Chinook Sexual Assault Centre in Lethbridge now known as Aurora

The Chinook Sexual Assault Centre in Lethbridge now has a new name and brand.

The organization is now known as Aurora.

As the organization continues to evolve, the board of directors says the new name better reflects its breadth of work and vision for the future.

Aurora will still have the same team providing support, advocacy and care to the community.

The name is drawn from the goddess of dawn, who rises each morning to break through darkness and usher in light.

“Doing things around child abuse through the Child and Youth Advocacy Centre, now looking at restorative justice, some work we’re doing around harmful sexualized behaviours and some other things we want to do around public education really aren’t captured by the title of a sexual assault centre, so it was important for us to expand so we could actually grow into what those next stages are going to be,” said Kristine Cassie, Aurora CEO.

“My hope is that the name will (resonate) with people in not just the name itself, but in the meaning and in the potential it holds and the concept of rising beyond, rising each morning for a new dawn and the strength and potential that brings,” said Cayley King, Aurora board chair.

The board says Aurora also represents renewal—a process that is at the heart of the work at the centre.