Editor’s Note: December may have passed, but the relevance of this piece for our community endures.
The official launch of a new community hub inside the Peel Children’s Aid Society (CAS) building on Friday, December 5th, 2025, marked a significant step forward for survivor support in Peel Region. Municipal officials, civic leaders, service-sector partners, and representatives from diverse community organizations gathered to celebrate the expansion of the Safe Centre of Peel.
The hub operates out of Peel CAS’s Mississauga location at 25 Capstone Drive, north of Highway 401 and Hurontario Street. Details of the expansion appeared in a December 5th press release from Peel CAS. The initiative stems from a $98 million Ontario government commitment to address gender-based violence (GBV) through 85 initiatives under a four-year provincial action plan.
Speakers at the launch stressed the urgency of accessible, coordinated support for survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) and their families across Brampton, Mississauga, and Caledon. To reflect its expanded mandate, the space now carries a new name: The Circle: Peel Centre for Child, Youth and Family Well-Being. The name signals the consolidation of child and family services under one roof.
MPP Deepak Anand, representing Mississauga–Malton, highlighted the importance of the Ontario Trillium Foundation grant. The funding allows the Safe Centre to formalize its charter, partnership agreements, and operational policies. The Safe Centre operates as a collective of 29 partner agencies working through a coordinated, survivor-centred model.
Together, these agencies provide integrated services that include:
- Crisis and high-risk management
- System navigation
- Housing assistance
- Multicultural services
- Legal support
- Parenting support
- Child welfare services
Indigenous leaders, Elders, and knowledge keepers co-designed the concept of The Circle. This collaboration ensures services honour the rights, strengths, languages, and lived realities of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis families. In Ojibwe, Waawiyebii’igan (the translation of The Circle) conveys unity, harmony, and interconnectedness.
The circle shape reflects both safety and calm. It also symbolizes a holistic, wraparound service model. More importantly, it reinforces the partner agencies’ shared commitment to collaboration grounded in diversity, equity, inclusion, and Truth and Reconciliation.
A fact sheet distributed at the launch underscored the scale of need across the region:
- More than 60% of female homicides in Ontario stem from family violence (Statistics Canada, 2022)
- Peel Regional Police launched its IPV Unit in 2021, now staffed by 79 officers, the largest unit of its kind in Canada
- Ontario declared IPV endemic in 2025
- Peel CAS received 12,650 referrals in 2024–2025, with 31% linked to intimate partner violence
- Peel CAS identified 166 cases involving suspected child or youth trafficking for sexual exploitation
Mary Beth Moellenkamp, CEO of Peel Children’s Aid Society, framed the expansion as a systems-level shift. “We’re reshaping how families access help,” she said. “Our goal is simple: make support easier to find, when and where families need it. We’re moving beyond protection alone toward prevention, cultural competence, and community-led wraparound care.”
Sharon Mayne, CEO of Catholic Family Services of Peel–Dufferin and lead agency for the Safe Centre of Peel, emphasized the importance of the Mississauga location. “Survivors need support close to home,” she said. “The Circle gives them a safe, welcoming, and accessible place to receive coordinated care.”
Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah echoed that urgency. “Family and intimate partner violence remains a top priority,” he said. “This expansion saves lives by connecting survivors to the right supports at the right time.”
The Safe Centre of Peel stands positioned to create lasting impact for survivors and families affected by gender-based violence. With IPV recognized as a public crisis in Ontario, the launch of The Circle represents a necessary (and long-awaited) step forward.
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