When a Mother Has Nowhere Safe to Go, Pickering Must Ask Harder Questions

By John Meloche Recently, I saw an anonymous online post asking a simple, frightening question: Is there a women’s shelter in Pickering? Someone replied that the closest one was in Ajax and was full. I cannot verify that shelter’s availability at that particular moment. But the question stopped me. Because when I was very young, my mother and I depended on a women’s shelter ourselves I know what that kind of help can mean. For a mother and her child, a shelter is more than a bed. It is safety, dignity and a chance to begin again when the alternatives feel impossible. That is why I started looking into the situation facing women and children in Durham. And the numbers deserve our attention. YWCA Durham’s 2025 annual report says its Y’s WISH Shelter referred 319 women to other agencies because it lacked capacity. In 2024, that number was 351. Across two years, one Durham shelter reported 670 capacity-related referrals involving women. Its crisis line also answered 759 calls in 2025 alone. These are regional figures, not Pickering-specific totals. We do not know how many women were subsequently housed elsewhere or whether the same people sought help more than once. But the pressure on this part of the shelter system is real. Women escaping violence are not always visible in homelessness statistics. Some remain in unsafe homes because leaving seems even more dangerous, or because they cannot see a way to afford a new start. Their children are living through that uncertainty too. A lack of local data is not evidence of a lack of need. Now imagine facing that uncertainty with a frightened child beside you. You may need to leave your home tonight, but you still have to think about school tomorrow, transportation, medication, meals and keeping your family together. We have excellent organizations doing difficult work. Herizon House in Ajax operates a 30-bed emergency shelter for women and children fleeing abuse and serves Pickering residents. Other Durham organizations provide shelter, counselling and housing support. But published regional listings do not identify a dedicated women’s emergency shelter within Pickering itself. That does not automatically mean Pickering needs its own building. Sometimes safety requires placing a family away from its home community. It does mean we should understand whether local women face unmet needs and what would actually help. Would a Pickering-based support worker make services easier to access? Could municipal space be provided for confidential appointments? Could partnerships improve emergency transportation, childcare or transitional housing? Are more shelter beds needed? Those questions require answers from experienced providers and women who have lived through the system. There is a municipal role here. Durham Region manages housing and homelessness services, and senior governments fund much of the shelter system. But Pickering already committed to addressing intimate partner violence through its Community Safety and Well-Being Plan in 2023. We should find out what that commitment means in practical terms. I want City staff, Durham Region and established shelter organizations to report on demand from Pickering residents, identify gaps and present costed options. No blank cheques. No ribbon-cutting promises. Just evidence, collaboration and measurable results. Start with a public report within 90 days, protecting survivors and shelter locations. Someone objected to my saying the original post “triggered” me. The word is less important than why it affected me. I was once the child whose mother needed somewhere safe to go. I will never consider that a trivial matter. Budgets, jurisdiction and accountability matter. But a child looking to their mother for safety cannot wait for another round of finger-pointing. No woman should have to choose between an unsafe home and nowhere to go. Pickering must be prepared to do its part. John Meloche is a Pickering resident, business owner and candidate for City Councillor in Ward 2.