The fourth annual Hearts in the Park event was held in Victoria Park, raising awareness of the effects of violence in communities.
Rod McKendrick, a retired interpersonal violence specialist, said having an event that raises awareness highlights what is being done and what needs to be done.
“It’s important because it really shows that there are people out there who are already working in the field and working collaboratively on the issue.”
“It certainly gets the message out that the issue is still there. We need to address it. It also shows that you got organizations like Circle Project and the Regina Police Service working together for the community,” he continued. “That there are services for folks who are victims of violence and for those who may be the party that’s causing some of the violence to find out what they can do to stop being violent.”
McKendrick said when it comes to addressing interpersonal violence, it is all about collaboration.
“It’s more about collaboration, about working together, but not just talking about it, actually doing it. Something that action isn’t always there. They need to put into action and actually work with people.”
Saskatchewan currently has one of the highest rates of intimate partner violence in Canada.
Deputy Police Chief Dean Ray said that events like Hearts in the Park raise the profile of interpersonal violence.
“These issues aren’t necessarily an issue that one person can resolve. It’s a community that’s going to work together, and we heard that message loud and clear here. We need everyone to work together to resolve this. The way to do that is to come together and talk about these issues, raise awareness about the challenges within our community and then everyone pulls together to work together.”
Ray said that they are always working with agencies to help where the police aren’t able to.
“Oftentimes when interpersonal violence happens in the home, we’re out there, we resolve the issue initially, but we can’t get to the underlying issues. We have to rely on our partner agencies to help us. They come in and help the family, hopefully, get over whatever the challenges are and then hopefully stop the interpersonal violence.”
