Sandy
Meet Sandy, Executive Director of the Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre. The ORCC is a local organization that advocates for equitable communities and supports women who have experienced sexual violence.
Sandy and I met for her photos along the Rockcliffe Parkway, a route she drives daily as she commutes between her home in Orleans and downtown Ottawa. Read on to learn more about Sandy’s life in Ottawa, and the ORCC.
Tell me about yourself!
My name is Sandy, and I’m the Executive Director of the Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre. I’ve worked there for 10 years. I have adult children who are all in their 20s, so we like to hang out. I like to read a lot, although there’s not a lot of time for it. I also like to do needlecraft - crochet, needlepoint, that sort of thing.
I was raised in Oshawa, but born in England. My mom came over to Canada because she got a nursing job in Oshawa. I went to elementary school and high school in Oshawa, and then I went to the University of Windsor and did a degree in Sociology and Criminology, and then to the University of Toronto for a certificate in Human Resources. I worked in Toronto for over 10 year, in the Public Health Department as a Community Development Worker. Coming to Ottawa was a little hard, because I loved Toronto. I love the craziness, how there were so many people, the crazy highways. I just loved it.
What brought you to Ottawa?
My partner got a job in Ottawa, so we decided as a family to move here. My partner and my kids moved here and I stayed in Toronto for a year to finish up some work. I travelled back and forth, which was challenging! I saw an ad in the paper – in those days they still had job ads in the paper! – for a Sexual Assault Network Coordinator. I got that position and did that for a couple of years, and then I moved to the Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre. I’ve been there ever since.
What drew you to that?
It’s just real. I’ve found my interest is mainly in community work. Even in Toronto’s health department, we were a pretty unique group of development workers. It was interesting because we were doing a lot of grassroots work, but still part of this larger corporation. Most of my work has been in grassroots communities. I have lots memories of creating grant proposals or planning events at someone’s kitchen table, or in a living room. For example, in Toronto I did some work with a community on food access, and we organized big dinners for the community and the kids. It really keeps it real. It’s fun, and I really like doing it.
I like working in sexual violence because… well, to be honest, sometimes I’m like, “Ugh, what am I doing here? I should be sitting in a coffee shop sipping a latte, writing my memoirs.” But I like the challenge. There’s so much exciting work to do. For example, if you’re looking for research in the area of sexual violence, you really won’t find many Canadian perspectives, so I think there are some really exciting breakthroughs to be had in Canadian research alone. That really excites me. I do a lot of “paper pushing,” meaning administrative work. Sometimes I think that’s a deliberate strategy on the part of the government! You know, we can’t be strong activists because we have to spend all our time filling out so many forms. I spend so much time in front of my computer that when I finally get to go to a real-world event like a city council meeting it gives me a real shot of energy and purpose, like, “Okay, this is why I’m here.” And, I mean, there’s always a story to share of a sexual violence survivor that’s doing really well because of what we’re doing, and that’s a really motivating story to tell.
Now that you’re in Ottawa, what do you think of it?
Well, I don’t think I’d like to go back to Toronto. I go back to Toronto now for meetings, and I just feel overwhelmed by how many cars and people and billboards there are. The difference between Ottawa and Toronto, I think, is that there was a lot of thought put into the physical layout in Ottawa. There’s a lot of green space, parks, and bike paths in Ottawa. There has really been a lot of thought put into it. The beauty of the city really keeps me here. In the core of Toronto, you really don’t get that same physical beauty.
I also like the coziness of Ottawa. You get that big-city feel, but it’s a medium-sized city. So you can go out to the suburbs – I live out in Orleans – and feel cozy in the suburbs, but then I can go downtown and be in the city. I’ve dedicated myself to going to as many different restaurants as possible! I also love Canada Day, here. This is definitely the place to be on Canada Day. We never celebrated like that in Oshawa or Toronto, it just wasn’t the same thing.
Can you tell me a little about what the Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre does?
Yeah, for sure! So, the organization is 36 years old now. We’re in a confidential location, but it’s right downtown, so it’s pretty central. We have a 24-hour crisis line program that is operated by trained volunteers, supported by a coordinator. That’s our first line of contact. Then, we have a counselling program where we provide short-term crisis counselling. For example, if you were assaulted last night you could call the crisis line the next day and say that you needed to talk to someone. You can get up to six appointments. If after that you want longer-term counselling, we can offer up to 42 sessions. We also have a number of group therapy counselling sessions. We have a first and second stage group counselling – the first stage is usually about breaking down that isolation, where people share their stories and receive support. In the second stage, clients can take part in a variety of programs like art therapy, yoga, cooking classes, dance therapy, and sex and sexuality discussions, which are really popular.
We also have a public education program, which trains volunteers to talk about sexual harassment and abuse in schools, workplaces, high schools, universities, and colleges as well as at all kinds of events. We try to be very visible. The public education program is also responsible for things like connecting with the media, providing statistics, and research.
Domestic violence and sexual violence kind of split into two separate issues in the public conscience, and politically it’s more palatable for the government to deal with domestic violence publicly. Sexual violence has kind of fallen off of the political radar, off the table. One of our challenges is to increase the visibility of sexual violence, and get it on the same table as domestic violence. I think the aversion is related to the fact that sex is used as a weapon and there are so many different attitudes and approaches to sex, especially in a public forum. It gets all mixed up. We face a visibility issue, and a general acceptance issue.
We also deal with trying to break down a lot of myths. Sexual violence is the only violent crime where the victim is blamed. You know, “Why was she walking on the street at night? Why was she wearing that mini-skirt? Why was she drinking at the bar?” You don’t say or think those things about a man, you know? “Why was he drinking at the bar, or walking home at night? Wearing tight shorts?” That’s not a thing people are concerned about, but it’s always said about women. They’re really the only people who get blamed for the prevalence of sexual violence. We’re really trying to breakdown those myths, especially with young people. It seems that it doesn’t matter what age you are, the myths persist in general. So we want to kind of catch those misperceptions in young people.
One of the things we continue to struggle with is trying to meet the needs of women of colour, immigrant women, lesbians, trans women – we need to work with them from a different cultural perspective, and we need to do more outreach. What we’re learning is that most women who come to the centre are young women who have been recently assaulted, or women who were assaulted as a child and have some trauma that is surfacing as an adult. Most women who visit the centre are coming to us already seeking support and help, and they know what they’re getting – one-to-one, talk therapy, that sort of thing. But the women who come from more marginalized communities are dealing with so many other issues, like adjusting to a new environment, housing, jobs and many, many other issues, so their trauma surfaces in different ways. We’re trying to reach out to them and work with them in more culturally appropriate ways. As an organization, we’re still on the journey, trying to figure that out.
We also want to do more work with men - young men in particular. In the sexual violence field, we’ve really focused on providing services to victims – to the survivors. Those programs are very stable and widely recognized, so I think it’s time to address the other part of it – to start thinking about how we can offer strategic intervention for young men, and men in general, about their attitudes and behaviours when it comes to women. We’re on the cusp of figuring that out. I really think we’re not going to be able to put any sort of dent in eradicating sexual violence until we address the cause of the problem in some way.
How receptive do you think Ottawa is to issues surrounding sexual violence?
It’s very conservative here. Very different from Toronto. Toronto is a very activist city, with a lot of people who are really invested and connected to their causes. It was easy to just jump right into things in Toronto. In Ottawa, it’s a lot more conservative. I think people in Ottawa are very concerned about the issues, but their strategies are a lot slower. We also need to educate people here a lot more about the issues – especially surrounding sexual violence.
Has that influenced your own perception of Ottawa?
Well, when I first came to Ottawa it felt to me like people were really behind the times. So I was approaching it like, “Well, in Toronto we would have done it this way…” or, “In Toronto we would have done it that way…” I was really pushing the issues. Ottawa has been good for me, though. I’ve been learning that people are open to change, but it has to come slowly, and there has to be buy-in and it has to be within people’s comfort zones. It’s allowed me to slow down and work with people at their own speed. In the end, I think it’s just as enriching as if we were really fired up about it. But it’s a different pace here. It’s been good for me to slow down.
I think Ottawa needs to recognize the diversity of the city in a more proactive way. We talk about Ottawa as a really transient city, but then when you’re living here you realize that there are many, many people who have been living here for a really long time, and they’re rooted in Ottawa, or they’ve come from the outskirts to the inner city - but they’re rooted in the valley. There needs to be a greater recognition of the changing face of Ottawa, and how that infiltrates into programs and services, and especially employment. I think there’s a lot more work to do in terms of integrating newcomers and immigrants, and people of colour, and lesbians: the whole diversity of people really need to be more integrated into the city.
We did your photos along the Rockcliffe Parkway – why is that an important place for you?
Most mornings I drive down the Rockcliffe Parkway on my way to work. It’s so beautiful, and the changes of the seasons are really nice. It always looks different. I like seeing the water first thing in the morning. I get to kind of take a deep breath and feel calm before I get to work. The other nice thing I like about travelling down that road is that there are always country flags of visiting dignitaries, so I always get a reminder of who’s visiting Ottawa.
Thank you, Sandy! To find out more about the Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre, visit their website at http://orcc.net.
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