Kamloops council is in unanimous support to ask for the BC government to offer year-round funding for sexual assault clinics.

Councillors have voted unanimously to support the motion from Dale Bass asking the city to do so.

Kamloops Sexual Assault Counselling Centre coordinator Barb Gladdish says the program has 12 employees and 22 volunteers, but doesn’t have sustainable funding.

“There’s nothing in Kamloops that is similar. Basically we support survivors who are sent to RIH emergency, with their consent of course. And so what that would look like without our services is that people would be at the hospital, potentially by themselves, going through a process after a trauma that presents so many challenges.”

Alix Dolson is the response team coordinator of KSACC, and says not having permanent funding affects victims.

“The struggle is when we have year-to-year grants, those are great for getting programs going but in terms of sustainability it’s really hard to build a long-term program if you don’t know you’re going to have funding. And to build programs, to engage the community, to advertise the service as being available, to not know then the next year if it will be available, it does a disservice.”

Right now KSACC is funded by civil forfeiture, civil planning and sources like donations from local organizations.