HALIFAX – After many successful years, Halifax’s Bryony House will be discontinuing their outreach services for women and children fleeing domestic violence. The Department of Community Services, the main funder of transition houses in Nova Scotia, has not increased funding to Bryony House since an operational budget freeze in 1996.
Outreach services are provided by Bryony House for women exploring options for their families, staying with friends or relatives and requiring counselling while trying to re-establish themselves following family break-ups. The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) has spoken out against this cut to community services, that has cost one unionized outreach worker her job. Jeannie Baldwin, the Atlantic Regional Vice-President of PSAC, states, “…[S]ervices at Bryony House need to be maintained at current levels while the government is working towards the new social policies that will address long term needs of community agencies. It is wrong to allow this cut to happen.”
