The Ask for Angela campaign comes to London aiming to offer discrete support to those in need.
“The purpose of the Ask for Angela campaign is so that there are multiple access points for women to access support or services should she need to if she has been subjected to violence,” explains Jennifer Dunn, executive director of the London Abused Women’s Centre (LAWC).
Dunn explains that, “The way that it works is a woman can go into an establishment, in this case in the city of London through any Loblaws-branded store, and go to any staff member working and say ‘Is Angela here?’ or ‘I’d like to speak with Angela’ or ‘Is Angela working today?’ or any variation of that, and all the staff have been trained to respond to that.”
The campaign started in 2016 after Angela Crompton died by femicide at the hands of her abusive partner. “It’s absolutely awful, but in her name, there are going to be so many women that feel like they can ask for help.”
After employees hear the code word, they are expected to notify their managers and arrange a safe space and provide resources in the community for further counselling.
“The woman will be given the opportunity to make a call right then and there. If there are safety concerns and the woman wants to, the staff know to call the police.”
Employees at participating grocery stores were trained by having a mystery shopper come into the store and repeat the code word to see how they would respond. “There’s one store in particular that just really blew us out of the water with the way that they responded and all the support that they gave.”
The LAWC has positioned stickers at the entryways of stores to notify customers of the availability of help if needed. Beyond that, the campaign is being spread through social media and word of mouth.
Dunn adds that, “As the executive director of this organization, it really meant a lot that the community was paying attention to what was going on.”
London Abused Women’s Centre
The Ask for Angela campaign has expanded to more than 40 locations in Canada. Dunn hopes that beyond grocery stores, it can be implemented in bars and clubs across London as well.
“It’s such an amazing thing when things like this go this far.”
For crisis counselling, call the Assaulted Women’s Helpline at 1-866-863-0511.
