History

A Brief History of OAITH

In spring of 1977, two conferences on “family violence” took place simultaneously in Vancouver and Toronto.  Women’s advocates at these meetings resolved to develop provincial organizations to share information and support each other. 

The Ontario women met again in Toronto that spring and then again in the fall of 1977, where they resolved to form a Committee of Interval and Transition Houses.  At the first meeting of the new group in early 1978, a Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Community and Social Services suggested the group create a formal Association.  Without delay, the group drafted its first Constitution and officially launched the Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses (OAITH).

At that time, there were 10 women’s shelters (or groups of women working on establishing a shelter) in the membership. It was not until late 1981 that the Association was able to secure funding from the Status of Women Canada to hire its first full-time Coordinator. 

The period of the 1980s saw rapid growth in the number of women’s emergency shelters in Ontario and the emergence of second stage housing programs for women needing longer stay in a safe space than was funded under the limited emergency shelter policies of local municipalities and the Province of Ontario. OAITH was instrumental in supporting and mentoring new shelters during this period and was able to hire a second staff person, the Membership Coordinator, to provide program and membership support to member agencies. By the early 1990s, there were over 95 women’s emergency shelters established in Ontario.

As the network grew, OAITH took on numerous areas for advocacy identified by women using shelters and by frontline shelter staff across Ontario.  Some of the more significant issues affected by the voice of OAITH included:

• Stable funding for women’s shelters as they expanded across Ontario. The first shelters were started by survivors and feminist activists with little or no funding or community support. Shelters first worked to attain “per diem” funding for individual women in local municipalities and then for provincial funding support for ongoing programs.
• The creation of programs within shelters to address women’s specific needs, from 24-hour crisis lines to housing and legal advocacy. Government funded only “approved” programs negotiated with OAITH shelters to expand the funding for shelters in the mid-1980s, but some needed programs remain funded only by private fundraising.
• The creation of advocacy and support for children within shelters.  The first programs specifically for children exposed to violence against their mothers were created within women’s shelters.
• Province-wide public education on “wife assault” and its impacts on children funded by government project funding and provincial education campaigns.
• The creation of a special priority policy for social housing for women and children experiencing abuse.
• The creation of a two-hour free legal certificate by Legal Aid Ontario for women using women’s shelters in Ontario so that women could access legal advice.
• Linkages with local Boards of Education to provide information within schools to teachers and students on violence in relationships.
• Education on violence against women for professionals in all systems affecting the lives of women and their children, from medical to legal to community-based services and more.
• Consultation, advice and critical analysis to both provincial and federal government departments on numerous policy, legislative and systemic change issues affecting the concerns of women experiencing violence.
• And much more…

As the shelter network expanded across Ontario, OAITH also evolved internally through yearly conferences on program and emerging advocacy issues, creation of committees on internal work such as the creation of our Standards and Ethics and the establishment of committees for specific shelter workers, such as children’s workers and legal support workers. OAITH established both ongoing contact with government bodies affecting systems and shelters, as well as a yearly lobby of the Province of Ontario on current issues for women and their children, organized by a permanent Lobby Committee of OAITH. A yearly spring conference was provided for training of frontline shelter workers on program issues identified by them during the year.

During the 1980s and early 1990s OAITH also evolved to address its own internal issues. The most enriching and transformative of these was the challenge to the Association by women of colour to be more inclusive and anti-oppressive in structure and leadership within the women’s shelter movement in Ontario. Critical change work undertaken by women of colour advocates within the network resulted in structural changes within OAITH, revision of the Constitution and Statement of Principles, changes to Board of Director positions and roles, as well as the establishment of the Anti-Racism Anti-Oppression Committee of OAITH and the hiring of an Anti-Racism Coordinator to support change within the organization and to create an Anti-Racism Policy for OAITH. 

In the mid-1990s, expansion of women’s shelter services virtually came to halt, when both the federal and provincial governments began cutting social programs.  In 1991 the first, albeit small, cut was made to provincial funding for shelters in Ontario. Then in 1995/1996, serious cuts were made to all social programs by the Mike Harris government and all funding for advocacy and equity rights work was eliminated, including funding for OAITH membership and program support. Both the Membership Coordinator and the Anti-Racism Coordinator positions were eliminated from our staff and we once again rely on one permanent staff position and occasional short-term and part-time project staff to support the Association.

In 2006, funding for advocacy and equality rights work was eliminated by the Status of Women Canada, effectively cutting the longstanding funding for OAITH by the federal government. Despite this regressive and damaging episode, OAITH has, with the support of our members and friends, continued to employ one permanent staff person and to maintain our committee work, governance and operations.

Many changes have taken place within OAITH over the years. The Lobby Committee became the Social Justice and Action Committee and eventually merged with the Anti-Racism/Anti-Oppression Committee to integrate our social justice and equity work. A new Member Education and Training Committee was formed to work on training issues and to continue anti-racist/anti-oppression training for member shelters. This brief history cannot highlight our long and fluid evolution.

Whatever changes we have experienced, OAITH continues to learn and to respond to the concerns of women and children and to advocate strongly for systemic and community change in support of women’s equality and human rights.

Although OAITH’s journey has been challenging—at times thrilling and at times very hard—it has always been shaped by the ongoing commitment of survivors, feminist anti-racist/anti-oppressive shelter advocates and our allies to end violence against women.