Interval House of Hamilton recently announced it has renamed its west Hamilton women’s shelter in honour of LIUNA executive Victoria Mancinelli, citing her leadership on women’s empowerment in the community and her personal support and LIUNA’s for the shelter.
The emergency shelter will now be known as Victoria and Friends.
The renaming ceremony took place March 8, International Women’s Day. Supported by Mancinelli, LIUNA has been an active participant in fundraising, special events such as galas and golf tournaments and other campaigns for the shelter for several years, starting with a holiday gift and donation drive spearheaded by Mancinelli. In the past year the union committed to a five-year contribution of $250,000.
Interval House executive director Nancy Smith said Mancinelli seemed an obvious choice.
“As the agency grew, the shelter never had its own identity,” said Smith, listing other programs such as Women’s Centre Hamilton, Jared’s Place, Flamborough Women’s Resource Centre and MentorAction.
“When I thought of who I wanted to reach out to, Victoria Mancinelli was the only name that came to the forefront because she is such a dynamic, well-respected advocate on women’s issues and gender equality. She’s the right fit.”
Besides her contributions to Interval House, Mancinelli has been involved in numerous other women’s support efforts, including the Hamilton YWCA, Build a Dream, KickAss Careers and the Ontario task force for women and the economy.
She was MC at Hamilton’s Women of Distinction event, has been a panellist at numerous forums supporting women in construction and is a leader in LIUNA’s Women in the Trades department.
“I have been a very strong proponent for women’s issues and women’s empowerment, but I think there’s still that lack of awareness about gender-based violence against women,” Mancinelli said, explaining why taking a leadership role in LIUNA’s support for Interval House was important to her. “Still today it remains a huge, huge human rights issue that really hinders women’s ability to succeed in our communities.”
When Smith approached her months ago with the idea of naming the women’s shelter in her honour, she felt humbled, Mancinelli said.
“I did say numerous times that I’m sure there are more worthy women that they could name it after, but they were very insistent, and it was my honour to work with them on this.”
Mancinelli sat down with Smith and her staff to gain a fuller understanding of the needs of Interval House and learned that the first months of the pandemic, with many women shut up in their homes in abusive relationships, was an especially traumatic period. Smith noted the shelter is normally well above capacity, around 112 per cent most years, but when the pandemic hit in March 2020 the numbers went down for a while and there was an “eerie silence.”
“When the lockdown was lifted, we started to hear from women and they were telling us stories of violence and abuse that were so violent and terrorizing,” said Smith. “That was happening because perpetrators of the abuse were taking advantage of the lockdown.
“And that trend of that extreme violence and abuse has stayed high.”
It was eye-opening, Mancinelli said, and it makes the LIUNA funding commitment more urgently needed than ever.
“Women need that safe space to be able to go to seek shelter,” she said. “And it’s not only the shelter results, it’s the programs that are offered, whether it’s assistance with legal, assistance with child care and assistance with transitioning back into society.”
Mancinelli said construction remains a male-dominated industry so efforts by LIUNA and others to throw their support behind important causes like combatting gender-based violence is a signal that the industry is interested in reaching out to support women and welcoming them to careers in the trades.
“Advocacy like this, that helps develop these conversations that need to be had. It helps with mentorship and helps community building,” she said. “Our members build communities but beyond the brick and mortar they’re also community leaders in all aspects of community building.”
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