SACHA Special Edition Newsletter - May Updates

SACHA was proud to host our 4^th Annu­al Sex­u­al Vio­lence Pre­ven­tion Month Com­mu­ni­ty Con­fer­ence, The Future Is: Free from Sex­u­al Vio­lence, on May 14. Fund­ed by the Depart­ment of Jus­tice Cana­da through Vic­tims and Sur­vivors of Crime Week and gen­er­ous­ly sup­port­ed by the Woman Abuse Work­ing Group (WAWG), this free annu­al event brought togeth­er approx­i­mate­ly 90 com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers for a day of learn­ing, col­lab­o­ra­tion, and action focused on build­ing a future free from sex­u­al violence.

The day fea­tured an inspir­ing keynote address by Dr. Autumn Ash­er Black­Deer, Assis­tant Pro­fes­sor at York Uni­ver­si­ty, titled ​“Decol­o­niza­tion of Sex­u­al Vio­lence Work for a Future Free of Vio­lence.” Dr. Black­Deer chal­lenged par­tic­i­pants to con­sid­er how anti-colo­nial approach­es, Indige­nous sov­er­eign­ty, and col­lec­tive lib­er­a­tion are essen­tial to end­ing sex­u­al violence.

Par­tic­i­pants also attend­ed engag­ing work­shops and dis­cus­sions led by com­mu­ni­ty experts. Jezeth Esmas and Kasey Poli­tano from the Sex­u­al Assault Cen­tre of Brant pre­sent­ed ​“How to Talk to Kids About Con­sent Using Tay­lor the Tur­tle,” shar­ing prac­ti­cal, age-appro­pri­ate approach­es to teach­ing chil­dren about body auton­o­my, con­sent, and healthy rela­tion­ships. A pan­el dis­cus­sion on ​“How the Hous­ing Cri­sis Impacts Sur­vivors” fea­tured Mirand Jurilj (SACHA), Amy Deschamps (YWCA Hamil­ton), and Ali Jones (Hamil­ton Encamp­ment Sup­port Net­work), who explored the ways hous­ing inse­cu­ri­ty and home­less­ness inter­sect with sex­u­al and gen­der-based vio­lence and high­light­ed the impor­tance of com­mu­ni­ty col­lab­o­ra­tion in sup­port­ing survivors.

In addi­tion to the pre­sen­ta­tions, atten­dees par­tic­i­pat­ed in guid­ed move­ment ses­sions, net­worked with com­mu­ni­ty part­ners, and con­tributed to a col­lab­o­ra­tive SACHA Zine, using art to imag­ine a future where sur­vivors are believed and sup­port­ed. For the first time, our expand­ed venue also allowed us to wel­come com­mu­ni­ty orga­ni­za­tions to host infor­ma­tion tables, cre­at­ing valu­able oppor­tu­ni­ties for atten­dees to con­nect with local resources and ser­vices. Thank you to our tabling part­ners: Good Shep­herd, Hamil­ton Cen­tre for Civic Inclu­sion, Immi­grant Work­ing Cen­tre, Inter­val House of Hamil­ton, Mis­sion Ser­vices, Native Women’s Cen­tre, Nisa Foun­da­tion, Pos­i­tive Health Net­work, Sex Work­ers Action Pro­gram, Woman Abuse Work­ing Group, Women Against Vio­lence Empow­er­ing Sur­vivors, and YWCA Hamil­ton for help­ing make the day such a col­lab­o­ra­tive and resource-rich experience.

In recog­ni­tion of Sex­u­al Vio­lence Pre­ven­tion Month, con­fer­ence par­tic­i­pants were invit­ed to take part in a Memo­r­i­al Gath­er­ing, walk­ing togeth­er from Mag­no­lia Hall to the City Hall Memo­r­i­al Stone to lay flow­ers in mem­o­ry of those whose lives have been tak­en due to sex­u­al and gen­der-based vio­lence. Flow­ers were laid at the stone and con­fer­ence par­tic­i­pants took time to share their reflections.

This event would not have been pos­si­ble with­out the incred­i­ble ded­i­ca­tion of the entire SACHA team. Thank you to our staff and vol­un­teers for the months of plan­ning, orga­niz­ing, and car­ing that made this con­fer­ence such a suc­cess. We also extend our heart­felt grat­i­tude to our keynote speak­er, pre­sen­ters, com­mu­ni­ty part­ners, tabling orga­ni­za­tions, and every per­son who attend­ed. Your will­ing­ness to learn, con­nect, and work togeth­er is what makes this event so meaningful.

We are deeply grate­ful for the con­tin­ued sup­port of our com­mu­ni­ty and are already look­ing for­ward to cel­e­brat­ing SACHA’s 5^th Annu­al Sex­u­al Vio­lence Pre­ven­tion Month Com­mu­ni­ty Con­fer­ence in May 2027.

The Woman Abuse Work­ing Group (WAWG) recent­ly host­ed a com­mu­ni­ty-focused staff train­ing aimed at strength­en­ing our col­lec­tive response to sex­u­al vio­lence and sex traf­fick­ing. Approx­i­mate­ly 80 indi­vid­u­als rep­re­sent­ing cross-sec­tor orga­ni­za­tions came togeth­er for a day of learn­ing, col­lab­o­ra­tion, and action. Through engag­ing, inter­ac­tive ses­sions, par­tic­i­pants gained prac­ti­cal tools, pre­ven­tion strate­gies, and con­crete action steps to help cre­ate safer com­mu­ni­ties and dri­ve mean­ing­ful change.

In the after­noon, Mirand Jurilj, Pub­lic Edu­ca­tion Coor­di­na­tor at SACHA, deliv­ered two pre­sen­ta­tions. The first, Sex­u­al Vio­lence and Sex Traf­fick­ing, high­light­ed the work of SACHA’s Sex Traf­fick­ing Sur­vivor Coun­selling Pro­gram and the agen­cy’s response to sup­port­ing sur­vivors. The sec­ond pre­sen­ta­tion, Col­lec­tive Action Against Sex Traf­fick­ing, explored the impor­tance of coor­di­nat­ed, com­mu­ni­ty-wide approach­es to pre­ven­tion, inter­ven­tion, and sur­vivor support.

The train­ing also fea­tured pre­sen­ta­tions from Can­dace Mor­ley, Michelle Wiley, Kyle Jarvie, and Sey­d­i­na Soumah, who shared their knowl­edge on sex traf­fick­ing pre­ven­tion and response. Thank you to WAWG for orga­niz­ing this valu­able learn­ing oppor­tu­ni­ty and to every­one who par­tic­i­pat­ed in strength­en­ing our com­mu­ni­ty’s col­lec­tive response.

Choco­late Fest 2026 — A Spook­tac­u­lar Soirée

Choco­late Fest is back! 

Join us on Thurs­day, Octo­ber 22, 2026 from 6 – 9pm at Mag­no­lia Hall: 115 Hunter Street West for our Spook­tac­u­lar Soirée! We’ll have tasty treats from amaz­ing ven­dors, a cos­tume con­test, great music, and more! Tick­ets start­ing at $65. Vis­it our blog post for more details and get your tick­ets here!

Take Back The Night

Join SACHA on Thurs­day, Sep­tem­ber 17, 2026 to Take Back The Night!

Our annu­al Take Back The Night event begins at 6pm in the City Hall Fore­court. Join us for com­mu­ni­ty tabling, speech­es, music, per­for­mances, activ­i­ties, and our annu­al Indige­nous Mar­ket, fol­lowed by a march to Take Back The Night for safer streets for all. 

SACHA’s 50^th Anniver­sary Annu­al Gen­er­al Meeting

SACHA’s 50^th AGM will take place on Thurs­day, Sep­tem­ber 10^th, 2026.

In hon­our of our 50^th Anniver­sary, SACHA is host­ing our AGM with an open invi­ta­tion to the pub­lic. We’ll have more details com­ing soon!

Are you a strate­gic & col­lab­o­ra­tive mem­ber of the Hamil­ton com­mu­ni­ty who embod­ies inclu­siv­i­ty, equi­ty, and believes sur­vivors? Do you have expe­ri­ence with finances & fundrais­ing, legal exper­tise, busi­ness acu­men, and com­mu­ni­ty based orga­niz­ing? We want to hear from you! Help sup­port our mis­sion to build a world free from vio­lence and oppres­sion by shar­ing your unique voice and diverse lived expe­ri­ence! Vis­it our vol­un­teer page for details. 

Pre­vi­ous board expe­ri­ence an asset but not a requirement. 

The OCR­CC is call­ing for trans­paren­cy and account­abil­i­ty to sur­vivors in the Ontario legal sys­tem. In the after­math of mul­ti­ple high pro­file tri­als, the rejec­tion of Lydia’s Law, and a grow­ing cri­sis of con­fi­dence in the jus­tice sys­tem, the OCR­CC is urg­ing for a sys­tem that sup­ports sur­vivors, is trau­ma informed, and free from rape myths and bias. 

Learn more about this ini­tia­tive here.