Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre temporarily shuts down, lays off staff

The Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre is closing down, staff have been terminated and the board is planning a "revisioning process" in the hopes of reopening next spring.

"We know that it's a really challenging time," said Dillon Black, one of the centre's five volunteer board members. "For us, this was the most ethical decision we could make...it wasn't a decision that was made lightly."

The plan to restructure includes ensuring services are more relevant to Black, Indigenous and people of colour as well as to the LGBTQ community, according to the board. The goal is to make the organization "more meaningful, relevant, but also to ensure that in the long term, the work still exists."

"It's a very bold plan and is a bold decision that we made," they said.

On Nov. 6, the centre's board of directors released an ambiguous statement, alluding to difficulties: including IT infrastructure and the need to renovate the centre's current building, before resuming in-person services.

Tomorrowis my last appointment and then I have no therapy...I'm sad and confused.- Client at the Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre

Sad and confused

For some clients and workers, the news of the closure came as a shock.

"[Nov. 11] is my last appointment and then I have no therapy," a sexual assault survivor told CBC. "I'm sad and confused."

Lee-Anne Lee, a counsellor and educator at the shelter Harmony House, counsels inmates at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre on behalf of the Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre (ORCC).

The letter she received about the centre's closing was confounding, she said, leaving Lee to wonder why the centre didn't clearly explain to contract workers, like herself,and other agencies, what was going on and ask for help.

"At least pick up the phone and call other agencies and say, 'Hey, this is what we're planning on doing and we need to know that you're going to be there to pick up the slack,'" said Lee. "I don't think any of us really understand why the board would make this decision and then be just so lacking in accountability or transparency."

With long wait lists for counselling services at other organizations across the region, Black said the board understands that finding new, affordable services for all the centre's survivors will be a challenge.

A clinical supervisor will work with clients to help them find new counsellors, said Black.

Services underfunded across Ontario

A community group that says it's "committed to supporting survivors of sexual violence in Ottawa" sent out its own news release on Tuesday.

"Sexual and gender-based violence services are underfunded across Ontario, with survivors enduring months-long waits for professional services. The termination of the ORCC's already oversubscribed programming represents a loss of essential supports for survivors," said the release.

According to Black, former employees arewelcome to reapply for jobs when the centre reopenssometime next spring.

"We're a completely new board as of last year," they said. "We've kind of walked into a lot of challenges and we just want to make sure that the centre exists."

The Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre was founded in 1974 by a grassroots group of survivors and grew to provide a 24-hour crisis line along with free and confidential counselling, public education andadvocacy.