Toronto Victim Services is launching a campaign on gender-based violence as the city prepares to welcome 300,000 people for the FIFA World Cup.
The organization announced its campaign will see the expansion of its Ask for Angela community-based safety initiative to give people facing gender-based violence the ability to discreetly ask for immediate help.
Ask for Angela first started in 2023 in Toronto.
Carly Kalish, CEO of Victim Services Toronto, says the campaign is being expanded ahead of the World Cup because gender-based and intimate partner violence can increase during major sporting events.
“Internationally, research has linked high-profile televised sporting events, similar to those that we’ll be hosting here in Toronto this summer, to a significant increase in intimate partner violence,” said Kalish.
“We know this from Calgary; there was a 40 per cent increase of intimate partner violence calls directly to law enforcement during major sporting events.”
The Canadian study Kalish referenced was conducted by the University of Calgary in 2017, analyzing almost 70,000 domestic violence reports to the police and the Connect abuse help line between 2011 and 2014.
It found domestic violence calls increased by 40 per cent when the Calgary Stampeders were in the Grey Cup final. The team played in the final in both 2012 and 2014.
To combat that, Victim Services says it will create strategic partnerships with retail, hospitality, health care, transit and tourism to provide training to 8,000 additional frontline staff and volunteers.
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But the campaign will involve more than just people, posters disguised as traditional product advertisements will include QR codes people can utilize and a new website to increase accessibility in high-traffic areas. An online interactive map will be a part of this, allowing victims to see where they can access assistance.
How does Ask for Angela work?
Given the danger people could face in domestic violence situations, Kalish said someone can utter a simple phrase that thousands of staff and volunteers will immediately recognize.
“It’s a code phrase that you can use at sites that are part of the program to ask for discreet help,” she said.
“You can simply go into the CN Tower or speak to a Toronto paramedic or go into a Shoppers Drug Mart and talk to the pharmacist and say, ‘Is Angela there?’ and they’ll know what you mean.”
This will prompt people to potentially take the victim to a separate location or a back room and ask if they’d like Victim Services or Toronto police, which they will then help victims make the call.
“They call us, we operate 24 hours a day and we can come on scene to support the person in that moment for whatever they need,” Kalish added.
Some of the partner agencies set to be a part of the campaign include the CN Tower, Sheraton Central Toronto Hotel, Hilton Toronto, the PrEP Clinic, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Toronto Paramedic Services.
April Hugh, acting commander for Toronto Paramedic Services’ education development unit, said it’s supporting the program because of how it can help those in a way that protects them.
“The fact that it’s discreet and it provides an opportunity for survivors of intimate partner gender-based violence to reach out in a discreet way is so important,” Hugh said.
“We can provide that environment in the services we provide as well to our patients in their homes, in the ambulance, at the hospital.”
It’s not just victims of intimate partner violence for whom Toronto police said they’re on the lookout. They’ll also be available to help potential victims of human trafficking.
“It’s a limited window, often, when a victim is away from a trafficker,” said Insp. Carrie Fernandez with Toronto police’s sex crimes unit. “A program like Ask for Angela allows the victim the opportunity to seek help somewhere that a trafficker wouldn’t have control over them.”
—with files from Global News’ Caryn Lieberman
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