Outaouais gets 29 new shelter units for women fleeing violence

Tashi Farmilo

In Montreal on July 9, the federal and Quebec governments and two provincial shelter networks announced funding for 13 second-stage shelter projects in the province to better serve women who are victims of domestic violence and their children. Two of the 13 projects are in the Outaouais.

After their stay in emergency shelters, victims can be housed in second-stage shelters where they receive extra support and counselling. Two Outaouais organizations, the Maison d'Hébergement Pour Elles Des Deux Vallées and Maison d'Ingrid, are adding a combined 29 second-stage shelter units for women and children fleeing domestic violence.

The larger of the two, Deux Vallées, adds 17 units. Founded in 2001, the organization serves the Vallée-de-la-Lièvre and Petite-Nation sectors. Its second-stage project has been years in the making, held up by the pace of provincial and federal financing approvals.

The second, Maison d'Ingrid, adds 12 units. The project traces back to 2019, when its founders bought land in Cantley aiming to build a 25-unit house, a plan that hit funding refusals in both 2022 and 2024. In the meantime, the organization opened a stopgap: temporary rented space in Gatineau that has been taking in women with children since 2023, three at a time, seven people total.

The two projects share more than a region. Annick Brazeau serves as director general of Deux Vallées and as president of Maison d'Ingrid's board, meaning the same leadership has been pushing both forward. Claudia Fradette, director of Maison d'Ingrid, spoke on behalf of all the participating shelters in the CMHC announcement, saying each new home represents "another opportunity to offer safety, support, and hope" to women and children starting over.

The announcement came off grim news for the province. Mélanie Miranda, housing coordinator with the Alliance of Second-Stage Shelters, said in the same announcement that 11 women in Quebec have been killed by a partner, ex-partner, or family member this year, and that "the needs remain immense." Days before the announcement, women's groups on the North Shore held a vigil in Baie-Comeau for a 12th femicide victim, placing stones for each woman killed in Quebec this year.

The need locally has been well documented. Gatineau police have logged a 25 per cent rise in domestic violence victims over four years, and the Outaouais has gone without second-stage capacity for a long time even as its regular shelters strained under demand. In 2021 and 2022, the region's seven existing shelters had to turn away roughly 1,478 women and more than 700 children for lack of space.

Anyone in the Outaouais experiencing domestic violence can reach SOS Violence Conjugale, free and around the clock, at 1-800-363-9010.