If you are in immediate danger, call 911.

​

Nova Scotia Support

​

Transition House Association of Nova Scotia
Call or text 1-855-225-0220

Confidential crisis support and assistance finding emergency shelter are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Nova Scotia 211
Call 211 at any time for help locating shelters, counselling, victim services, legal resources, housing assistance, safety-planning support, and other community programs. Assistance is available in more than 100 languages.

​

Nova Scotia Gender-Based Violence Resources
Visit the Nova Scotia Gender-Based Violence Resources website for information about abuse, available services, safety planning, and helping someone you care about.

​

A Visible Pathway to Support

​

Each Hope Seat will include a plaque and QR code connecting visitors with local and national resources, including:
 

• Crisis lines and emergency shelters

• Safety-planning information

• Counselling and outreach programs

• Victim and legal services

• Housing and financial assistance

• Information about healthy relationships

• Education about coercive control

• Resources for family members and friends

• Support for people concerned about their own harmful behavior

Someone may scan the QR code because they need help. Another person may be worried about a friend, family member, neighbor, colleague, or client. Others may simply stop to learn.

Every scan has the potential to open a door to information, support, safety, and hope.

​

Why Purple?

​

The colour purple was chosen with purpose.

Its roots can be traced to the women’s suffrage movement of the early 1900s, when purple, white, and gold represented justice, dignity, and loyalty. During the 1970s and 1980s, domestic violence advocates adopted purple as a symbol of courage, survival, remembrance, awareness, and hope.

Today, purple continues to represent solidarity with survivors and a collective commitment to ending intimate partner violence.

Every purple Hope Seat will stand out in its surroundings and encourage people to pause, ask questions, begin conversations, and learn where help can be found.

 

Why This Project Matters

​

In September 2024, the Government of Nova Scotia declared intimate partner violence an epidemic. In its 2025–26 budget, the Province allocated more than $100 million across departments to address gender-based and intimate partner violence, including $17.8 million in core funding for transition houses and women’s centres.

​

Across Canada in 2024:

• 128,175 people were identified as victims of police-reported intimate partner violence.

• 78% of those victims were women and girls.

• More than one-quarter, 28% of all victims of police-reported violent crime were victimized by an intimate partner.

• There were 100 victims of intimate partner homicide.

• Between 2014 and 2024, nearly 8 in 10 victims of intimate partner homicide were women or girls.

 

The actual prevalence of abuse is believed to be greater than police-reported statistics indicate because many experiences of intimate partner violence are never reported to police.

​

The need is also deeply relevant to rural communities. In 2024, the national rate of police-reported intimate partner violence was 425 victims per 100,000 people in rural southern Canada, compared with 298 per 100,000 in urban southern Canada.

These figures represent more than statistics. They represent people, families, workplaces, neighborhoods, and communities.

 

Intimate Partner Violence Is Not Always Physical

​

Intimate partner violence can be committed by a current or former spouse, dating partner, or intimate partner. It may include:

• Physical or sexual violence

• Threats, intimidation, or stalking

• Emotional and psychological abuse

• Financial control

• Isolation from family and friends

• Monitoring phones, messages, movements, or social media

• Controlling access to transportation, medication, food, or healthcare

• Using children, pets, immigration status, or finances as leverage

• Repeated humiliation, blame, or manipulation

• Coercive control

 

Coercive control is often a pattern rather than a single event. It may cause someone to fear harm, experience declining mental health, or change their daily behavior to avoid consequences. Nova Scotia’s official safety-planning information recognizes physical, sexual, emotional, financial, behavioral, and coercive forms of abuse.

​

​

Choose a Hope Seat
 

The Hope Bench

A Place to Pause. A Place to Find Hope.
 

Installed in parks, along trails, near waterfronts, and within other public spaces, The Hope Bench™ provides an accessible place to pause and reflect.

Each bench will feature a QR code connecting visitors with crisis services, shelters, counselling, legal assistance, safety-planning resources, and educational information. Sponsor recognition may also be included on a permanent plaque.

More than a bench, it is a lasting symbol of compassion, awareness, and community commitment.

 

The Hope Chair

One Chair. One Conversation. One Life Changed.

​

The Adirondack-style Hope Chair™ creates a welcoming space for quiet reflection and meaningful conversation.

Placed beside a waterfront, in a garden, at a community centre, or within a public park, it offers someone a place to breathe, collect their thoughts, learn about available services, or reach out for support.

One conversation, one QR-code scan, or one moment of connection can help change the course of a life.

​

The Hope Table

Bringing People and Communities Together.

 

The picnic-style Hope Table™ represents connection, conversation, and belonging.

Families, friends, neighbours, service providers, and community groups can gather around the table while discreet QR codes provide access to trusted support and educational resources.

The Hope Table reminds us that change does not happen in isolation. It happens when people come together, challenge silence, share information, and build safer communities.

​

More Than a Place to Sit

​

The Hope Seat Project™ invites municipalities, businesses, service clubs, community organizations, schools, healthcare providers, and residents to work together to create communities where:

• Awareness leads to action

• Information is easy to find

• Survivors are believed and supported

• Healthy relationships are encouraged

• Silence is replaced by informed conversation

• Help is visible and accessible

• Hope is always within reach

A Hope Seat does not replace professional crisis intervention, shelter services, counselling, or law enforcement. It creates a highly visible pathway connecting people with those essential services.

​

The First Hope Seat Communities
 

The vision for The Hope Seat Project™ is to begin locally and develop a model that can grow throughout the Annapolis Valley and eventually across Nova Scotia.
 

The Town of Digby is anticipated to be among the first communities to explore and embrace the project’s vision. Each participating community will have the opportunity to identify suitable public locations, local support resources, potential installation partners, and community sponsors.
 

As the project expands, each Hope Seat will become part of a recognizable network of purple spaces carrying one consistent message: You matter. You are not alone. Help is available.

 

Support The Hope Seat Project™
 

Sponsor a Seat

​

Businesses, organizations, municipalities, service clubs, and families may sponsor an individual Hope Seat.

Depending on the sponsorship level and municipal approvals, recognition may include:

• A permanent sponsor plaque

• Recognition on The Hope Seat Project™ website

• Social-media acknowledgement

• Inclusion in project announcements

• Recognition during an installation ceremony

• Inclusion in community awareness campaigns

• Recognition at participating HerEra Experiences™ events

 

Sponsorship funds may support the purchase, construction, delivery, installation, maintenance, plaque production, QR-code resources, and public-awareness promotion associated with each Hope Seat.

​

Contribute a Gift in Kind

​

Community partners may contribute:

• Benches, chairs, or picnic tables

• Building materials

• Painting or finishing services

• Plaques and signage

• Landscaping

• Concrete pads or site preparation

• Transportation and installation

• Printing and promotional materials

• Photography or videography

• Professional or technical services

All donated goods and services will be subject to project requirements, safety standards, accessibility considerations, and approval by the participating municipality or property owner.

​

Make a Community Donation

​

Individuals and community groups may contribute toward a complete installation or help fund shared project needs. Donations of every size can help extend awareness, improve access to information, and bring another Hope Seat into a community.

​

HerEra Experiences™ Community Commitment

​

Moving forward, HerEra Experiences™ will donate a portion of proceeds from its experiences to support The Hope Seat Project™.

The project will also be funded through corporate sponsorships, individual seat sponsorships, community donations, fundraising initiatives, grants, and gifts in kind.

​

This long-term commitment will help turn individual events and experiences into a lasting community legacy—one seat, one conversation, and one community at a time.

​

​

Become a Community Partner

​

The Hope Seat Project™ welcomes conversations with:

• Municipalities

• Local businesses

• Corporate sponsors

• Service clubs

• Community organizations

• Schools and post-secondary institutions

• Healthcare and wellness providers

• Shelters and outreach organizations

• Builders, suppliers, and tradespeople

• Parks and recreation departments

• Families wishing to sponsor a Hope Seat

 

Together, we can create public spaces that do more than offer somewhere to sit. They can offer a moment to pause, a connection to help, and a visible reminder that hope remains.