One of the London’s leading advocacy and support centres for women is using the upcoming federal election as an opportunity to mobilize all politicians to take action.
Jessie Rodger, executive director for Anova, says, "If we're telling survivors of trauma and violence that it's okay to speak up and speak out, we need to respond as a community with resources."
Rodger says the agency has seen a dramatic spike in the request for shelter stays and other services.
She says from April 2018 to March 2019 Anova staff had to deny shelter requests 2,500 times. All service requests were up significantly.
The agency has prepared a formal letter to send to politicians calling for action to address the issue of sexual and domestic violence.
"We've provided a template of a message that you can send to them that you can change, if you like. Letting your city councillor, MP, MPP know that you've heard these numbers and you've seen what's going on in our community, and that you want to see action. And that you want to know what they're doing, and what they plan to do, to make sure this city is as safe as possible."
The statistics and the form letter have been posted on Anova’s Facebook site and pinned to their Twitter feed.
