ORCA Children’s Advocacy Centre Society is a non-profit society and a federally registered charity established in 2009 with the goal of creating BC’s first Children’s Advocacy Centre.

The name ORCA stands for “organized response to child abuse” and our goal is to create a child and youth friendly setting where child sexual abuse and serious physical abuse cases are investigated in a way that puts the needs of children and youth first.

Police, Child Protection, Victim Assistance Workers, Crown, Health care professionals and others will work collaboratively as part of a multidisciplinary team to ensure that every child and youth in Greater Victoria is supported and not further traumatized by the investigation and prosecution process.

ORCA Society has set a target timeline of April 2012 to open ORCA Centre and begin serving children, youth and families.

This is a challenging timeline! But, with the continuing support of community members, dedicated professionals and volunteers, it is a worthy and achievable goal. ORCA is currently in the Implementation stage, with representatives of our partner agencies on the ORCA Working Group working to implement the plan to establish ORCA Centre.

We are pleased to have received federal funding in June for our Implementation Phase. Provincial support is also needed for the Implementation Phase and for operational funding once ORCA Centre opens. Fortunately, dedicated funding for victim services is currently available in BC and we look forward to working with provincial government representatives to establish ORCA Centre as the province's first CAC. Greater Victoria's children and youth deserve an organized response to child abuse!

The Big Picture: A Visual of our Implementation Steps

For details, see ORCA Centre Plans