North Bay financial adviser and IPV survivor helps others rebuild their lives

A financial advisor, drawing on her own past, launched Canada's only program helping intimate partner violence survivors regain financial independence.

A financial adviser at a North Bay credit union is drawing on her own experience to help survivors of intimate partner violence get their financial lives back on track.

Joanne Ferland has made it her mission to help IPV survivors. With the help of her parents, Ferland said she was able to escape her abusive partner.

“When I left my partner, our bank account was drained,” she said Wednesday.

“My cellphone was cancelled and my car keys were hidden.”

Her own experience taught her how difficult it can be to rebuild your financial life. So last year, she started a financial program at the Caisse Alliance Credit Union branch on Cassells Street to help other survivors.

It’s called the Leap Into Financial Empowerment (LIFE) program.

Ferland said it’s very difficult for victims to leave an abusive partner when, most of the time, the abuser is making all of the money or controls all the finances.

“There are three top reasons why they stay in these relationships, and the third reason is financial support,” Ferland said.

“So, they do rely on their partner for financial support.”

She’s working with the court system, Victim Services of Nipissing District, Amelia Rising Sexual Violence Support Centre and other aid organizations that refer survivors to the program.

“They will receive a free private bank account here at the Caisse that is free for one year and it’s unlimited, so there’s no fees involved,” Ferland said.

Caisse Alliance financial planners will create a budget with the survivor to push them forward to, hopefully one day, leave the abusive relationship.

“We will not be sending an email home. We will not be calling them whatsoever. So that way they don’t have to fear of their partner knowing,” Ferland said.

“They can come in any time while they’re in this relationship.”

Staggering statistics

Every six days, a woman in Canada is murdered by their intimate partner, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada.

And 44 per cent of women and girls older than age 15 have reported some kind of abuse from their partner in a relationship.

“My initial reaction when Joanne presented the stats was shock,” said Mathieu Shank, Caisse Alliance’s Nipissing East regional manager.

“I really wasn’t aware that there was … that big of an issue.”

The program recently received a $50,000 grant from Equitable Bank, meaning the LIFE program has been able to expand to Sturgeon Falls, Mattawa, Timmins, Kapuskasing and Hearst.

“I’m the father of two young girls and I had every intention to fully support this program from the get-go,” Shank said.

To date, 12 IPV survivors have participated in the program. Ferland calls that a success.

To her knowledge, it’s the only financial program of its kind in Canada. And she’s confident it’s helping save lives.

“They’re told the entire relationship that they’re going to live on the streets or they’re not going to make it,” she said.

“When we show them that they can, in fact, make it.”