Brief History of the Coordinating Committee

In the mid 1980's, several agencies providing shelter, counseling and treatment programs in Thunder Bay realized that an improved response to family violence required closer collaboration and cooperation. In March of 1986, nine direct service providers working in the field of family violence met to identify their goals, coordinate services to make the most effective use of limited resources and funding and strengthen Thunder Bay's response's to violence against women.

In May 1986, the group adopted the name "Inter-Agency Response to Wife Abuse/Assault Group". In October 1986, the group re-examined their role and chose to focus on coordination of services and information sharing. They were joined in November 1986 by the Thunder Bay Police and the Ontario Provincial Police.

In January 1989, the group was renamed Thunder Bay Coordinating Committee Against Family Violence and added five sub-committees to its structure. In the intervening years, the Committee successfully accomplished several projects and kept itself well informed about practices by police, Crown Attorneys, judges and justices of the peace, while providing educational opportunities to its Committee members.

In 1991, after a planning session guided by Ellen Pence, of the Duluth Domestic Abuse Intervention Project (Minnesota, USA), it was decided that the Coordinating Committee no longer purported to speak for all of the agencies who had representatives but rather would operate as an independent body and establish itself as a credible instrument of social change. New goals brought about the formation of new sub-committees (Education, Police Consultation, Intervention Model, Protocol). Members demonstrated a strong commitment to the goal of improving the coordination of services to survivors and perpetrators of family violence.

By early 1992, a Domestic Assault Protocol for Thunder Bay Police was signed with several local agencies. In 1994, the Committee worked on a Model Protocol on Police Response to Wife Assault and the update and publishing of the Woman Assault Services Directory, which was widely distributed in the community and to agencies. In (year unknown), the Committee organized a regional conference on domestic violence for criminal justice system players, which was attended by judges, crowns, police and others from across the District. The project, funded by United Way, began to reach young people in the elementary school system in Thunder Bay. The Criminal Justice sub-committee was established in 1996 for the purpose of identifying, monitoring and responding to Criminal Justice issues as they relate to family violence. A case review project was started by this committee to track domestic violence cases through the system, but was never completed. Another subcommittee was meeting to advise on the police based Victim Witness Service. In 1997, funding was obtained to hire a consultant to research and develop a process for local coordinated intervention. The resulting report, called "Linkages" proposed a new model and mapped the local criminal justice system and the associated social supports. Also in 1997, the Coordinating Committee developed a formal response to the McGuire report which was sent to the minister responsible. Soon after, the provincial government started working on new legislation to replace restraining orders, called the Domestic Protection Act, which has yet to be implemented. The Coordinating Committee held a workshop with staff from the Ministry of the Attorney General's office to suggest potential changes.

A planning retreat in June 1998 served to develop a mission, goals and an action plan for the upcoming year. The process began to update the existing police protocol during that year, and the new document was signed in 2000. Also in 2000, the yearly planning day resulted in a new mission, vision and membership structure for the Coordinating Committee. Duties of the members, decision-making and accountability were also addressed. The Supervised Access Program was established in Thunder Bay by Lakehead Regional Family Centre, in partnership with the Coordinating Committee, who worked closely with LRFC during implementation.

In 2001, the Coordinating Committee adopted its present name and logo and developed a web site. The Committee received funding to begin a Community Inquiry process, the purpose of which was to assess the existing internal protocol on violence at member agencies, and evaluate their perceived role in a community response to woman abuse. This laid the groundwork for an initiative through a Crime Prevention grant to develop a common Risk Assessment tool. At the same time as the Community Enquiry, the Committee became involved in a provincial pilot project to develop a standard tool for assessing the effectiveness of a community's coordinated response to woman abuse. Once this "Community Report Card" tool was developed, it was used to survey our membership.

The impetus for development of a Domestic Violence Court came initially from the provincial government, and subsequently the Crown Attorney's office responded and selected an Advisory Committee, with one formal representative from the Coordinating Committee. There is currently some overlap of membership, but it is coincidental. Members of the Committee participated in a joint provincial project called Hospital Accreditation, with Education Wife Assault (Toronto) in order to train local health care workers in woman abuse protocol. With funding from a federal Crime Prevention grant, two billboards were installed at the entrance of the City limits. TV ads produced by the White Ribbon Campaign to draw attention to the issue of woman abuse were telecast during November, Violence Prevention Month, in 2002 and 2003. Again in June 2003, a planning retreat was conducted by Deborah Sinclair and several presentations were made by members of the Committee.

In 2006/07, the Coordinating Committee commissioned a research project with funding from MCSS which resulted in the production of a report entitled "Traps and Gaps: An Effectiveness Assessment of the VAW Services System in Thunder Bay and District". In June 2007, the existing structure of the Coordinating Committee was dissolved at the annual planning day facilitated by Diane Walker. Development of the new Committee structure will take place over the next 8 months by the new membership.

Please note that this history is not comprehensive, and may have missing elements.