Northern Ontario woman who left her abuser starts program to help survivors restart their lives

When Joanne Ferland left an abusive partner she had to restart her life from zero.

“When it was time to leave, my bank account was drained, my keys were hidden, and my cell phone was disconnected,” she said.

Without support from her parents, Ferland said she wouldn’t have been able to leave her abuser.

With that help from her family, she rebuilt her career, and is now a financial advisor with the Caisse Alliance credit union in North Bay.

Last year, Ferland drew from her own experience as an intimate partner violence (IPV) survivor and started the Leap Into Financial Empowerment (LIFE) program.

To her knowledge, the program, designed to help IPV survivors get their financial lives back in order, is unique in Canada.

Ferland works closely with aid organizations in northeastern Ontario and the court system to refer survivors to the program.

Key to the program is the creation of a free and private checking account.

“So we make sure that it is safe for them to use,” Ferland said.

“We don't allow anything to be sent to their home address or anybody to call them on their phone. And that way if there's any type of communication, it's when they come in and then we give them their mail or we tell them whatever needs to be said about the account.”

Ferland and her colleagues also provide financial advice to domestic violence survivors and help them draw up a budget to rebuild their lives.

To date, 12 IPV survivors have participated in the program. Ferland said only one of them eventually returned to her abuser.

“So I would call that a success,” she said.

The program received a $50,000 grant from Equitable Bank to help Ferland expand it to other northeastern Ontario communities, including Timmins, Hearst, Mattawa, Sturgeon Falls and Kapuskasing.