Programs to reduce violence in immigrant families get $600,000 boost

Five community projects designed to prevent family violence in immigrant and refugee families will receive more than $600,000 in funding, the province announced Tuesday.

"For some newcomers, pre- and post-migration hardships may strain family relationships,"said Irfan Sabir, minister of community and social services.

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Those pressures include learning a new language and finding a job, he said.

"We all have a social responsibility to help all newcomers transition successfully into Alberta society," Sabir said.

The money will go to three projects in Edmonton, one in Bonnyville and another in Valleyview.

"Every day, we're learning more about the needs of newcomer communities," said Jan Fox, executive director of REACH Edmonton, which worksto preventcrime and promote community safety in the city.

'It saves us as a society'

Fox said, for every dollar spent preventing violence in immigrant families, the province saves $3.50.

"If you prevent ... having to call the police, call health care, call an ambulance, have a child expelled from school, lose a job, any of those things, it saves us as a society," Fox said.

The funding will help make immigrant communities more aware about family violence, said Joseph Luri, who works in domestic violence prevention with the Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers.

"The groups we are working withthe Nepalese, the Somalis, and the Sudanese domestic violence was looked at [as] something that didn't exist because the man would say, 'I'm disciplining my child, I'm disciplining my wife'," Luri said.

"But at the end of the day, if you look at the style of discipline, it is physical and so that is domestic violence," he said.

Luri said the programsare making a difference.

"Everything is learned," he said. "Nobody is born violent. If we can all learn and live together in peace that we know these are the expectations then I think we've made a big difference."