For March 2023, JRC is Giving Back to Toba Centre for Children & Youth!

Toba Centre for Children & Youth is Manitoba's only child advocacy centre, focusing on the needs of children and youth who have experienced physical and/or sexual abuse or witnessed violence. They coordinate and collaborate with their partners (police, child and family services, victim services) to address the needs of children and their families at the time of the child's interview, providing a better and less traumatic response. Their model is child-focused and designed to foster best practices in child abuse investigations.

They are in the process of transforming their current response to child abuse, growing and evolving their organization to serve our community better. Toba Centre is building a brand new facility at 710 Assiniboine Park Drive, which will enable police, social work, and other supports to be provided on site. Each discipline will be a critical element in the multidisciplinary team that works together to serve children and families and provide the necessary services. This coordinated response will serve to reduce potential trauma to children and families and improve services overall, while preserving and respecting the rights, mandates, and obligations of mandated agencies.

“The new centre will be located in a City of Winnipeg owned building that is relatively central and features extensive work space and parking. The surrounding environment is calm, close to nature, and away from the frenzy and crowded venues of human activity. It offers a natural shelter where families and staff of the centre can step outside with privacy and dignity to cope with the emotional impacts of the crisis and the moment. This is a place that calls one to sit on the grass, lean on a tree, go for a walk, to find one’s own inner strength and the composure to go on.” – Theodore Fontaine, Sagkeeng Ojibwe First Nation former Chief and band member, Elder and Knowledge Keeper

To learn more about Toba Centre, you can visit their website here.

Together, we can support Toba Centre's vision that every victim of child abuse, and every child witness to violence, is heard, helped, and healed.