Ending Violence Blog
Via our award winning blog Battered Women’s Support Services provides education and advocacy as we work towards the elimination of violence.
Fawning: The Gendered Survival Strategy Courts Refuse to See
Every survivor of violence knows what it means to calculate risk in an instant. Sometimes survival looks like running, sometimes like fighting back. But often it looks like compliance — a smile to defuse anger, a “yes” to avoid worse harm. This is fawning, and it is...
Podcast Feature: Reframing Gender-Based Violence as a Public Safety Crisis
In the wake of multiple femicides and a growing public reckoning with systemic failures in BC’s response to intimate partner violence, Hotel Pacifico invited BWSS Executive Director Angela Marie MacDougall for a full-length interview on the escalating crisis of...
When the Heat Rises, So Does the Violence: Climate Change and Gender-Based Violence in Canada
As temperatures rise across Canada, so too does the risk to women, girls, and gender-diverse people living with violence. This isn't speculation—it’s a well-documented and increasingly urgent reality. A recent feature in The Narwhal (August 2025), titled “As...
Survivor-Centred Safety – Where Do BC Cities Stand?
Across British Columbia, BWSS has called on every Mayor and Council to take action on gender-based violence in particular intimate partner violence and femicide—because public safety must be designed with survivors in mind. This tracker reflects where each...
Public Safety Begins Here – Why Municipalities Matter Now More Than Ever
Across British Columbia, communities are reeling from a devastating series of femicides. In July 2025, five women were killed by their partners/men they knew and three women were viciously attacked in public—each in a different city, most with warning signs missed,...
Canada has a National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence
Canada has a National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence.Most people have never heard of it. Even fewer know it’s in danger of collapsing before it ever really began. In 2022, the Government of Canada launched the National Action Plan—a 10-year strategy built on...
When the Courts Fail to Understand Trauma: A Chilling Verdict for Survivors of Sexual Assault
In the wake of a recent high-profile trial that resulted in the acquittal of five men accused of gang sexual assault, Julie Lalonde—a respected advocate, educator, and author—spoke plainly about what many survivors and feminist advocates have long known: the legal...
Will the Hockey Canada Case Have a Chilling Effect on Victims of Sexual Assault in Canada?
The answer is yes. And it’s already happening. On July 25, 2025, five former junior hockey players—each previously signed to an NHL team—were acquitted in a high-profile sexual assault case stemming from an alleged group assault in 2018. The complainant, known...
Behind Closed Doors, With the State’s Permission: How the Public/Private Divide Enables Violence
Violence in the home has long been protected—not by secrecy alone, but by law, culture, and institutional design. The division between public and private life is not a neutral boundary. It is a deeply embedded structure rooted in centuries of legal and social norms...
Another Woman Killed in Richmond: Gender-Based Violence Is the Public Safety Crisis of Our Time
MEDIA STATEMENTFor Immediate Release July 19, 2025 Another Woman Killed in Richmond: Gender-Based Violence Is the Public Safety Crisis of Our Time Vancouver, BC - Battered Women’s Support Services (BWSS) is responding with sorrow and urgency to yet another killing of...
This Week in Public Safety: Five Women, Five Cities, One Pattern
This Week in Public Safety: Five Women, Five Cities, One Pattern In the span of just two weeks, five women in British Columbia were killed or critically injured—all by men they knew. These acts of violence took place in different cities, under different...
Sweat to Support Survivors is now LIVE!
Ready to Sweat for Survivors?This isn’t just about fitness. It’s about solidarity, healing, and action.For the everyday person who wants to make a difference but may not know how—this is your chance. Visit our Sweat to Support Campaign Page for more info.Outdoor...