Rape crisis centre at risk of losing funding over pro-Hamas politics

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It’s a sick and twisted world when those who are supposed to help women suffering sexual violence instead stand with those who perpetrate it. That’s the case with one Toronto organization that claims to support a “world free of sexual violence.”

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If you haven’t heard, the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre, which has been silent on the issue of Israeli women being raped during the Oct. 7 attacks, has decided to join the “pro-Palestinian” side by sponsoring an event this weekend. The problematic part is that they are co-sponsoring the event with two groups that regularly issue demands and statements that read like talking points for Hamas apologists.

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So now, the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre is in danger of losing more than half of its annual budget for getting involved in politics. The TRCC has been informed by an official with the Ministry of Community and Social Services that the organization is in breach of their funding agreements over their latest political stance.

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If it were up to me, the centre would be cut off immediately; for now they are being warned to stop the sponsorship and come into compliance with the rules.

“Under Article 6 of the Ontario Transfer Payment Agreement, a conflict of interest includes circumstances including ‘outside commitments … that could or could be seen to interfere with the Recipient’s objective, unbiased, and impartial judgment relating to each Service, the use of the Funds, or both,’” wrote Cynthia Campoli, Community Program Manager with the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services.

Under the funding agreement signed between the province and the TRCC, the centre is required to inform the ministry promptly of any possible conflict. Not only did that not happen, but the letter from Campoli stated that the ministry had tried to contact officials at the centre multiple times with no success.

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The same can be said of attempts by the Toronto Sun, both Joe Warmington and myself, to contact the centre.

According to the centre’s 2022 annual report, their budget came in at just under $1.2 million with $624,119 coming from the Ontario government. That includes $540,519 coming from the Ministry of the Attorney General and $80,600 coming from MCCSS.

That’s more than half of the centre’s budget, more if you include the $57,910 from the provincially-controlled Ontario Trillium Foundation.

As Campoli noted, the centre’s involvement with a political event like this, “may reasonably be seen to or may actually interfere with the Centre’s ability to provide ‘unbiased, and impartial judgment’ relating to the programs.” That’s true with any type of program but it is especially true here.

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The TRCC hasn’t condemned the rape of women by Hamas, but they are willing to partner with groups that are making the same demands as the terrorist group including that all Palestinian prisoners must be released. That statement would include the captured terrorists who carried out the rapes, murders and more on Oct. 7.

One thing neither organization has done according to their online public profile is denounce the rapes or the taking of hostages now being used as sex slaves.

The Toronto Rape Crisis Centre’s leadership should have been smart enough to stay away from such an event. That they weren’t, that they actively signed up to this and then ignored questions not only from the media, but their government funding partners shows that perhaps the leadership should be replaced, or the organization should stop getting any financial support.

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Campoli’s letter told the centre to remedy the situation by, “immediately ending its sponsorship of the event and further taking steps to mitigate any ongoing risk to current or potential clients.”

As of Saturday afternoon, it’s not clear that has happened. The centre is not answering its phone and has not responded to questions that were emailed.

The closest we have to a claim that this event was shut down is a claim by a supporter citing an unnamed worker from the centre complaining about harassment. That harassment appear to consist of the province and private donors raising concerns about an organization that shouldn’t be involved in such political issues taking a radical and wrongheaded stance.

If they won’t fix this, the funding from the province must be cut and other major donors including the City of Toronto and Canadian Women’s Foundation should cut their funding as well.

A rape crisis centre should stand against sexual violence, not with those supporting the parties that carried it out.

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