Rowena Santos & other Brampton councillors silent as sexual assault crisis centre pleads for funding to stay open

Brampton’s only sexual assault and rape crisis centre, Revive, could be forced to close next month due to a $300,000 funding shortfall, threatening access to trauma-informed support in Peel for survivors of sexual violence, human trafficking and intimate partner violence. 

The crisis is unfolding in a region that has declared gender-based violence an epidemic yet lacks a long-term funding strategy to sustain essential services.

Despite a harrowing presentation from Revive’s CEO Aretha McCarthy on March 19th to Brampton council, all members including Mayor Patrick Brown sat in silence and offered no support for the request.

Councillor Rowena Santos has been criticized for paying lip service to issues that impact women, including gender based violence, while failing to help badly needed funding flow to organizations such as Revive.

Staff in her office were asked about her lack of participation at the recent meeting and to confirm that she attended for the delegation, but they would not confirm that Santos was present to hear Revive’s request. 

McCarthy, warns of the severe long-term consequences if the centre closes, emphasizing that survivors will have nowhere to go for critical support.

“It’s one less organization that provides the services that are necessary, especially in Brampton,” she said. “There are sister partners we work with, but those same partners refer clients to us—we all collaborate so that survivors can move forward and revive their lives.”

She told council members that if Revive shuts down, it would represent a major failure in Peel’s response to gender-based violence, creating a devastating gap for survivors who are already struggling to access timely support. 

The pleas for minimal funding as council members sat silent, was a stark contrast to the repeated claims by Santos, Brown and other members that they support initiatives to address violence against women, while routinely making declarations and announcing their commitments to various causes, words that are little more than lip service according to frontline workers in the space who have questioned the lack of action by the city’s leaders.

“[For] 10 years, we've not seen any increases” in funding, Sharon Mayne Devine, CEO of Catholic Family Services Peel–Dufferin, the lead agency at the Safe Centre of Peel (SCoP) which helps victims of violence against women, told Santos and other elected officials in Brampton in 2023. 

“I have been in my role now for 10 years and I have not seen any meaningful increase to our funding at all, and that is the case with all of our partners as well,” she told Brampton councillors, who had just declared gender-based violence (GBV) and intimate partner violence (IPV) an epidemic in the city, without any meaningful action to confront it.

Sexual violence in many forms is becoming more common in Peel. Human traffickers use the region as a hub in complex networks that extend across the world; according to data from the Region of Peel, 62 percent of Canadian human trafficking cases originate in the GTA. 

Intimate partner and family violence are the top citizen-initiated calls to Peel Regional Police. Between 2015 and 2020, calls related to domestic violence rose by 74 percent, and by 2021, Peel Police were responding to over 17,000 incidents of family and intimate partner violence, an average of 45 calls a day, or nearly two every hour. That year, 78 percent of the victims were women. In 2022, Peel Police recorded 9,242 occurrences of intimate partner disputes, including criminal incidents and those where abuse or harassment couldn’t be substantiated. Just halfway through 2023, the region had already seen six femicides, four occurred in July alone. Ontario data revealed 38 femicides in the first 36 weeks of 2023.

McCarthy described the current crisis as a pandemic in Brampton and across Peel, with the demand for service having grown 947 percent since April last year. The organization has helped more than 200 individuals, mostly Brampton residents. 

“If it’s a pandemic, how will we correct it if one less organization like Revive is gone by April 2025?” she asked. “How will we ensure survivors are getting the necessary service and support so they can move forward with their lives?”

Aretha McCarthy, CEO of Revive, delivers an urgent plea to Brampton City Council, warning that the centre’s closure due to a $300,000 funding shortfall will leave survivors of sexual violence, human trafficking and intimate partner violence with nowhere to turn.

(Muhammad Hamza/The Pointer)

McCarthy told The Pointer that frontline workers and advocates are actively pushing for government intervention.

“This isn’t something we need to be silent about,” she said. “We are rallying and ensuring that every single government official is aware of the need and the lack of funding.”

McCarthy said that her delegation before Brampton council members aimed to convince local leaders to step in before it’s too late.

“We’re here to ensure they are aware, and we’re hoping that the City of Brampton, Region of Peel, or whatever that looks like, are willing to work with us. What we’re looking for is partnerships and allies.”

She warned of the impacts if Revive is forced to close.

"Revive is facing a $300,000 funding shortfall… the consequences are devastating. We are facing the closure of essential services, which will leave survivors nowhere to turn. The loss of therapists and advocates means fewer professionals to support those in crisis. This is the reality we cannot accept."

She continued: “It's about ensuring that survivors in Peel do not suffer in silence. But we can't do it alone, so we are asking for a partnership with the City of Brampton, a partnership that recognizes that supporting survivors is not an expense but an investment in public health, community, safety, and social well-being."

With Brampton Council’s support, she said Revive could strengthen its desperately needed programs and services to assist survivors.

"This is not just a moment of crisis but a moment of decision. We ask that the City of Brampton stand with us today. Imagine a region where every survivor has immediate access to support and where no one suffers in silence. This is the future Revive is fighting for."

For Angel-Massey Singh, a board member at Revive, this inaction is unacceptable.

“Just to drive home the point, the work that we do at Revive restores hope, rebuilds lives, and provides a safe space for healing. These are basic human needs,” she said.

She then shared the words of a survivor who received support from the centre: “I love my therapist. She listens to my needs, and I cannot thank her enough. I have progressed more than I ever thought I would. I truly appreciate all that this organization has done for me.”

Despite the urgency of the appeal, council members failed to respond, sitting in complete silence following the presentation. No questions were asked. No concrete funding commitment was made. The only response came from Councillor Rod Power, who referred the request back to staff, without any timeline for when they will report back or any instructions on what exactly they are expected to assess. Typically, when matters are referred to staff, councillors ask for a financial feasibility review and other information about the request to help elected officials quickly respond to the matter, but in this case, no such direction was given.

The lack of action followed a pattern.

Councillor Santos claims to be an advocate for women’s issues, routinely speaking in chambers about human trafficking, intimate partner violence and sexual abuse. Her public remarks have drawn media attention to her, but she has failed to explain why she remains silent when critical funding requests come forward.

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