Who We Are
The Sexual Assault Centre of Brant is a charitable, non-profit, community-based organization providing a multi-faceted support system. We provide services and promote healing for survivors of sexual violence, and create social change through advocacy, education, and collaboration.
We support and promote the rights of all people:
● To be safe from all forms of violence
● To have control of their bodies
● To be assertive, self-sufficient and self-caring
● To have social, political, economic, and legal equality
To learn more about our crisis & support services, counseling, public education, advocacy, and more, visit our Programs & Services page.
Our History
1990
The Ontario Women’s Directorate and the Secretary of State funded the Committee to carry out a needs assessment of Brant County sexual assault services. The results were reported to the provincial government in Brant County Needs Sexual Assault Services: 800 Residents Speak Out.
1991
The NDP government announced that Brant County would be one of the 10 new expansion centres that the Solicitor General’s office would be funding.
1993
On May 28, 1993 the doors officially opened!
The implementation of the Crisis Line was delayed until October 1, 1993. Initially about one call a day was being received on the line.
2005
The Centre spearheaded a new inter-agency committee dedicated to conducting outreach to sex trade workers in Brant-Halidam and Norfolk counties. The committee was called STREET (Sex Trade Resource Education and Empowerment Team). We also saw the start of the Safe Spaces Project, which was developed in order to provide resources to 2SLGBTQ+ youth in Brant County as well as to teachers, school admin, and youth service providers.
2010
Launched the Taylor the Turtle initiative through funding from the Ontario Trillium Grant. The program was launched to educate elementary school students (and teachers) on consent and body rights.
2012
More Grand Erie District schools were added to Taylor the Turtles agenda for training and a year later, Taylor the Turtle was brought into the City of Brantford day camp.
2014
Launched the No More Project in collaboration with Nova Vita. A project that involved speaking to young men and boys about gendered and sexual violence.
2015
Organized the Centre’s first annual walk/run. Presented Taylor the Turtle to all Grade One Brantford teachers, as it was added to the health curriculum!
2016
Partnered with Wilfrid Laurier to establish a Sexual Violence Counsellor to work on the Laurier campus specifically for university students.
2017
The Centre was able to develop 3 new programs (Healthy Me, 50+ Better, and Young Women’s group), assumed responsibility of the supervision of the No More Program staff, and began work on the Violence Against Women Advocate Case Review.
2018-2019
Focused on trans inclusion for our frontline volunteers, staff and board.
2020
The start of the COVID pandemic brought many changes and only emphasized the need for services challenging gender-based and sexual violence. The Centre closed its doors for the first time in its 30 year history. Gendered violence began to be referred to as a pandemic within a pandemic. Services migrated to an online format, including an online chat, specialized online workshops such as “Coping with Court and Covid” (the Centre’s first online training!), and a virtual Take Back the Night event.
Friends of the Centre organized an online auction in lieu of the Centre’s annual in person fundraiser. Community further strengthened through intentional acts of connection such as porch drop offs, porch pick ups, and providing a more comprehensive crisis line.
The Centre said, “goodbye,” to its beloved Brant Ave location. A new chapter started on King George Road. The transition served as a symbol of the Centre’s gender expansive work: emphasizing that the new location would welcome folks of all genders.
2021
Services continued to be delivered in a hybrid format between in person and virtual. Crisis Line workers responded to 6859 calls: a 600% increase from the annual average pre-COVID. With some days receiving 104 calls, Centre resources went toward running the line and providing direct services.
Four glossy booklets were published, as part of a research project, on how to respond to disclosures, how to make a referral to a sexual assault centre (SAC), the Centre’s services, its values, and its philosophy.
The Centre engaged in a comprehensive strategic planning process that focused on administrative foundations, staff well-being, board development, and programming.
2022
With funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the Centre was able to build a ramp, an accessible bathroom, and landscaping.
The Centre moved to a paid staff model on the Crisis Line, given its ongoing service pressure. Unfortunately, as the number of adult service seekers rose, the Centre instituted a waiting list for the first time, only further illustrating the need for Centre services.
In a move reflective of the Centre’s services being open to all genders, the United Way funded program ‘Young Women’s Program’ changed its name to the ‘Youth Program’.
2023
A year of both transformation and staticness. Many long term staff left the Centre to continue to change the world in other roles, their work at the Centre being pivotal, long lasting, and appreciated.
Service use remained high and the wait list continued to grow. In light of this, the Board decided to pause outreach and community engagement in order to direct all resources to core services and rebuilding the Centre team.
The one major exception to this was the Centre’s collective advocacy in relation to asking the government of Ontario, and the municipalities of Brantford and Brant County to declare Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) as an epidemic, which both Brantford and Brant County Councils did.
2024
The Centre met its lofty goal of eliminating its wait list by October 1.