Jessica’s Legacy: 15 years of dedication to ending abuse

Jessica Martel was a mother to three beautiful children. She was a singer who loved writing. She was loved by her mother, Lynne, and the rest of her family and friends. On April 29, 2009, she was murdered as she tried to leave her abusive relationship.

Today marks 15 years since we lost Jessica. We feel her absence every day, but these anniversaries tend to carry extra gravity. It is a time to reflect on how life went on without her – birthdays, holidays, and milestones that she should have been here to witness with her family. But also a time to reflect on our work in her memory. We have accomplished a lot in these 15 years, and we are only starting to pick up momentum.

Eileen’s Place – A Safe Place to Heal

The Jessica Martel Memorial Foundation (JMMF) is thrilled to announce the grand opening of Eileen’s Place, a new second stage housing program. We cut the ribbon at the grand opening on April 16th.

Jessie’s House is an emergency shelter for individuals and families who need a safe place to stay as they flee domestic violence. Emergency shelters are intended to offer short term accommodation as residents work with staff to build a plan for their new start. However, some residents require accommodation for a longer period of time as they navigate lengthy waitlists for long term housing or work toward education and career objectives.

JMMF has identified that creating a second stage housing strategy will address these gaps and ensure that there is space in Jessie’s House for clients who are in crisis. Clients who require more support for more time will transition from Jessie’s House into Eileen’s Place, where they will receive additional programming and work toward their goals.

This is all possible because of the generosity of Eileen Labonte. Eileen has supported our vision of a future free of violence for everyone since day one. We are grateful for Eileen’s support, and so honoured to name our newest building after her.

Simply put, Jessie’s House saves lives. And now, Eileen’s Place will help save lives too.

A New Gender-Based Violence Project

We are excited to announce the launch of a new project to end gender-based violence (GBV). The best way to end GBV is to prevent it from happening at all. This program will address the root causes and systemic drivers of GBV and foster social capital to create a future free of abuse. Our focus will be engaging men and boys in this effort, mobilizing them as allies in the prevention of GBV.

This program is possible thanks to funding from the Ministry of Arts, Culture, and Status of Women. We will add members to our Outreach Team and expand the award-winning Inspire Program to include a cohort for boys. We will provide in-class sessions, community-based initiatives, and collaborate with like-minded organizations to create a culture of consent and challenge toxic masculinity. The project will create a culture of solidarity against gender-based violence, reducing the risk of creating future perpetrators and directly impacting interactions with women, girls, and other intimate partners. This project will also address historical and social gender-based inequalities by educating Albertans on the intersectional root causes of GBV, such as racism and misogyny.

Our community can expect to see:

• An Inspire Program for Boys (expected to launch in September 2024).
• Community-based information sessions, starting in summer 2024.
• The creation of a fee-for-service GBV School Program to expand program delivery.

We are currently hiring two Public Education Facilitators. If you would like to help us address GBV with this project, please read more here!

Until all homes are safe…

There is still so much work that needs to be done to end domestic violence. Even as JMMF continues to grow, the calls to our crisis line also increase. In 2023, we received 2,426 calls to our crisis line. This is a 16% increase from 2022. The Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters (ACWS)’s 2023 data release showed a similar 12.5% increase for all shelters in Alberta. Shelters in Alberta have been advocating for a made-in-Alberta Plan to End Gender-Based Violence to address these increases and support survivors. In 2023, Alberta Arts, Culture, and Status of Women Minister Tanya Fir’s mandate letter included the task of developing this plan. We look forward to working with the government to share our expertise and provide suggestions about how to make this happen.

Our vision is a future free of domestic violence for all individuals. We would love to work ourselves out of a job because we are not needed anymore. There is still so much work to do, but we are heartened by the support of our community. Today is the launch of 2024 Smile Cookie, and we expect to see many of these community members throughout the week, buying cookies and contributing to our vision.

Jessica should have had a safe place to go 15 years ago. She should be here to watch her children grow up and celebrate milestones with her family.

Her story is why we are here – to prevent this from happening again.