I Survived Domestic Violence Please Help Me Fix the System

I am a survivor of domestic violence, homelessness, medical negligence, and the failure of a government system that abandoned me in my darkest hour.

When I fled my abusive relationship, I had nowhere to go and no one to turn to. For 6 agonizing months, I lived in my car with my 3 cats and a litter box. I endured extreme heat in the summer and bitter cold in the fall. My car broke down on me multiple times, and there was never a safe place to park overnight. I had no access to showers, toilets, or a kitchen. My friends and family cut off all contact, leaving me completely isolated in a world without compassion.

I reached out to every shelter I could find, but they were all full. I was turned away each time. Landlords refused to rent to me because I was on income assistance, judging me as a financial risk or assuming I was an addict, despite the fact that I don’t use chemical drugs or alcohol. I went to job interviews desperate for stability, but I could not hold back tears. One employer interrogated me about drug use until I broke down, not because I was guilty, but because I was overwhelmed by untreated trauma, physical pain, and humiliation.

When I begged the government for help, I was told they did not care about my suffering. Instead of providing assistance, they accused me of fraud and cut my benefits by 40% after my abuser made false claims in an attempt to force me to come back to him. The government accepted his word over mine and demanded that I prove my innocence, enabling my abuser and driving me deeper into poverty and despair.

I was treated like a criminal rather than a victim by the very agencies tasked with reducing poverty. Social workers handed me condoms in case I decided to try prostitution and suggested I beg strangers for money at gas stations, watching as I deteriorated mentally. Police told me to leave the city and hide somewhere no one would see me, far from food, fuel, safety, or help. I was told to disappear, to become invisible. Out of sight, out of mind.

I even pleaded for permission to camp in provincial parks, where I could feel safe and access basic facilities, but was denied because I lacked disability status. The reason I am not on disability is because I have no doctor, and without one to complete the application, the system bars me from eligibility. For nearly a decade I have tried to secure disability support, but walk-in clinic doctors have refused to take responsibility. This is medical neglect, and it has left me and thousands of others like me in a state of ongoing harm and deterioration.

Domestic violence and medical negligence pushed me into homelessness. Despite being emotionally, physically, and financially broken, I refused to turn to substance abuse, crime, or prostitution. Eventually, I was able to sell some of my remaining valuables, managing to raise $3,000 while living in my car. I used that money for an overpriced Airbnb rental for 1 month, operated by a woman whose primary residence is in a different city. Having a roof over my head finally allowed me to find employment.

Once I was working, I took out multiple credit cards and a 30% high interest loan to secure housing and food. My new employer exploited my situation, underpaying me, denying me overtime, overworking me, and dismissing my disabilities and trauma. While pretending to be my rescuer, he broke me down further. After 4 months, I lost my job due to toxic working conditions and my inability to cope.

Today, I am over $50,000 in debt, more than half of which is interest payments that can’t be used for basic needs, and I am unemployed. I am paying my rent with credit cards, which is obviously not sustainable. While I am no longer homeless, my stability is still precarious. I am one of the lucky ones who made it off the streets, but the cost was crushing. Most people do not realize how expensive it is to get off the streets, but being in debt is far better than being homeless.

In Canada, approximately 100 women and girls are killed each year by intimate partners or family members, representing 20-25% of all murders. These are preventable deaths caused by government failure. Shelters remain underfunded, police often dismiss abuse reports, and social assistance falls far short for women trying to escape. Without accessible housing, trauma informed care, legal aid, and safety planning, many remain trapped in dangerous situations. Every month, 6,000 women and children are turned away from shelters due to lack of space.

Current government policies treat victims as criminals and waste millions of taxpayer dollars evicting homeless encampments and cleaning up their messes, instead of providing safe, supportive, structured emergency sites where people can rebuild their lives. This approach fuels despair, crime, exploitation, prostitution, addiction, suicide, drug overdoses and other preventable deaths.

Between 150,000 and 300,000 people experience homelessness in Canada each year. In 2024, more than 80,000 people in Ontario were known to be homeless, marking a significant increase from previous years. In BC, tens of thousands of homes sit empty while over 11,000 people live without shelter. In Vancouver specifically, more than 10,000 vacant units remain unused while over 2,400 people are homeless, including hundreds sleeping on the streets. Yet the proposed solution is to build more luxury condos. The notion that expensive new builds will prompt wealthy owners to vacate their homes, freeing older units for the poor, is absurd. The “trickle down housing” theory is naive and insulting to those surviving in tents, shelters, and doorways across Canada.

I am asking for your support to help me fix a crisis the government has failed to address. My campaign aims to provide compassionate, effective solutions to homelessness across Canada, giving others the chance I almost never had. This is about all the people still suffering in silence, and about saving lives before it is too late. I did not start this campaign to pay off my credit cards. I started it to create a dedicated role for myself focused entirely on ending homelessness.

With funding, I will build emergency campsites across Canada, supported by a modest salary to allow me to work full time on this mission for 1 year. Your contributions will cover essential operating costs and outreach. I will pursue government grants, secure public land tenures, partner with First Nations, and run fundraising campaigns to expand the model nationwide. I have already registered a federal nonprofit. All I need now is public support to put this plan into action. The sooner my campaign is funded, the faster I can start to help people. I only need 250 people to donate $20 each month to fund all operating expenses, or 50 people to donate $100 each month, or 10 people to donate $500 each month.

The homeless crisis has endured for decades despite enormous public and nonprofit spending because current approaches do not work. My strategy is comprehensive, immediately actionable, and rooted in lived experience. Homelessness is never a choice. It is the result of unfortunate and often traumatic circumstances. Living without a home is terrifying, and every day during that time I thought about ending my life. No one should ever have to live feeling as though their life and death would go unnoticed.

My emergency campsite model will create safe, structured spaces equipped with essential facilities and basic needs, while employing people experiencing homelessness to help maintain and expand the campsites. It will also include the construction of mobile tiny homes, and the creation of handmade goods to sell online, providing jobs, skill development, and economic benefits, while directly addressing the housing crisis for those without shelter. This approach will help reduce crime, revitalize communities, and restore dignity and compassion across the country.

Your donation will help make this vision a reality. Homelessness impacts everyone, and treating it as a crime only worsens the harm. Evicting encampments is an enormous waste of taxpayer dollars and it does not solve the problem, it drives people deeper into crisis, increasing hardship and suffering, and causing crime to escalate. Too often, society looks away and refuses to engage with those in need. I will engage with them directly, respectfully, and compassionately. With your help, I can act quickly to provide real support. Together, we can replace failed policies with compassionate, practical solutions that truly work.

I am also inviting corporate donors to each contribute $5,000 to my campaign. In exchange for sponsorship, I will actively highlight and promote every business that helps me create real change. Any organization sponsoring my Foundation’s first year startup costs will be recognized as a Founding Member, with their name and logo displayed on all Foundation websites, as well as in marketing materials and media mentions. Founding Members will also receive exclusive vacation perks once emergency campsites evolve into fully developed healing resorts.

If I can surpass my $60,000 fundraising goal, I will be able to hire a skilled team to help execute this strategy even faster. An overwhelming show of public support would also strengthen my position in securing government grants and public land tenures, allowing me to expand these solutions on a larger scale.

Please, if you can, donate, share, and speak out. Together, we can end this cruelty and create something better.

With gratitude,

Rebecca Stafford