Battered Women Support Services and The Law Foundation of British Columbia are sponsoring

Settlement Worker Training Workshops for Supporting Refugee & Immigrant Women Who Experience Violence

 September 17 & 18 in Prince George

October 15 & 16 in Nanaimo

November 19 & 20 in North Vancouver

Register early as space is limited
All Settlement Worker Training Workshops are held free of charge

Call: 604-331-5421or Email: julians@publiclegaled.bc.ca

Family law reforms weaken women’s access to justice
Government ignores anti-violence sector’s concerns

NEWS RELEASE July 22, 2010

Vancouver – Battered Women’s Support Services (BWSS) today announces its strong opposition to Attorney General Mike de Jong’s proposed reform of the province’s Family Relations Act, the law that governs the division of family property, custody of and access to children, and support.

“We’ve written to the Attorney General telling him we reject a disputes resolution approach to family law, a point we clearly made in earlier consultations on these issues,” says Angela Marie MacDougall, BWSS Executive Director.

“While many couples facing separation and divorce can agree on issues like support and child custody, a disputes resolution system will not help women dealing with former partners who are inflexible or punishing.”

Dispute settlement processes do not offer a level playing field for women. They can create unsafe environments and this is particularly true where there is a history of relationship violence. Power differences between men and women do work to disadvantage women in negotiations with the men. This inequality is only exacerbated when violent former partners get to step outside the courtroom.

MacDougall is questioning whether the government will actually pay the costs of, in their words, ‘modernizing’ the family law system.

“Modernizing costs. Just for starters, we’re looking at hiring hundreds of specialized workers, all of whom will need to be trained and situated somewhere. Meanwhile, the government is cutting spending. It already grossly underfunds legal aid and constantly tells the community groups vital to support this kind of reform that there is no money.”

BWSS insists the Attorney General must extend the consultation timeframe on its complex proposals beyond October 8th and has also urged him to provide funding to women’s anti-violence sector so they can participate equally in the process.

“Mr. de Jong knows it takes time and money to develop policy, says MacDougall.

“We’ve told him the women’s anti-violence sector – a critical player on these issues – will be marginalized participants without funding support from his government.”

Battered Women Support Services as seen on JonZu News, an international news site:

http://news.jonzu.com/z_uncategorized_battered-womens-support-services-fyi.html

Battered Women’s Support Services (BWSS) works every single day with women who are in need of real access to family law legal aid. Based on our direct experience, we know women in B.C. are facing a provincial government that simply does not care about equal access to legal representation for women.

While this may seem like a harsh assessment, it surely is not.

Since the early 1990’s when cuts to legal aid were first implemented, women’s groups, family law lawyers, academics and others have urged provincial governments to increase funding to family law legal aid.  In response, successive provincial governments, including the current and past provincial governments, have consistently cut deeper and deeper.

We are now at the point where nothing less than a full on, top to bottom reform of our irretrievably broken legal aid system is required.

In 2002, the province slashed 40% from the funding for the Legal Services Society (LSS), the agency charged with providing legal aid services to British Columbians.  As a result of the cut, new policies were introduced.

• Family law legal aid is now available only in emergency situations. This means a person must be in economic need and fear for her own or her children’s safety, or fear their spouse may flee the province with the children.

• Even in these cases, access is limited to a maximum of eight hours – literally, almost nothing. And, to access that eight hours of legal representation, a person must already have obtained a restraining order or be seeking a change in a custody agreement.

Taken together, these funding cuts and policy changes have virtually slammed the door shut on women seeking family law legal aid. That’s because most low-income women deal with a level of marginalization so deep that they are unlikely to report violence, and this is particularly true for Aboriginal women and Immigrant women. Left with no access to legal aid, many low-income women, including those seeking to leave violent relationships, are increasingly forced to go it alone.

While a woman may start with a lawyer, she soon finds the lawyer’s fees beyond her financial resources.  She must appear in court countless times, backed only by her wits and the research she has managed to undertake with either little support, or entirely on their own. Often she has to navigate two or three entirely different areas of law including family and child custody law, child protection law, immigration law and even the Indian Act. She may have a job or even two jobs, but she knows her bosses will soon tire of giving her time off for court dates.  All the while, amidst her exhaustion, she knows she would fare better with a lawyer. All the while, she sees her former partner in court and, far more often that not, he has the money to pay a lawyer.

Reform aimed at bringing legal aid access to the community level

Two years ago, BWSS received The Law Foundation of BC funding which is allowing us to research the impacts on women of the current family law legal aid system and offer women comprehensive family law legal information through our website: www.bwss.org 

We continue working to determine how family law case outcomes differ when women have — or do not have — access to legal representation and to uncover other barriers to women’s access to justice. We are indentifying how abusers are exploiting legal avenues to ensure the ongoing oppression of women. As important, we continue to study the impacts legal aid cuts and related policy changes are having on BC’s Immigrant and Aboriginal women.

Today, BWSS is issuing a public call for reforms that violence against women services have access to a stream of funding to provide family law legal aid. We want to be able to hire lawyers to represent women in court backed by legal advocates who would provide legal information and support. At the same time, we maintain our demand that government abolish the requirement that violence must be present before women can access family law legal aid and we urgently want funding restored for family, poverty and immigration law.

Building a Charter challenge

BWSS is also actively building our intention to launch a Charter challenge on the BC government’s failed family law legal aid program and policies. Under Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Section 15 expressly says that women are entitled to the ‘equal protection of the law.’

In our democracy, our governments are obliged to ensure that all people have access to the legal system. A non-discriminatory legal aid system ensures those unable to afford a lawyer are not at a disadvantage in their search for justice and protection.  In our view, anything less is a fundamental violation of the principles of equality before the law and due process.

BWSS intends to do absolutely everything we can to hold the provincial government to account on these essential human rights. Working with our partners and in coalitions, we believe we will build a truly equal, accessible and effective legal aid system for our province.

Join BWSS and West Coast Legal Education and Action Fund for women in calling upon the Attorney General of British Columbia for a reformed legal aid system that is equal, accessible and respectful of the human dignity of all persons. Sign the 2010 Access to Justice – Reform Legal Aid in BC Petition and encourage the Attorney General of British Columbia to adopt these recommendations:

Legal aid in BC should be a rights-based system. A rights-based system would recognize that there is a human right to access justice and courts with adequate representation in all matters where human dignity is at stake.

Mixed-model delivery. A mixed model of delivery includes public legal services delivered through legal aid clinics, private lawyers paid through the tariff system and staff lawyers in community organizations.  A mixed model of delivery can meet the diverse needs of a diverse population, foster co-operation with a range of professionals both in and outside the justice system, create accessible public legal services through storefront clinics and interdisciplinary community organizations, and free up resources for test case litigation.

Independence from government. Ultimately, the future of legal aid in BC demands a central organization with public accountability through a Board of Directors and independence from government.

Here’s what men are saying about The Violence Stops Here campaign

“Violence against women is not a woman’s issue. This is a man’s issue. We, as men, are responsible for subjecting women to violence and abuse. The women are victims because of our actions. We must profoundly change the way we conduct ourselves on a daily basis, until the time comes where we at all times act with kindness and respect in every situation as it relates to all women around us.”

Troy Westwood – Little Hawk

“Working with men and boys is essential to ending violence against women. It’s one of the key things you can do to promote safety for women victims/survivors experience with male violence. As a strategy, it helps men transform and challenge sexist, misogynist and patriarchal attitudes beliefs and the systems that uphold and condone male violence. “

–Quentin Walcott

“Violence against women is a non genetic, generational problem. It is not a disease – it is a chosen behaviour. Unfortunately, what happened to my mother is not that unusual, even in Canada”

Christopher Ducharme

“Recently, I spoke to your new campaign "The Violence Stops Here". I truly believe that men need to step up and advocate, and I am so pleased that the Battered Women’s Support Services is taking this issue into the 21st Century and recognizing that this issue is something that Women and Men need to work together to fix. That it is a men’s issue, and we are allies in this…Thank you…I am a survivor..I lived thru violence against my Mama…and have refused to be my Father…and have educated my sons. I pledge to commit to spreading this campaign..and I pledge to enforce it in my life and workplace. Thank you again Sisters for your progressive attitude and including men in this issue. In Solidarity”

SK

“Instead of seeing sexual and domestic violence as women’s issues that some “good guys” help out with, violence against women are men’s issues, about which all men should be educated and active – especially men in positions of family, community, professional and political leadership.”

- Jackson Katz

“I firmly believe that this initiative is essential and perhaps will be effective right now.  We have been educating women for many years (40?) on how the violence they experience by men is NOT THEIR FAULT but the result of a society that accepts (and even supports) men being violent (real men?) and not taking responsibility for who is doing what to whom. “

M

Joint statement on Canada’s Maternal/Child Health Initiative
Maternal health is about more than saving the lives of women and children. It’s about fundamental human rights: the right of a woman to control her sexual health; the right of women and men to access sex education and contraception; and the right of women to plan and space childbirths.

Reproductive rights will only be achieved when inequalities between women and men are overcome. Only then will we end the injustice of one thousand women dying each day due to pregnancy-related causes. In most of the world, we’re far from securing reproductive rights. 350,000 women die each year in pregnancy or childbirth – that’s one every minute. Nearly 15 per cent of these deaths – one every eight minutes – is a result of unsafe abortion. 137 million women in developing countries who say they do not want to have a child at this time have no access to modern methods of contraception. It’s time we address these facts. It’s time world leaders recognize their responsibility to protect women’s reproductive rights.

We are women from across Canada, standing in solidarity with women and men around the world, to demand the G8’s special initiative on maternal and child health:

• recognizes gender inequality as one of the key factors affecting women’s health

• supports concrete actions to secure equality, including action to end violence against women

• commits to advancing the reproductive health and rights of all

• ensures universal access to comprehensive healthcare, with special attention to expectant mothers

• is financed with new, additional funds, not repackaged money taken from other crucial aid commitments.

We implore the G8 to keep its promises to the world’s poor, ensuring the maternal health initiative protects women’s rights and advances gender justice.

Signed,
Jessica Yee
Executive Director, Native Youth Sexual Health Network

Cindy Blackstock
PhD, First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada

Lilian Allen
Dub Poet & Cultural Strategist

Cara Banks
Chair of the Prairie Lily Feminist Society

Louise Binder
Chair, Canadian Treatment Action Council

Alison Brewin
Executive Director, West Coast LEAF

Norah Currie
Writer, Activist

Zahra Dhanani

Legal Director, Metropolitan Action Committee on Violence Against Women and Children (METRAC)

Martha Friendly
Executive Director, Childcare Resource and Research Unit

Liyu Guo
Anti-Poverty Activist

Margaret Hancock
Executive Director, Family Service Toronto

Ashika Iqbal
Student Activist, Memorial University

Audrey M. Johnson
Executive Director, Women’s Legal Education & Action Fund (LEAF) National Office

Donna S. Lero,
Ph.D. Jarislowsky Chair in Families and Work Centre for Families, Work & Well-Being, University of Guelph

Michele Landsberg
Officer of the Order of Canada (OC)

Monica Lysack
Education Consultant and Activist

Jacquie Maund
Anti-poverty activist

Ann McCrorie
Chair of the Early Learning Childcare Coalition of Saskatchewan

Sheelah McLean
PhD Candidate (Anti-Racist Anti-Oppressive Education), University of Saskatchewan

Peggy Nash
Senior Representative, Canadian Auto Workers Union

Lana Payne
President Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour

Kim Phuc Phan Thi
Founder of the Kim Foundation International

Susan Prentice
Professor of Sociology, University of Manitoba

Angela Robertson
Anti-Poverty Feminist Activist

Linda Ross
President/CEO Provincial Advisory Council on the Status of Women (Nfld and Labrador)

Laurel Rothman
Grandmother & anti-child poverty activist

Angela Schira
Secretary-Treasurer, BC Federation of Labour

Paulette Senior
Executive Director, YWCA

Dr. Priscilla Settee
Associate Professor, Department of Native Studies, University of Saskatchewan

Jane Staschuk
Director, Women’s Programs, Education & Training, BC Federation of Labour

Camille Stengel
University of Victoria Graduate Student

Judi Richards
Musician and Oxfam Quebec Ambassador

Wangari Tharao
Programs & Research Manager, Women’s Health in Women’s Hands

Laure Waridel
Sociologist and Author

Nettie Wiebe
Former President, National Farmers Union

Armine Yalnizyan
Economist

Alexa Conradi
President, Quebec Women’s Federation

NATIONAL ABORIGINAL YOUTH COUNCIL ON HIV/AIDS (NAYCHA)

Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network

With One Heart and One Mind We Will Spread Knowledge and Infect Truth

Statement to the International Indigenous HIV/AIDS Working Group and the International World AIDS Conference in Vienna, July 2010

Indigenous youth in Canada, like Indigenous youth worldwide, are the largest and fastest growing population, who are also experiencing the effects of HIV/AIDS at alarmingly high rates. As of 2008, within the Canadian Aboriginal population with HIV, almost one third of this population is under 29 years old. Indigenous youth in Canada are uniting and reaching out at all levels to strategically guide the HIV/AIDS movement for youth. The Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network supports the National Aboriginal Youth Council on HIV/AIDS, the first in Canada, in developing a five year strategic plan by youth and for youth to lower the incidence of HIV among First Nations, Inuit, and Métis youth in Canada.

The vision of NAYCHA involves encouraging the basic human rights of Indigenous youth are met by providing accessible, culturally relevant, and community based information on HIV/AIDS, as well as HIV prevention for Indigenous youth. The strength of peer-to-peer knowledge, harm reduction, education, advocacy and support is acknowledged as key to helping Indigenous youth.

As the National Aboriginal Youth Council on HIV/AIDS we have strength in:

Numbers – our voices together in solidarity

Ideas – no borders or boxes, our ideas flow with creativity and resilience

Culture – the importance of our connection to our Aboriginal spirituality, culture and ancestors

Leadership – leadership for Aboriginal youth and desire to build leadership capacity in its many different forms

Listening and Caring – open hearts to hear and compassion for youth

Knowing Ourselves – we believe in connecting with who we are as individuals, as well as with our communities

Looking Forward – visioning healthy Aboriginal youth in future generations

Youth – for Aboriginal youth, by Aboriginal youth

Partnerships – we know that Aboriginal youth benefit from strong partnerships at all levels with individuals, communities, organizations, governments and other youth councils

We believe in youth empowerment! We are Indigenous youth leaders and we are creative, we are multi-dimensional, we have strengths, and we also recognize the challenges faced by Indigenous youth. We believe that connecting Indigenous youth across Canada and internationally will give our Indigenous youth hope and courage to practice healthy sexuality, be informed about HIV/AIDS, HIV prevention and educate each other and our communities about HIV/AIDS among Indigenous youth globally. We work collectively with a good mind and open hearts, lead by example, provide a voice, and support each other. We are the National Aboriginal Youth Council on HIV/AIDS and we would like to work with you!

During your deliberations and meetings this week at AIDS 2010, we implore you to remember Indigenous youth and ensure our realities are addressed. We ask that you include Indigenous youth at every stage of planning and action, and that the principles of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) of our participation be applied so we can speak and act on behalf of ourselves.

For more information on the National Aboriginal Youth Council on HIV/AIDS please visit our youth website located on www.caan.ca or contact:

Jessica Yee, Chair of NAYCHA and Executive Director of the Native Youth Sexual Health Network jyee@nativeyouthsexualhealth.com

416-419-6937

Carrie Robinson, National Youth Coordinator

carrie@caan.ca

604-266-7616

The Violence Stops Here – Men Stopping ViolenceView more presentations from TheViolenceStopsHere.’ target=_blank>The Violence Stops Here – Men Stopping Violence

    Revolu is Spanish for chaos, and this song was inspired by the court case of Gladys Ricart and the subsequent Brides March against domestic violence. Many of the images were taken from the internet. Thanks t

$10 Million Not Enough To Restore Justice and Dignity for Indigenous Women in Canada by Jamaal Bell

Jamaal Bell

Journalist and executive editor, Race-Talk

Posted: July 11, 2010 10:59 PM

$10 Million Not Enough To Restore Justice and Dignity for Indigenous Women in Canada

Sunday, February 14th. About 200 braved the cold, gathered at Berri Square and quietly (except for a lone drum), marched all the way to Parc des Ameriques holding white hearts and signs: “3000 stories untold.” – Photo courtesy of www.missingjustice.ca

After 600 Aboriginal women and girls go missing or found murdered in Canada the federal government decides to throw-a-bone and give $10 million dollars. In March, the Canadian Minister of Justice budgeted $10 million over two years to address the issue of murdered and missing women in Canada, however, they have yet to figure out how to use the money.

Many justice organizations such as Amnesty International and Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) have made recommendations. Both organizations suggest that the $10 million is not enough to support the decades of injustice for Aboriginal women and girls.

NWAC said the $10 million is not enough to actually prompt real change in the lives of women who are experiencing violence, families who’ve never received justice, or appropriate counseling or support through victim services. NWAC have been collecting evidence, raising awareness, and developing policy directives to address the issue of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls since 2005.

“It’s unclear. Is the $10 million new money, or just allocated within the same budget?” said Craig Benjamin, campaigner for the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples at Amnesty International Canada. “There hasn’t been word on where the $10 million came from. But it is definitely not enough.”

NWAC Sisters’ in Spirit Director, Kate Rexe said, spent wisely, and with commitment from all levels of government and NGOs, there is an opportunity to change the system and how the system responds to violence and the disappearance of Aboriginal women and girls. “NWAC recommends a comprehensive action plan based on four key areas of priorities: Increasing access to justice, reducing violence against Aboriginal women and girls, increasing economic security, and reducing the impact of children in care,” Rexe said.

How could the $10 million be used specifically? Mandatory police and justice officials training?

Since this $10 million is mandated by the Minister of Justice, Rexe said this funding should primarily address Aboriginals’ access to justice. Rexe said the funds should target: mandatory training of police officers and justice officials to understand the history of Aboriginal people, systemic violence and human rights abuses and today’s impact and outcomes of government policies, such as the Indian Act.

Rexe said that navigating through the Indian justice system is complex. The right tools and resources are needed to support family, friends, and those who have experienced violence. “[Justice System navigation tools] will help families, as well as police and justice officials, in the reporting of cases, accessing programs and resources for help and healing, developing networks of support, and raising awareness of where gaps are in the system with the aim to fill in these gaps.”

According to the Department of Justice Canada, since 1991 it has implemented the Aboriginal Justice Strategy (AJS). The AJS programs are aimed at reducing the rates of victimization, crime and incarceration among Aboriginal people and helping the mainstream justice system become more responsive and sensitive to the needs and culture of Aboriginal communities.

In 2002, Jessie Sutherland, Director of Worldview Strategies, said in an article that the Aboriginal Justice Strategy may attend to some of colonialism’s surface wounds, but it certainly doesn’t address the systemic root problems nor offer lasting solutions. She said a successful Aboriginal Justice Strategy must go beyond participatory and indigenised justice processes. Rather, it must support healing and capacity building within First Nations’ communities as well as endeavor to decolonize and repair the relationship with the Canadian state.

Attempts were made to contact the Aboriginal Justice Directorate to provide details on implementation of the strategy, how it is funding community-based justice programs and the capacity building fund and how it measures the strategy, today. However, no response was given.

The federal government developed a volunteer Professional Development Centre for Aboriginal Policing (PDCAP) in 2006. PDCAP states it is the only program in Canada completely dedicated to providing advanced training specifically for police officers working in Aboriginal communities. The Centre provides three courses and one senior police officer course. It is small unit consisting of two staff members Inspector Lennard Busch, Manager of PDCAP and Sergeant Craig Nyirfa. The courses are taught by the two officers and they also invite speakers from across Canada to train officers on the history of Aboriginal people, the Aboriginal culture and courtesies.

For one officer to go through all three courses it costs $7,026. For a senior officer to take all four courses it costs $9,908. Nyirfa said it is a volunteer program and cost does affect some who cannot afford to travel and take the courses. “[Busch] is looking for opportunities to create scholarships for those who can’t afford the course. We’ve also taken steps to take training on the road so they don’t have to necessarily come to Ottawa to take the course.” Nyirfa mentioned numerous times that they are a small unit of two. The courses they offer are:

• Aboriginal Gang Prevention and Diversion Strategies
• Critical Incident Stress Management for Police Leaders Workshop (CISMPL)
• Integrated Approaches to Domestic Violence in the Aboriginal Community (IADV)
• Organized Crime Disruption in the Aboriginal Community (OCDAC)
• Senior Police Administration Course (SPAC)

Several federal and local police task forces have been created to combat violence against Aboriginal women, but Benjamin said that there are huge gaps in police accountability. “I’ve talked to many families who their loved ones have been missing or their loved ones have been found murdered and they don’t know whether the police are doing a good job or a bad job.”

“There is no national or local policy on how to investigate missing Aboriginal women and girls. When families speak out, they feel stonewalled. Police seemed to not be concerned and are unresponsive,” said Benjamin.

Benjamin said it takes tremendous strength for Aboriginal people who are victims to maintain hope and continue to fight when there is no accountability. “On every level, there is no mandate or open discussion with police on missing Aboriginal women and girls,” said Benjamin.

Rexe said one of the problems is that Aboriginal women are often criminalized by police before an investigation starts. She recalled, “A 13-year-old girl was taken from a shopping mall. When the mother reported her missing to the police, the officer asked, ‘Was she working?’ She said, ‘No, she’s 13-year-old.’ The officer said, ‘No, is she a prostitute?’”

Rexe said Aboriginal women are assumed to be drug addicts and prostitutes. She said that race, economic and gender barriers to justice must be broken. Can $10 million over two years support that?

Can $10 million over two years put a dent in the legacy of injustice that contributed to and perpetuated violence against Aboriginal women? In future articles, events and policies throughout Canada’s history that created strong and still apparent gender-based and racialized barriers will be discussed. Some of the impacts are colonialism, residential schools, available statistical data, the Indian Act and a two decade period called the “60′s Scoop” or the “Stolen Generation.”

“All these programs were designed by the government to get the “Indian” out of Indians,” Rexe said.

There is HOPE

There is hope that things can change for Aboriginal women in Canada. There are many organizations like Battered Women’s Support Services, NWAC, Amnesty International, and many others fighting every day for Aboriginal women’s rights. There are Aboriginal mothers who have had their daughters stolen like Laurie Odjick and they continue to have the strength to fight and pressure the Canadian government and their communities to do more.

Gladys Radek, founder of Walk4Justice, who’s had her niece stolen, is leading a group of supporters to march on British Columbia’s Highway 16 known as the Highway of Tears.

British Columbia, according to a NWAC report, has the most “known” cases of missing and murdered women of any province with 137 victims.

These organizations and supporters have rallied around and are fighting alongside the victims. They are not alone. There is hope that they can continue to persuade and mobilize more Canadians and the government to care and act on the issue of missing and murdered Aboriginal women.

Aboriginals are not asking for money and they need more than an apology. They are asking for justice, accountability, equality, social services, access to justice, dignity, recognition of their culture, and healing. Frankly, they are asking for human rights.

Sidenote: Last year the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights received 50 submissions from NGOs slamming Canada for it human rights violations citing racism, sexism, aboriginal rights, poverty and Canadians facing death penalty overseas. The UN adopted the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by a vote of the overwhelming majority of UN members states.
The Canadian government said it would “take steps to endorse this aspirational document in a manner fully consistent with Canada’s Constitution and laws” but ultimately rejected the declaration. Other countries who rejected and voted against the declaration were United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Since 2007, Australia is the only country who reversed its position.