centre, UBUNTU – Mobilizing Central Alberta, and the Urban Aboriginal Voices Society.

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