Located in Simcoe County, Huronia Transition Homes is committed to ending all violence against all women and children. Haily MacDonald, the Director of Operations at Huronia Transition Homes (HTH), spoke with us about the programs and services that are offered through HTH and the impact that the organization has on its community. The

programs at HTH are built around supports for women, reducing the impacts of

violence in their communities, and building a safe space for women. Some of their

supports include La Maison Rosewood, the county’s designated francophone shelter,

located in Midland that provides beds to women and their children living in

homelessness, leaving domestic violence, and those who have been trafficked. 

Athena’s Sexual Assault Counselling and Advocacy Centre supports women 16+

across Barrie, Orillia, Midland, Aliston, and Collingwood who have lived experience of

sexual violence. Serving around 100 people per week, this centre offers individual

counselling, support groups, advocacy for individuals, legal support, and workshops.

One of HTH’s programs that engages in reducing the impacts of violence is Choices

for Children, which is available to moms and their children who have been exposed to

abuse against their mothers.  

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Huronia Transition Homes has been in operation for over 30 years and has continued to expand in order to offer community support to those in need. After providing an overview of the programs and services at HTH, Haily highlighted three core initiatives that they are particularly proud of and excited about. A core piece of their vision to work with women from where they are at meant fully integrating a harm reduction model into all aspects of their programs. This means that all services are barrier free, a needle exchange is available to distribute and collect needles, safe inhalation kits are distributed, and women using their services set their own goals.

The second initiative was the establishment of the program “Reclaiming Freedom, Rebuilding Lives” anti-human trafficking project. This project aims to support women and children who are exiting human trafficking by providing wrap-around services based on their needs and wishes.

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                                                                                      The third initiative that Haily highlighted was Operation Grow, a self-funded social                                                                                            enterprise based around vertical farm that operates as a safe and dynamic space                                                                                            for women to work and receive extensive workplace training. This initiative was                                                                                                created after HTH conducted focus groups and interviews with women who have                                                                                            lived experience and who have advocated for a space to build non-therapeutic                                                                                                relationships and reduce poverty, food scarcity and isolation. From this HTH                                                                                                    envisioned a community-based operation which would address the need to break                                                                                            the cycle of poverty and violence. Operation Grow, a social enterprise was created                                                                                          by converting an old LCBO building into a dynamic space with a yoga studio,                                                                                                  meditation hall, retail space, inspected kitchen, meetings rooms and a vertical farm.                                                                                        Women with lived experience of violence operate the farm and earn a living wage f                                                                                        their work. HTH sells the produce they grow back to their community which in turn                                                                                            has reduced food scarcity, food poverty, and social isolation for those in need. The                                                                                          inspected kitchen is available for women to come together and build community, and in the future is meant to act as a space for women to make their own products to sell; creating a unique opportunity for women to build relationships and learn from one another. In a few years, Haily says they hope to build a second farm that would be 10 000 sq. ft. in order to offer women different types of employment opportunities and to serve the larger population with nutritious food. 

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Being in this line of work and watching the projects expand and create positive

change for the service users as well as the community, Haily says that one of

the most rewarding pieces of this work is evoking a ripple of change across

generations. Integral to this ripple of change is by providing good, useful

services to women and to advocate for the change of institutions and

awareness of violence.  One of the challenges in this line of work is the cycle

of violence that is hard to break. Haily affirms: “30 years into this work and we

are still serving the grandchildren of the women we served 30 years ago… We

can [only] do so much to provide support but it is still limited when we can’t

end the violence. We struggle with the fact that it isn’t our responsibility and

the onus isn’t on us to end the [cycle].” However, Haily is optimistic with the

spotlight currently on gendered violence through the #metoo campaign,

bringing violence into the mainstream discourse. One way that Huronia Transition Homes is working to make their community aware of these issues is by engaging children and youth in public education programs and workshops around rape culture, power, privilege, and oppression.

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By being a part of the VAW Forum of Central Region of Ontario, Haily hopes that together they can work towards ending violence and reducing barriers so all women fleeing violence have access to service. There is a lot of potential for change, especially with organizations and agencies working together to advocate for the anti-violence movement.