News Re: Alberta’s Budget Re: Alberta’s Budget March 1, 2023 Re: Alberta’s Budget Shelters were bypassed on Alberta’s “road to recovery.” The provincial budget revealed a $2.4 billion surplus… but the very next day, shelters received their annual grant agreements, bearing no increases, not even for steadily increasing inflation. There has been no increase in their grant agreements for salaries since 2014-15 and no increase for operating costs since 2015-16. We are disappointed to see no additional help for domestic violence shelters, who are struggling daily to make ends meet. Alberta is seeing increased violence, increased caseloads, and increased complexity in the clients they support. The only thing that hasn’t increased is the provincial funding. Shelters have been left in the cold—with budget freezes for almost a decade—yet shelters were passed over yet again, their requests for additional support ignored. It looks like this “road to recovery” is only for some Albertans to travel…but not for our most vulnerable. When we leave shelters behind, we are creating massive problems for ourselves down the road. Think: increased homelessness and addictions, rising pressure on healthcare, more strain on the justice system – the research recognizes that domestic violence is a pathway to all of these social issues. We all pay the price. When will the government realize that supporting domestic violence shelters is not just a social imperative, but an economic one, too? We’re waiting.
