November is the month when women’s anti-violence advocates engage in 16 Days of Activism (Nov. 25 – Dec. 10) to end gender-based violence
November 25th is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women; December 6th commemorates the 14 women killed in 1989 in the Montreal Massacre at L’Ecole Polytechnique, and all the other women, including missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, who have been taken by femicide to date. It is a long list that haunts every women’s advocate.
This year, the NOWC and many other feminist groups across the province will focus on promoting the 86 jury recommendations from the recent Renfrew inquest into the murders of Carol Culleton, Anastasia Kuzyk, and Nathalie Warmerdam. We will bring some of them forward during the 16 Days of Activism because they directly reflect the work we have been doing for many years and speak to the reality of women who face the risk of gender-based violence (GBV), intimate partner violence (IPV) or femicide.
24/7 Crisis Support
- ASSAULTED WOMEN’S HELPLINE: 1-866-863-0511
- FEM’AIDE: 1-877-336-2433
- TALK4HEALING: 1-855-554-HEAL
Local Support
- Get Help in Thunder Bay District: https://www.endwomanabuse.com/get-help/local-resources/
- GBV Navigation Advocate: [email protected] or (807) 935-8042
CWK Jury Recommendation #29 in full:
Provide professional education and training for justice system personnel on IPV-related issues, which should include:
a. Annual refresher courses,
b. Risk assessment training with the most up-to-date research on tools and risk factors,
c. Trauma-informed practices, including an understanding of why survivors may recant or may not cooperate with a criminal investigation, best practices for managing this reality, and investigation and prosecution of perpetrators,
d. Crisis management training,
e. The availability and use of weapons prohibition orders in IPV cases,
f. Meaningful screening of sureties,
g. Greater use of court-ordered language ensuring alleged and convicted offenders will not reside in homes that have firearms,
h. Indicators of IPV including coercive control, and awareness of risk factors for lethality (including destruction of property, especially by fire, harm to pets, strangulation, criminal harassment, stalking, sexual violence, and threatening police),
i. Unique rural factors,
j. Firearm risks, including the links between firearm ownership and IPV,
k. Opportunities for communities, friends, and families to play a role in the prevention and reporting of IPV.)
Additional Resources
- Forty-four percent: A short history of intimate partner violence: https://lukesplace.ca/forty-four-percent-a-short-history-of-intimate-partner-violence/
- Domestic violence survivors say family courts are failing them: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/domestic-violence-family-court-1.6436368
- Family Violence & Family Law Brief: Survivors’ Views of Family Courts: Findings from the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative with Vulnerable Populations (CDHPIVP) (January 2022): https://fvfl-vfdf.ca/briefs/Brief-12-EN.pdf
- Family court survival workbook for women leaving abusive relationships (Luke’s Place): https://familycourtandbeyond.ca/
- EVERY TWO HOURS A Special Report on Children and Youth Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence in Manitoba: https://manitobaadvocate.ca/wp-content/uploads/MACY-Special-Report-Every-Two-Hours.pdf
- Federal bill called missed opportunity for judges’ domestic violence training: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-domestic-violence-judge-training-1.6068940
- Ontario parents advocating for ‘Keira’s Law’ say it could have prevented alleged Sask. abduction case: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/keiras-law-abduction-prevention-1.6373116
- Culleton, Kuzyk & Warmerdam (CKW) Inquest advocacy toolkit (Luke’s Place, October 2022): https://lukesplace.ca/culleton-kuzyk-warmerdam-ckw-inquest-advocacy-toolkit/
- Culleton, Kuzyk & Warmerdam Inquest Jury Recommendations: https://lukesplace.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/CKW-Inquest-Verdict-Recommendations-SIGNED_Redacted.pdf
- Lessons from a Rural Inquest: Taking Action to Support the Recommendations from the Renfrew County Inquest (recording and slides): https://www.vawlearningnetwork.ca/our-work/special-events/renfrew-county-inquest/index.html
- Joint Statement on the Release of the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence: https://lukesplace.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Final-Joint-Statement-on-NAP.pdf
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