Violence Against Women Prevention and Response in Canada

Violence Against Women Prevention and Response in Canada Prepared by : Jessica Laurin, Policy Analyst, Public Health Agency of Canada Workshop to Strengthen Health Systems’ Capacity to Prevent and Respond to Violence against Women Port of Spain, March 15 to 17 2017 National frameworks Background Gender Inequality Index (2014) 0. 129 Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (2014) 0. 832 Prevalence of Canadian women self–reported spousal violence in past 5 years (2014) 3. 5 % Percentage of Self-reported spousal abuse victims reported to police (2014) 19% Policies: The Public Health Agency of Canada coordinates the federal Family Violence Initiative (FVI), which brings together 15 departments and agencies in a multi-sectoral approach to address family violence. The initiative aims to promote healthy relationships, empower women and girls, support survivors, ensure that the justice response is appropriate to deter offenders and track and analyze data on the nature and extent of family violence. This Initiative provides a forum to ensure that these federal activities complement each other. Laws: Canada’s criminal laws provide a broad range of protection against violence including provisions prohibiting assault/sexual assault, criminal harassment, trafficking in persons, female genital mutilation, and child sexual exploitation (including child luring, child pornography, child prostitution, other sexually exploitative conduct, etc). It also requires that instances of spousal or child abuse be taken into consideration as aggravating circumstances for the purposes of sentencing. As a federated state, the Government of Canada provides federal leadership, coordinates the issue of family violence, supports research, develops tools and resources and sets legal frameworks. The thirteen provincial and territorial governments provide justice, health, social, child protection and education services. Other key partners, such as municipal administration and non-governmental organizations also work to prevent violence and support victims. Current efforts for prevention of violence against women and violence against children • The federal Health Portfolio supports initiatives that: • Test and measure innovative multi-sectoral community-based health promotion interventions for survivors of family violence to help them rebuild their lives and address the lasting health impacts of violence. • Strengthen public health capacity by developing guidance and training on trauma-informed and culturally-relevant care to equip health professionals to address intimate partner violence and child maltreatment. • Support community-based programs to improve and strengthen access to trauma- informed and culturally-relevant health care services for Indigenous survivors of violence. • Supports maternal child health programs that strengthen family relationships and reduce risk factors for violence as well as supporting research to understand the nature and impacts of family violence. • Ongoing federal efforts to address violence towards Indigenous communities: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2008 -2015), Action Plan to Address Family Violence and Violent Crimes Against Indigenous Women and Girls (2014 -2016) and National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (2016 -2018). • Data collection and analysis mechanisms capture a wide range of forms of violence, which provide a better understanding of trends, risk factors and protective factors related to family violence and help understand the intersection between different types of victimisation. Examples of current sources of data : Canadian Incidence Study of Child abuse and Neglect, Transition Home Survey, General Social Survey-Victimisation, Canadian Community Health Survey-Mental Health, Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, Homicide Survey and Uniform Crime Reporting Survey. Current Status: Response to violence against women across three sectors Health Justice and Policing Social Services Provincial and Territorial • Provide physical and mental health services to Canadians. Emergency contraception and abortion in cases of rape is available in Canada. • Provide sexual health education of youth through school curricula. Topics covered include sexual orientation, sexually transmitted infections, consent, sexual abuse. • Crisis lines and health information lines are implemented in many provinces. ___________________________ Provincial and Territorial • Police services are generally administered by municipalities or provinces and are responsible to enforce laws, prevent crime and protect the public. • Provide access to legal aid services to every Canadian. ___________________________ Provincial and Territorial • Responsible for providing front line social services to Canadians, such as Victims Assistance Centres, child protection services and social assistance services. ___________________________ Federal • National Health Care Insurance Program is designed to ensure that all women, men and children have free access to medically necessary hospital and physician services. • Delivery of physical and mental health care to Indigenous and Inuit communities • Build public health capacity to equip service providers • Develop national frameworks and guidelines to ensure consistency in practice for professionals. • Support research and knowledge exchange. • Provide services to vulnerable children. • Invest in development and testing of innovative programs. Federal • Royal Canadian Mountain Police is the Canadian national police service mandated to investigate crime; maintain peace and order; enforce laws and contribute to national security. Domestic Violence investigation training is available to all regular members of the RCMP. Federal • The Affordable Housing Framework is investing in provision of safe, stable housing and related supports to help individuals achieve greater economic self-sufficiency and improved quality of life. • Shelter Enhancement Program assists in repairing, rehabilitating and improving existing shelters for women, children and youth as • National Crime Prevention Centre provides national leadership on well as men who are victims of family violence, and in the cost-effective ways to prevent and reduce crime by intervening on acquisition or construction of new shelters and second stage the risk factors before crime happens. Their approach is to test and housing where needed. promote the implementation of effective crime prevention • Labour Market Support Program assists survivors of family practices. violence to upgrade their skills in employment opportunities. • The Department of Justice supports community projects that enhance the justice system response to family violence, such as Child Advocacy Centres*. *Child Advocacy Centres The Centers adopt a coordinated and collaborative approach to address the needs of children and youth victims of physical abuse, sexual abuse and other crimes. A multi-disciplinary team brings together child protection services, medical and mental health services, victim services and advocacy and law enforcement to respond to allegations of abuse and meet the needs of the young victim and their non-offending family members. Essential actions for coordination and governance of coordination • The Family Violence Initiative ensures a shared federal government approaches to address the issue of family violence, which includes intimate partner violence, child maltreatment and elder abuse. The Initiative fosters collaboration and provides opportunities for joint actions, thereby enhancing the federal government's capacity to achieve results in addressing family violence through: - Information exchange on programming and policy objectives and activities. - The development of consistent messaging and information products and optimized use of data and research related to family violence across sectors. - The joint management of an online resource centre for service providers and the general public which provides a one-stop point of access for local services and supports, and for funding opportunities. - Sharing knowledge with broad audiences including FVI partners and their stakeholders through regular meetings and a shared web communication platform. • A Federal Strategy Against Gender-Based violence is currently being developed to address violence against women, girls, LGBTQ and gender-diverse people across a range of contexts. The proposed strategy identifies federal activities across sectors which will include prevention, support for survivors, and legal and justice system responses; and is supported by a plan of research and data collection, and by structures for leadership, coordination and accountability. Challenges or bottlenecks • • • The coordination of a horizontally managed initiative, like the Family Violence Initiative, involves challenges such as maintaining focus while responding to emerging priorities, ensuring complementarity of work while avoiding overlap and ensuring adequate reporting structures. There is a need to enhance data collection and linkage of multiple data source to address gaps to better inform policy and program development. It is important to recognize that no single sector or jurisdiction can address family violence alone, responsibility to address family violence is shared between the federal and provincial/territorial governments. Good Practices and lessons learned • Use a multi-sectoral approach to respond and prevent violence against women and children • Recognize the intersectionality of forms of violence across the life course. • Create communities of practice to link researchers, policy makers and service providers to help move knowledge to practice. • Build capacities of professionals across sectors to recognize and safely respond to violence. • Learn and share “what works” for whom and in what settings. The Government of Canada support the evaluations of programs such as the Nurse Family Partnership Program, The Forth R, Caring Dads.