The Alberta government says it is hiring more staff and boosting budgets to support victims of crime and other tragedies in small communities.
So why does the organization representing rural municipalities call the new system a “tire fire?”
On Oct. 1, the province implemented a new regional model for delivering victim services outside major urban centres.
The new system consolidates those 60 units into four regional hubs based in St. Paul, Airdrie, Grande Prairie and the Edmonton International Airport.
A statement from the Alberta ministry of public safety says it is increasing victim services spending to $26.7 million from $20 million “to improve the consistency, accessibility, and sustainability of support for victims of crime and trauma.”
It cites the fact 14 areas had no local victim services units and says every RCMP detachment in the province will now have access to “consistent victim services.” The new model will fund 153 full-time staff, up from around 130, in addition to 10 regional staff to handle administrative tasks previously assigned to frontline workers.
Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis said the new system came out of consultations with 150 stakeholder groups, and that the regional societies will be independent when it comes to staffing decisions.
Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) president Paul McLauchlin, however, panned the new system and suggested the UCP government has an ulterior motive.
The RMA spent two years pushing back against regionalization and never got a satisfactory answer for why the province was moving ahead with it, McLauchlin said.
“Their response was always, ‘Oh, there were 14 unserved communities. So therefore we’re going to completely dismantle and destroy the entire system in order to provide service to 14 municipalities.’ This is really just a command and control move to centralize these services so they can have more control.”
“Centralized models do not work for rural Alberta. They’re too far away. It’s that relationship within the community that made these amazing people (victim services workers) so successful.”
McLauchlin, a reeve in Ponoka County, also pushed back against the claim that rural communities would see no reduction in service. He said Rimbey has gone from having 1 1/2 victim services full-time equivalents in the local RCMP detachment to a half-time equivalent.
The downstream effect will be more failed prosecutions if victims of crime don’t feel supported in coming forward, he said.
“This is going to be a complete disaster that this government’s been warned (about) multiple times.”
‘Urban way of solving problems’
Premier Danielle Smith said at the 2023 RMA convention she has heard concerns about the new model and is “open to revisiting” it.
McLauchlin acknowledged there were problems with consistency and stability under the old victim services model. However, he insists regionalization is not the solution.
He urged rural MLAs — the vast majority of whom are members of the UCP — to speak out against the new system.
“This will be a huge disservice to rural Alberta. It’s an urban way of solving problems, and they should know better,” he said.
An op-ed by Ellis cited two municipal leaders who support the new system: Airdrie Mayor Peter Brown and Sylvan Lake Mayor Megan Hanson, who called it a “much-needed change” because staff and volunteers “lacked adequate supports” under the old model.