The Alberta government’s new victim services model, which was fully implemented on Tuesday, is already receiving some major backlash from municipalities in the province.
The new regional model is meant to improve “stability, consistency and sustainability” in rural communities across the province, according to the Alberta government’s website.
As part of the change, four service delivery regions have been made to match the RCMP administrative areas, along with employing support staff to ensure “continuity and equality.”
This was done in an attempt to improve access to victim services across the province. The transition began on April 1.
The province says “careful consideration” was used in its decision, and a government review noted inconsistencies in the services.
“A comprehensive review of the current system identified inconsistencies and gaps in services that had been developing over a long period of time and needed to be addressed,” the website reads.
But, Paul Mclauchlin, president of Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) believes the real motive is quite problematic.
“They’re pulling these people out of the detachment, which I will bluntly say is … they’re trying to actually hamstring the RCMP in order to create a provincial police force,” he told 660 NewsRadio.
“So this is something they’re doing purposely to ruin the relationship between victim services and RCMP.”
Rimbey victim services shuttered and only half-time
The government says the model will stabilize funding, add coverage to 14 underserved communities, and employ more full-time equivalents.
Alberta Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis says the former model had a staff of about 130 full-time, and that the new model has funding for 153 full-time equivalent frontline staff.
He says they will be supported by up to 10 regional staff, who are meant to take on administration previously handled by frontline staff, “leaving them more time to support victims directly.”
Lastly, he says each RCMP detachment will continue to have a local navigator to work with victims in person. Ellis says the mayors in Airdrie and Sylvan Lake supported the design.
But the RMA president says this is already having serious consequences in his community of Rimbey, which used to have a full-time victim services provider, but the position has been reduced to only half-time.
“The amazing human beings that assisted in my community no longer will be working out of my community. So rural Alberta has had a tremendous disservice from this change,” Mclauchlin said.
“They have had no good reason for it. Basically, it’s a command and control moved by the provincial government with no good grounds.”
The announcement was first made in 2022 by former Alberta justice minister Tyler Shandro. At the time, 62 governance boards administered and delivered services through community-based organizations, such as sexual assault centres and police-based victims services unit.
The province says it has committed $26.7 million per year for victim services through RCMP-based victim services units, and other groups who provide services.
Ellis says the overall budget for RCMP-based victim services hasn’t been reduced.
“Alberta’s government is providing full operational funding for victim services. The new fully funded model eliminates the need for RCMP-based victim services staff to fundraise money or ask municipalities for additional funding,” he said.
“The new model will be assessed on data collected in the first year of operations.”
However, the RMA has been sounding the alarm over issues with the new victim services model for several months, but the province proceeded with the plan, saying their voices weren’t heard.
“We’ve been telling them to stop for months. They still proceeded ahead,” he said.
“We’re already hearing — I’m already hearing local instances of extreme failure in the system. The government’s going to have to own the failures that they’ve had in most cases in rural Alberta to successfully deploy these things is through partnership and relationships, and the government’s made no step to partner with local communities to make this successful.”
Alberta NDP’s Shadow Minister for Public Safety and Emergency Services David Sheperd said in a statement the province should “go back to the drawing board” and work with municipal leaders, survivors, and law enforcement to “deliver localized victim services for rural Alberta.”
“Victim Services has been in our communities for decades, working alongside the RCMP and other local organizations to ensure fast, localized support for those who have experienced trauma. It was a system built by Albertans, for Albertans and it worked,” he said.
He says the decision to make four regional groups was a bad one made without meaningful consultation.
Julia Hayter, the NDP’s shadow minister for the status of women, says 90 per cent of local victim’s boards are not aligned with the new model, and says the restructuring is going to add trauma to “Albertans who are victims of family violence and sexual assault.”
“Women in this province deserve better,” she said.
660 NewsRadio has reached out to Minister Ellis for further comment.
With files from The Canadian Press and Nadia Moharib