Fredericton Sexual Assault Centre began in the summer of 1975 from a Chimo Help Centre meeting. This meeting was called to deal with the concerns of local university and high school counsellors, the Fredericton Women’s Centre and other citizens to establish the need for a resource group that could respond to sexual violence.
In November of that year, a full-time director was hired on a grant to organize the service. In January 1976, the Rape Crisis Service was able to offer a 24-hour service. Volunteers offered support over the phone to survivors or other people concerned, as well as accompanying survivors to the hospital, police station or a friend’s home.
In 1979, the Rape Crisis Service separated from Chimo and opened an office at 384 Queen Street. The Fredericton Rape Crisis Centre, now an independent organization, became incorporated in February 1980.
To reflect changes in the Canadian Criminal Code, the Fredericton Rape Crisis Centre became the Fredericton Sexual Assault Crisis Centre in April 1994. In 2005, the provincial action plan “A Better World for Women – Moving Forward 2005-2010” was announced with sexual assault awareness and service delivery across the Province as a central component of this action plan. SVNB, with its decades of experience, created its Provincial Strategy on Sexual Assault Services. With leadership from its Provincial Advisory Committee, the strategy uses a community based approach to bring together service providers and stakeholders throughout the province to enhance and establish community responses to sexual assault and sexual violence in New Brunswick.
In 2015, the Fredericton Sexual Assault Crisis Centre became the Fredericton Sexual Assault Centre, with a new logo and website. In 2019, SVNB became Sexual Violence New Brunswick, in recognition of our many years as leaders of preventing and responding to sexual violence in New Brunswick.