The time has come for all forms of domestic abuse to get the boot.
That’s the message from St. Albert Stop Abuse in Families (SAIF) as it prepares to put on its third annual Red Shoe Gala. The word ‘annual’ is used loosely this time since it has been a year and a half since the second edition of the event.
Doreen Slessor, executive director of SAIF, explained the delay.
“Usually it’s held in November for Family Violence Prevention Month. We just found that people had Christmas parties and so many things coming up that we thought we would try to move the date. We were just competing with too many things.”
Community calendar aside, she said it is important for St. Albertans to consider the impact of family violence all year round. SAIF provides free professional counselling to those who seek it, whether they are perpetrators or victims of abuse.
The purpose of the event is to get men to walk a mile in their women’s shoes. Men, Slessor says, make up the majority of abusers but there is a growing and opposite trend.
“We realize that it’s not just men that are out there committing abusive acts against their families. We’re seeing an increase of men coming in as the perpetrators wanting help to change their lives and change their ways but we have a lot of men coming in as victims realizing that the way that their wife treats them and the things that she’s doing aren’t right. We’re not ignorant. The scales tip both ways.
“Just to be a man to admit that ‘my wife, she hits me. She yells at me. She doesn’t let me have access to the children.’ We’re seeing a lot more women being charged with family violence and a lot more women coming in as perpetrators. How better to know what someone experiences until you’ve walked in their shoes.”
She added the other trend is even more startling — the incidents are increasing in number and in magnitude.
“We’re finding that the severity of the violence is very different than in previous years. We’re very concerned for a lot of our families here because of the lethality risk and the weapons involved. It’s way different.”
The Red Shoe Gala will take place on Saturday, April 30 from 6 to 11 p.m. The location is the Vintage Banquet Room in Apex Casino at 24 Boudreau Rd. Tickets are $50 each and can be purchased from SAIF by calling 780-460-2195 or through its website at www.stopabuse.ca. It is a semi-formal affair but red shoes are optional. SAIF can provide men with red shoes as well.
Slessor anticipates a crowd of 125 people to attend the event. The evening will feature entertainment by the band Rave On and also by a lot of men learning how to walk in red shoes.
