It was May 11, 2021 at 5 a.m. when Cory Roslyn received a call from the alarm company. As executive director of the Elizabeth Fry Society of Northeastern Ontario, Roslyn was the first to hear that the beloved home of the society, 204 Elm Street, was in flames.
Though it broke their hearts, the staff gathered what they could salvage, with Roslyn asking firefighters to try and retrieve any files that could still be saved.
But even with sorrow in their hearts, said Roslyn at her speech at the grand reopening of the building on Oct.7, every one of the staff was there the next morning, and the next, and every morning leading up to the moment they were back in the historic 100-year-old building.
It was a long road, moving from their beloved home into various temporary facilities with the help of other community organizations like the Centre de santé communautaire du Grand Sudbury and also, travelling up and down the road, making sure people could find them as so many of their clients were used to walking to their location, just across the road from the Sudbury Jail.
It was like losing a home, said Roslyn.
“Our office is a building, but when you spend a lot of time with a group of people doing something challenging, the place you do it in can start to feel like a living thing,” she said to attendees. “This 100-year-old mansion, with its winding staircases and squeaky floors and plumbing problems, and its old ghosts that we know are still here. It became a part of who we are. It contained all of our history. It had been a safe place for so many people through the years.”
For 50 years, the Elizabeth Fry Society of Northeastern Ontario has been dedicated to address the needs of criminalized persons, or those at risk, and in particular, the circumstances of women and girls in the criminal justice system. Their motto is “build communities, not prisons.”
Roslyn told Sudbury.com there were times when she wasn’t exactly sure what the future would bring, with the fire destroying so much, but she is focused on the future.
“there were moments over the past 18 months where I wasn't exactly sure where we were going to end up, particularly in the beginning,” she said. “But in reflecting on it now, it almost seems like it's gone by in a minute, and now, we're looking at a way forward, the impact we want to have on the community and what the community really needs from us.”
Rosyln credits most of their success to community partners, but also, to her staff. In fact, not only was the society able to rebuild their main location after the fire, they also opened a shelter for women and gender-diverse people called Safe Harbour House.
“I am so incredibly proud of the work that the team here does.”
The ribbon-cutting reopened the building, but it was also a chance to celebrate 50 years of service, with a ceremony attended by Sudbury MPP Jamie West, Nickel Belt MPP France Gélinas and Mayor Brian Bigger. West and Gélinas were on hand to offer official congratulations on the society’s receipt of $72,600 grant they received from the provincial Resilient Communities fund.
But more than anything, said Roslyn, it is important to remember their clients. “I invite you to keep all of the people across the street on your mind,” Roslyn said, gesturing to the Sudbury Jail. “Keep them in your heart as you hear about our work today.”
If you would like to support the society, they are looking for donations both financial and of clothing and hygiene products, as well as volunteers.
But an easy way to help, said Roslyn, is “reflecting on the way that they think about people who are incarcerated or who are criminalized and just try to learn a bit more about the circumstances that lead people to those situations.”
You can find more information about the Elizabeth Fry Society of Northeastern Ontario on their website, found here.
Jenny Lamothe is a reporter with Sudbury.com. She covers the diverse communities of Sudbury, especially the vulnerable or marginalized, including the Black, Indigenous, newcomer and Francophone communities, as well as 2SLGBTQ+ and issues of the downtown core.
