Violencia de Pareja Íntima (VPI), Violencia de Género (VG) y Mujeres Latinoamericanas

América Latina está plagada de horribles tasas crecientes de violencia de pareja íntima, violencia de género y feminicidio. Como región, América Latina alberga a 14 de los 25 países con las tasas más altas de feminicidio en el mundo. En México específicamente, las tasas de feminicidio son impactantes, con 10 mujeres asesinadas todos los días debido a su género. La violencia de género en América Latina se ve agravada y amplificada por la impactante falta de acción y laxitud de las fuerzas del orden y el sistema legal hacia los abusadores, la gran mayoría de los cuales son hombres.

Como organización feminista antirracista y decolonial, BWSS reconoce el impacto generalizado del colonialismo en las tasas de violencia contra mujeres, niñas y personas de género no binario. La colonización de América Latina por colonizadores españoles, portugueses, franceses, holandeses e ingleses ha resultado en el patriarcado, el racismo y el clasismo incrustados en las instituciones y sistemas sociales en toda América Latina. Además, la profunda historia de esclavización de los pueblos africanos en la región tiene impactos modernos en términos de racismo, discriminación sistémica y desigualdad de género generalizada.

La violencia contra mujeres, niñez y personas de género no binario es uno de los factores más poderosos que impulsan la migración desde países latinoamericanos a Canadá y Estados Unidos. “La violencia sexual y basada en género”, según un artículo producido por el Consejo Atlántico, “es un factor primordial que obliga a mujeres y niñas a migrar desde los tres países del Triángulo Norte: Honduras, El Salvador y Guatemala”. De manera similar, la violencia sexualizada y basada en género en México ha resultado en nuevas oleadas de migración hacia el norte, con mujeres y menores huyendo más que nunca.

BWSS reconoce las luchas de las mujeres latinoamericanas que huyen de la violencia en su país de origen, que pueden haber sufrido violencia y opresión sistémica, y que han experimentado el proceso de inmigración que sabemos que puede ser injusto y traumatizante para las sobrevivientes de violencia. También reconocemos que, al llegar a Canadá, las mujeres latinoamericanas enfrentan injusticias adicionales como inmigrantes y refugiadas recién llegadas.

El reciente informe El Color de la Violencia de BWSS “Colour of Violence” reconoce que “ser recién llegada a Canadá moldea las experiencias y respuestas a la violencia de género”. Sabemos que hay muchas formas en que ser recién llegada a Canadá afecta las experiencias que tienen las mujeres latinoamericanas con la violencia de género. Desde experimentar un estatus migratorio precario hasta el desequilibrio de las dinámicas de poder en relaciones íntimas con canadienses blancos, las mujeres y personas de género no binario latinoamericanas, al igual que otros grupos de migrantes y recién llegados, son particularmente vulnerables a experimentar violencia de género.

Las mujeres latinoamericanas que han emigrado a Canadá pueden haber dejado atrás a sus familias y países de origen, así como sus carreras y propiedades. Sin los sistemas de apoyo a menudo estrechamente unidos de sus comunidades y culturas de origen, las mujeres pueden quedar aisladas y depender de los amigos y familiares de sus parejas para sus necesidades sociales, culturales y financieras.

Para las mujeres latinoamericanas cuyas parejas son ciudadanos canadienses, y en particular aquellos que son blancos, existen dinámicas de poder que crean condiciones y consideraciones complejas. Al igual que muchas mujeres inmigrantes o refugiadas, las mujeres latinoamericanas pueden ser patrocinadas en su estatus migratorio por sus parejas abusivas, exacerbando las condiciones que conducen a su vulnerabilidad. En algunos casos, solo hay promesas falsas de patrocinio en estatus migratorio, de las que pueden darse cuenta solo cuando es demasiado tarde, como por ejemplo después de que una mujer tiene hijos nacidos en Canadá. Para las mujeres latinoamericanas cuyos hijos nacen en Canadá, el temor a perder la custodia de sus hijos y ser deportadas puede llevarlas a quedarse en relaciones abusivas.

Al igual que todas las sobrevivientes de violencia de pareja íntima y violencia de género, las mujeres y personas de género no binario latinoamericanas experimentan barreras financieras para su seguridad, incluido el alto costo de la vivienda y la alimentación. Para las mujeres con hijos, el costo del cuidado infantil puede representar un obstáculo inmenso para la independencia de una pareja abusiva.

BWSS entiende que las mujeres inmigrantes y refugiadas que acceden a nuestros servicios pueden no solo tener necesidades inmediatas relacionadas con sus experiencias de violencia de pareja en relaciones íntimas, y violencia de género en Canadá, sino  que a menudo también han sido sobrevivientes de violencia de genero en la infancia, durante su vida o han experimentado persecución politica asi que requieren apoyo para integrarse en Canada. BWSS sabe que las sobrevivientes latinoamericanas necesitan servicios específicos en cuanto al idioma y cultura para envolver y adaptar los servicios y de esta manera sobrepasar estas barreras, y a través de nuestro Programa para Mujeres Latinoamericanas, buscamos abordar las necesidades de la comunidad latinoamericana llenando lo faltante en los servicios de apoyo para sobrevivientes de violencia.

El grupo de Mujeres Latinoamericanas

Sujey Villalobos-Estrada, consejera de Mujeres en el Programa para Mujeres Latinoamericanas, dirige “Latinas Latimos Juntas”, un grupo semanal para mujeres latinoamericanas que experimentan o han experimentado violencia de género y violencia domestica. Latinas Latimos Juntas, es un grupo que reúne a sobrevivientes para aprender y discutir temas importantes relacionados con la violencia en las relaciones íntimas. Las participantes aprenden a nombrar la violencia que están experimentando y, al hacerlo, combaten la confusión creada por la manipulación que es tan común en relaciones abusivas. Las participantes trabajan juntas para identificar y nombrar sus emociones y empoderarse mutuamente en sus procesos de curación como compañeras.

Sujey describe el grupo Latinas Latimos Juntas como un lugar de conexión y cultura. “En un momento estamos hablando de violencia”, afirma Sujey, “y al siguiente estamos haciendo actividades de conexión con el cuerpo, arte, o un poco de baile”. El grupo Latinas Latimos Juntas ofrece una oportunidad para que las sobrevivientes que han estado aisladas creen comunidad una vez más. Al reflexionar sobre los vínculos creados entre las participantes del grupo, Sujey reflexiona que “las conexiones ocurren de forma natural y rápida”, algo que nota está “vinculado a la cultura latinoamericana”.

Sujey aprecia ver la fuerza en las participantes y admira cómo se comunican y se apoyan mutuamente durante cada sesión. “Es una gran recompensa para mí”, dice, “es hermoso ver a las mujeres apoyándose mutuamente y cómo comienzan a visibilizar la violencia y superarla”. Sujey agrega que “acompañar a las sobrevivientes en el proceso de curación es una gran parte de mi trabajo en el Programa para Mujeres Latinoamericanas y en el trabajo en general de BWSS”.

Mujeres Latinoamericanas y el Centro de Justicia en BWSS

La organización BWSS está comprometida a acompañar a las sobrevivientes de violencia de género en sus trayectos hacia la justicia y la sanación, y una de las formas en que lo hacemos es a través del Centro de Justicia en BWSS. El Centro de Justicia en BWSS es un programa legal comunitario que brinda servicios legales y defensa a mujeres y personas de género no binario que se autoidentifican como sobrevivientes de VPI y violencia de género. El Centro de Justicia ofrece apoyo a las sobrevivientes de violencia de género que enfrentan el sistema legal de derecho de familia, inmigración, bienestar infantil, derecho civil y/o justicia penal.

BWSS sabe que el sistema legal puede ser alienante, intimidante y retraumatizante para las sobrevivientes de violencia doméstica y violencia de género que buscan justicia. Esto es especialmente cierto para las sobrevivientes Latino Americanas recién llegadas, inmigrantes, refugiadas, y mujeres con estado precario de inmigración que enfrentan el racismo y las barreras lingüísticas al acceder al sistema legal en Canadá. Sujey explica que “en la mayoría de los países latinoamericanos, tener acceso a una buena educación en un segundo idioma es un privilegio que la mayoría de las inmigrantes no tienen. Como resultado, se encuentran en una situación vulnerable, a menudo dependientes de sus abusadores. Existe un desequilibrio significativo de la justicia, especialmente si el abusador es blanco y el inglés es su primer idioma, ya que tienen la capacidad de presentar su caso de manera efectiva. Por el contrario, las mujeres con un dominio limitado del inglés enfrentan dificultades para expresar los detalles del abuso”. Escuchando las historias de muchas sobrevivientes inmigrantes, está claro que el racismo y las barreras lingüísticas juegan un papel significativo en su capacidad para acceder a la justicia en Canadá.

El manual de BWSS  de Empoderamiento: Mujeres No Estatus, Refugiadas e Inmigrantes que Experimentan Violencia describe algunas razones adicionales por las cuales las mujeres latinoamericanas desconfían del sistema legal en Canadá. “Debido a sus experiencias en su país de origen”, afirman sus autoras, “algunas mujeres latinoamericanas desconfían mucho del sistema legal”, y agregan que “hay una tendencia entre las mujeres latinoamericanas que experimentan violencia a ver el sistema de justicia como más un riesgo que un recurso”. Una de las principales barreras para la seguridad de las mujeres latinoamericanas es “no tener conocimiento sobre el sistema legal canadiense. La falta de conocimiento afecta la eficacia de una mujer cuando intenta acceder al sistema y coloca al abusador en una posición de poder sobre la mujer”. BWSS reconoce que el sistema legal en Canadá a menudo presenta una burocracia y barreras innecesarias para la justicia de las sobrevivientes de violencia inmigrantes y refugiadas, y ofrecemos nuestros servicios como un medio para abordar las injusticias que aquejan al sistema legal.

Karen Bation, Gerente del Centro de Justicia en BWSS, explica cómo el Centro de Justicia ayuda a las sobrevivientes con una variedad de apoyos de inmigración: “Nuestro equipo trabaja en estrecha colaboración con las sobrevivientes para ayudarlas con su estatus migratorio. Por ejemplo, si hay un quiebre en el patrocinio por parte de un cónyuge abusivo, podemos trabajar con la mujer para presentar una solicitud de permiso de residente temporal (TRP) y un permiso de trabajo abierto (OWP). Estos permiten que una sobreviviente permanezca en Canadá y obtenga independencia financiera. También ayudamos a las mujeres con otras preocupaciones de inmigración, como una solicitud de Consideración Humanitaria y Compasiva si hay un hijo nacido en Canadá. Si evaluamos que la mujer potencialmente podría ser refugiada, podemos ayudarla a presentar una solicitud de refugio. Si se considera que una sobreviviente tiene estatus de refugiada, el Centro de Justicia en BWSS puede ayudarla a solicitar la residencia permanente en Canadá”.

El Centro de Justicia en BWSS también ayuda a las mujeres a buscar representación de ayuda Legal “Legal Aid” para una variedad de problemas relacionados con sus experiencias de violencia de pareja y violencia de género. Nuestro equipo del Centro de Justicia puede ayudar a las sobrevivientes a solicitar ayuda legal y, si se les niega, también con el proceso de apelación. Nuestras defensoras legales trabajan en estrecha colaboración con las mujeres para completar documentos legales en las áreas de derecho penal o de familia, una tarea que permite a las mujeres aprovechar al máximo las horas asignadas con un abogado de ayuda legal. Los miembros de nuestro equipo también acompañan a las mujeres a la corte, brindando un apoyo crucial en momentos de necesidad extrema.

Lucia Vega Jiménez

Hay pocos casos que delineen más claramente la necesidad de la defensa legal contra la violencia hacia las mujeres recién llegadas, inmigrantes, refugiadas y mujeres con un estatus de inmigración precario como el caso desgarrador de Lucía Vega Jiménez. Vega Jiménez, fue una mujer mexicana que vivía en Vancouver, BC con un estatus de inmigración precario. Lucia fue encarcelada por la Agencia de Servicios Fronterizos de Canadá (CBSA) y enfrentaba la deportación mientras esperaba en el Centro de Detención de Inmigración en el Aeropuerto Internacional de Vancouver. En diciembre de 2013, temiendo la persecución basada en género, incluida la tortura y el asesinato al regresar a México, Lucía puso fin a su vida mientras esperaba la deportación.

En 2014, Rosa Elena Arteaga testificó en una investigación forense sobre su muerte en custodia de la CBSA. En su intervención, Rosa Elena testificó que “durante varios años, BWSS ha estado alertando sobre la relación entre la violencia de género y la inmigración precaria para las mujeres, en general, y específicamente desde México”. Durante su testimonio, Rosa Elena denunció la deshumanización y la objetificación de Vega Jiménez tanto durante su tiempo en custodia como durante el proceso de investigación. Rosa Elena argumentó que “la CBSA había descartado la experiencia de violencia de género de la Sra. Jiménez y el riesgo de muerte al que parecía enfrentarse al regresar a México”. Añadió que “la violencia de género y el estatus migratorio precario no son comprendidos o son ignorados por los funcionarios canadienses”.

El informe El Color de la Violencia de BWSS señala que el testimonio de Rosa Elena “alertó sobre la relación entre la violencia de género y el estatus migratorio precario para las sobrevivientes”. Como resultado de este trabajo y otras acciones de defensa, en ese momento, BWSS acordó colaborar con la CBSA y el Departamento de Policía de Vancouver (VPD) para garantizar que las sobrevivientes migrantes, refugiadas y sin estatus puedan buscar apoyos legales y de BWSS sin temor a la deportación automática. También BWSS, dio entrenamientos y talleres sobre el tema de la violencia de genero y la violencia en relaciones de pareja a oficiales de la CBSA y el VPD. BWSS impartió talleres sobre cómo trabajar con mujeres migrantes, refugiadas y sin estatus que han experimentado violencia de género.

“En honor a Lucía Vega Jiménez y las muchas Lucías invisibles”.

-Rosa Elena Arteaga

BWSS sigue comprometida en poner fin al racismo sistémico y la discriminación contra las mujeres migrantes, inmigrantes y refugiadas. Brindando servicios de apoyo culturalmente receptivos y accesibles es una de las formas en que estamos comprometidas a abordar la marginalización de las mujeres y personas de género no binario latinoamericanas que experimentan violencia de pareja íntima y violencia de género. ¡Trabajamos incansablemente para eliminar la violencia contra las mujeres y nos solidarizamos con las mujeres latinoamericanas que luchan por su seguridad, libertad y justicia!

Latinas Latimos Juntas– the Latin American Women’s Program at BWSS

BWSS is committed to providing specialized supports for women and gender-diverse survivors of violence who experience overlapping and intersecting barriers to safety from abusive relationships. One of the largest groups of survivors we offer specialized supports to is Latin American women and gender-diverse people.

As far back as the 1990’s, BWSS began working closely with activists from Latin American countries to fight gender-based persecution of women, and to support women fleeing appalling levels of physical and sexual violence in Central and South America.

Since 2003, we have been offering the Latin American Women’s Program (LAWP), which provides a holistic approach and cultural understanding of the unique issues and needs of Latin American immigrant and refugee women.

Rosa Elena Arteaga, BWSS Director of Clinical Practice and Direct Services, and one of the founding Latin American Women’s Program team members, reflects on the early days of the Latin American Women’s Program: “What we learned when we started to offer services to Latin American women is that there were more women needing that support than we previously thought. We quickly expanded our programming to address the needs of the community, and the Latin American Women’s Program really grew from there.”

BWSS’ work with Latin American women is unique and multifaceted.

Our Latin American Women’s Program offers Spanish- and Portuguese-language specific supports for women, including individual counselling from a feminist, trauma-based perspective, as well as group programming.

Through this program, BWSS serves Latin American women and gender-diverse survivors from many countries and many different demographic contexts, including survivors who are Afro Latina, Afro-Indigenous Latina, Indigenous to Latin American countries, and those who are settlers as well. We provide wrap around supports for Latin American women leaving abusive relationships, through crisis intervention, safety planning, and counselling.

Our short-term support workers and counsellors work closely with BWSS’ Housing Advocate, BWSS’ Advancing Women’s Awareness Regarding Employment (AWARE) program, and the Justice Centre at BWSS to ensure that Latin American survivors receive holistic supports to address any complex needs they may have.

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), Gender-Based Violence (GBV), and Latin American Women

Latin America is plagued by horrific, rising rates of intimate partner violence, gender-based violence and femicide. As a region, Latin America is home to 14 of the 25 countries with the highest rates of femicide/feminicide in the world. In Mexico specifically, the rates of femicide are shocking, with 10 women killed every day on the basis of gender. Gender-based violence in Latin America is aggravated and amplified by the shocking leniency of law enforcement and the legal system towards abusers, the vast majority of whom are men.

As an anti-racist, decolonial feminist organization, BWSS acknowledges the pervasive impact of colonialism on rates of violence against women, girls, and gender-diverse people. The colonization of Latin America by Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch and English settlers has resulted in patriarchy, racism and classism embedded into institutions and social systems throughout Latin America. In addition, the region’s deep history of enslavement of African peoples has modern impacts in terms of anti-black racism, systemic discrimination, and widespread gender inequality.

Violence against women, children, and gender-diverse people is one of the most powerful factors driving migration from Latin American countries to Canada and the United States. “Sexual and gender-based violence”, according to an article produced by the Atlantic Council, “is a primary factor forcing women and girls to migrate from the three Northern Triangle countries: Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala.” Likewise, sexualized and gender-based violence in Mexico has resulted in new waves of migration north, with more women and children fleeing than ever before.

BWSS acknowledges the struggles of Latin American women who are fleeing violence from their native country, who may have undergone systemic violence and oppression, and who have experienced the immigration process that we know can be unjust and retraumatizing for survivors of violence. We also acknowledge that upon arrival in Canada, Latin American women face further injustices as newcomer immigrants and refugees.

BWSS’ recently released Colour of Violence report acknowledges that “being a newcomer to Canada shapes experiences of and responses to gender-based violence”. We know that there are many ways that being a newcomer to Canada impacts the experiences that Latin American women have with GBV. From experiencing precarious immigration status, to the imbalance of power dynamics in intimate relationships with white Canadians, Latin American women and gender-diverse people, like other migrant and newcomer groups, are particularly vulnerable to experiencing GBV. 

Latin American women who have immigrated to Canada may have left their families and homelands, as well as their careers and property behind. Without the often tight-knit support systems of their home communities and cultures, women can be left isolated, and relying on their partners’ friends and family for their social, cultural, and financial needs.

For Latin American women whose partners are Canadian citizens, and in particular those who are white, power dynamics exist that create complex conditions and considerations. Like many immigrant or refugee women, Latin American women may be sponsored by their abusive partner, exacerbating the conditions that lead to their vulnerability. In some cases, there are only promises of sponsorship, which can prove empty and false only when it is too late, such as after a woman has children born in Canada. For Latin American women whose children are born in Canada, fear of losing custody of their children and being deported can lead them to staying in abusive relationships.

Like all survivors of IPV and GBV, Latin American women and gender-diverse people experience financial barriers to safety, including the high cost of housing and food. For women with children, the cost of childcare can pose an immense obstacle to independence from an abusive partner.

BWSS understands that immigrant and refugee women accessing our services may not only have immediate needs related to IPV and GBV experiences in Canada but often carry previous trauma that requires support to integrate into their host country. BWSS knows that Latin American survivors need language-specific, culturally-relevant, wrap around services in order to overcome these barriers, and through our Latin American Women’s Program, we aim to address the needs of the Latin American community by filling gaps in support services for survivors of violence.

The Latin American Women’s group

Sujey Villalobos-Estrada, Women’s Counsellor in the Latin American Women’s Program, runs Latinas Latimos Juntas, a weekly group for Latin American women experiencing IPV and GBV. Latinas Latimos Juntas, meaning “Latina hearts beating together”, is a group that brings survivors together to learn about and discuss important topics relating to violence in relationships. Participants learn to give name to the violence they are experiencing, and in doing so, fight the gaslighting that is so common in abusive relationships. Participants work together to identify and name their emotions, and to empower each other in their healing journeys as peers.

Sujey describes the Latinas Latimos Juntas group as a place of connection and culture.  “One moment we are talking about violence”, states Sujey, “and the next we are doing grounding activities, like maybe art, singing, or a little bit of dance.” The Latinas Latimos Juntas group offers an opportunity for survivors who have been isolated to create community once again. In reflecting on the bonds created between group participants, Sujey reflects that “connections happen so fast”, something that she notes is “linked to Latin American culture.”

Sujey appreciates seeing the strength in participants and admires how they communicate with and support each other during each session. “It’s a huge reward for me”, she says, “it’s beautiful to see the women supporting each other, and how they start to name the violence and move past it”. Sujey adds that “accompanying survivors through the process of healing is a big part of my work in the Latin American Women’s Program and the work of BWSS overall.”

Latin American Women and the Justice Centre at BWSS

BWSS is committed to walking with survivors of gender-based violence on their journeys towards justice and healing, and one of the ways we do so is through the Justice Centre at BWSS. The Justice Centre at BWSS is a community legal program providing legal services and advocacy for self-identifying women and gender-diverse survivors of IPV and GBV. The Justice Centre offers support to women and gender-diverse survivors who are facing the family law, immigration, child welfare, civil law, and/or criminal justice legal systems.

BWSS knows that the legal system can be alienating, intimidating, and re-traumatizing to survivors of IPV and GBV seeking justice. This is especially true for Latin American newcomer immigrant and refugee survivors of violence who face racism and language barriers when accessing the legal system in Canada. Sujey explains that “In most Latin American countries, having access to a good education in a second language is a privilege that most immigrants do not have. As a result, they find themselves in a vulnerable situation, often dependent on their abusers. There is a significant imbalance of justice, particularly if the abuser is white and English is their first language, as they have the ability to present their case effectively. Conversely, women with limited English proficiency face difficulties in expressing the details of the abuse.” Listening to the stories of many immigrant survivors, it is clear that racism and language barriers play a significant role in their ability to access justice in Canada.

BWSS’ Empowering: Non-Status, Refugee and Immigrant Women who Experience Violence manual outlines some additional reasons why Latin American women are apprehensive of the legal system in Canada. “Due to their experiences in their home country”, its authors state, “some Latin American women are highly suspicious of the legal system”, adding that “there is a tendency amongst Latin American women who experience violence to see the justice system as more of a risk than a resource”. One of the main barriers to safety for Latin American women is “not having knowledge about the Canadian legal system. Lack of knowledge affects a woman’s efficacy when she is trying to access the system and places the abuser in an increased position of power over the woman.” BWSS acknowledges that the legal system in Canada often presents unnecessary bureaucracy and barriers to justice for immigrant and refugee survivors of violence, and we offer our services as a means of addressing the injustices that plague the legal system.

Karen Bation, Manager of the Justice Centre at BWSS, explains how the Justice Centre assists survivors with a variety of immigration supports: “Our team works closely with survivors to help them with their immigration status. For example, if there is a sponsorship breakdown from an abusive spouse, we can work with the woman to pursue a temporary resident permit (TRP) application and an open work permit (OWP). These allow a survivor to remain in Canada and gain financial independence. We help women with other immigration concerns as well, like an application for Humanitarian and Compassionate Consideration if there is a Canadian-born child involved. If we assess that the woman is potentially a refugee, we can assist her in making a refugee claim. If a survivor is deemed as having refugee status, the Justice Centre at BWSS can help her apply for permanent residency in Canada.”

The Justice Centre at BWSS also assists women with pursuing Legal Aid representation for a variety of issues related to their experiences of IPV and GBV. Our Justice Centre team can assist survivors with applying for Legal Aid, and if denied, with the appeal process as well. Our legal advocates work closely with women to complete legal documents in the areas of criminal or family law- a task which allows women to make the most of their allotted hours with a Legal Aid lawyer. Members of our team also accompany women to court, providing crucial legal advocacy and support in times of dire need.

Lucia Vega Jimenez

There are few cases which outline more clearly the need for anti-violence legal advocacy for newcomer immigrant and refugee women than the heart-breaking case of Lucia Vega Jimenez. Vega Jimenez, a Mexican woman living without status in Vancouver, was incarcerated by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and faced deportation while waiting in the Immigration Holding Centre in the Vancouver International Airport. In December 2013, fearing gender-based persecution, including torture and murder upon her return to Mexico, Lucia ended her life awaiting deportation.

In 2014, Rosa Elena Arteaga, appeared as a witness in a Coroner’s Inquest into her death in CBSA custody. In her intervention, Rosa Elena testified that “for several years, BWSS has been raising the alarm about the relationship between gender-based violence and precarious immigration for women, in general, and specifically from Mexico.” During her testimony, Rosa Elena called out the dehumanization and objectification of Vega Jimenez both during her time in custody and throughout the inquiry process. Rosa Elena argued that “CBSA had discounted Ms. Jimenez’s experience of gender-based violence and the risk of death it appeared she faced returning to Mexico.” She added that “gender-based violence and precarious immigration status are not understood or are ignored by Canadian officials.” 

BWSS’ Colour of Violence report notes that Rosa Elena’s testimony “raised the alarm about the relationship between gender-based violence and precarious immigration status for survivors.” As a result of this work and other advocacy, at the time, BWSS agreed to collaborate with CBSA and the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) to ensure that migrant, refugee, and non-status survivors can pursue legal remedies and support from BWSS without fear of automatic deportation. We have also trained CBSA and VPD officers on working with migrant, refugee, and non-status women who have experienced gender-based violence.

“In honor of Lucia Vega Jimenez and the many invisible Lucias”.

-Rosa Elena Arteaga

BWSS remains committed to ending systemic racism and discrimination against migrant, immigrant, and refugee women. Providing culturally-responsive, accessible support services is one of the ways we are committed to addressing the marginalization of Latin American women and gender-diverse people experiencing intimate partner violence and gender-based violence. We work tirelessly to eliminate violence against women and stand in solidarity with Latin American women fighting for safety, freedom, and justice!

BWSS Commemorates Prisoners Justice Day

Join us in affirming the lives and self-determination of all survivors of gender-based violence.

“Prisoners Justice Day is…the day to oppose prison violence, police violence, and violence against women and children.”

— Prisoners Justice Day Committee, 2001

August 10^th is Prisoners’ Justice Day (PJD).

At BWSS, we know that for many survivors, experiences of domestic violence, sexual assault, and other forms of gender-based violence (GBV) are, as Survived and Punished write, “bound up with systems of incarceration and police violence.” In fact, according to data from the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies, 85% of federally sentenced women have a history of physical abuse, while 68% have history of sexual abuse. This rate increases to 90% for Indigenous women.

Racialized women are Canada’s fastest growing prison population, with Black and Indigenous women accounting for more than half of all federally sentenced women, despite making up only 4% and 3% of the country’s adult female population, respectively.

“Trends in prison populations show that criminalization is determined by racist constructions of crime. In Policing Black Lives, Robyn Maynard refers to this as the criminalization of race.”

—Decriminalizing Race, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2020

Today, BWSS commemorates PJD, in solidarity with the lives and self-determination of all survivors of gender-based violence.

We are spotlighting 6 crucial resources that take an anti-oppressive, intersectional approach to addressing gender-based violence at its intersections with the violence of prisons, policing and criminalization.

BWSS Submission to Federal Government Pre-Budget Consultation:

Prioritize Ending GBV!

The Canadian government’s House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance is in the process of its annual pre-budget consultations process.

As part of this process, the federal government is seeking public input on priorities for the government’s forthcoming budget.  We encourage you to join BWSS in adding your voice to call for immediate action and funding commitments to end gender-based violence. The deadline to make your submission is August 4, 2023: https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/FINA/news-release/12536255

Gender-based violence is an absolute emergency in every community in this country, and we need immediate, effective, and concrete action to end gender-based violence across these lands. The lives of far too many survivors depends on it.

You can read our full submission to the federal government here.

Declaring gender-based violence to be “one of the most pervasive, deadly, and deeply rooted human rights violations of our time,” federal, provincial, and territorial governments in Canada announced the endorsement of a 10-year National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence in November 2022.

However, meaningful action has been slow.

Gender-based violence has reached epidemic proportions, leading to what is being called “a shadow pandemic.” Femicide is on the rise across Canada. In 2022, 184 women and girls were violently killed due to their gender, representing an alarming 27 percent increase when compared to 2019. Over the past five years, over 850 women and girls were killed in Canada. That means, on average, at least one person every two days is killed due to their gender. For five consecutive years, rates of reported family violence and intimate partner violence have also been increasing.

Gender-based violence is not a uniform experience. Indigenous women, Black women, racialized women, newcomer immigrant/refugee women, low-income women, women with disabilities, rural women, and trans and two spirit people are:

Gender-based violence is especially pronounced for Indigenous women, girls, trans and two spirit people resisting gendered settler-colonial violence. “Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls” emphatically states that “The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls finds that this amounts to genocide.”

Disturbingly, the federal government has yet to implement action on the Calls for Justice formulated by the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. A recent CBC analysis shows that, as of June 2023, only two of the 231 calls have been completed — and more than half haven’t even been started.

More recently, the Mass Casualty Commission, a joint public inquiry between the Governments of Canada and Nova Scotia created to examine the April 2020 mass casualty in Nova Scotia, released its final report. This mass casualty was one of the largest mass murders in Canadian history, in which a sole perpetrator, Gabriel Wortman, killed 22 people throughout rural Nova Scotia over a 13-hour period while dressed as an RCMP officer and driving a mocked up RCMP cruiser.

A key theme throughout the final report is gender-based violence, and the Commissioners call for immediate, comprehensive action on gender-based violence in Canada. The Final Report of the Mass Casualty Commission, Turning the Tide Together, states “Redressing our collective failure to keep women safe will mean shifting public funding toward prevention – toward addressing the upstream problems, including the causes of male violence and the social and economic conditions that perpetuate women’s vulnerability to violence.”

The Commissioners make over 130 recommendations to governments, with many recommendations calling on governments to treat gender-based violence as an epidemic and prioritize prevention and paths to safety for survivors.

BWSS’s recommendations to the Federal Government

Our recommendations are focused on the dire and urgent need for immediate and comprehensive action to end gender-based violence.

For example, in 2018, these percentages of women reported having experienced physical or sexual assault since the age of 15:

Read our full submission to the federal government here and join us in making your own submission call for immediate action and funding commitments by the federal government to end gender-based violence.

Earlier this year, the Nova Scotia Mass Casualty Commission released its final report, titled Turning the Tide Together.

The Mass Casualty Commission was a joint public inquiry between the Governments of Canada and Nova Scotia created to examine the April 2020 mass casualty in Nova Scotia.

This mass casualty was one of the largest mass murders in Canadian history, in which a sole perpetrator, Gabriel Wortman, killed 22 people throughout rural Nova Scotia over a 13-hour period while dressed as an RCMP officer and driving a mocked up RCMP cruiser.

Gender-Based Violence is a Mass Casualty

The commission’s findings, final report, and over 130 recommendations focus on how to increase community safety and to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.

A key theme throughout the report is the pervasive context of gender-based violence giving rise to the mass casualty and the failed actions of the police.

The Commission stress that the strong connection between gender-based violence and mass casualties cannot be overlooked.

The Commission finds four main connections between gender-based violence and mass casualties:

1. Perpetrators frequently target a specific woman at the outset of a mass casualty incident. Often, this is the perpetrator’s current or former intimate partner, a woman with whom the perpetrator wanted to have an intimate relationship, or a family member.
2. Many perpetrators have a history of gender-based violence including intimate partner violence, coercive control, sexual assault, stalking, and harassment.
3. Some mass casualties have been overtly motivated by hatred of women in general or by a belief that women don’t deserve respect, security, or equality.
4. Some mass casualties are motivated by misogyny intersecting with other forms of extremism.

Disturbingly, the Commissioners found there were many warning signs of Wortman’s history of gender-based violence and several missed opportunities to intervene in the years before the mass casualty.

For example, he was known among sex workers as someone who exchanged dental work for sex and who routinely violated sex workers. He also had a history of violent behaviour against his patients, neighbours and his common-law spouse, Lisa Banfield, who was in a twenty-year abusive relationship with him and endured physical abuse and violent assaults.

The Commissioners found that the RCMP failed to take meaningful action on third-party reports of assaults by Wortman on Ms. Banfield and didn’t act on concerns for Ms. Banfield’s safety that were expressed by her neighbours dating back to 2013.

In addition, the Commissioners acknowledged the victim-blaming faced by Banfield during the relationship, and even in the months following the mass casualty. “The RCMP’s treatment of Lisa Banfield during the RCMP’s H-Strong investigation [of Wortman] is an example of the kind of revictimization that makes it less likely that women survivors of gender-based violence will seek help from police,” says the report.

The Commissioners found the failure of the police to respond to this extensive history of violence as a failure “to adequately address gender-based violence.”

In their extensive discussion of gender-based violence, the Commission noted that Wortman’s pattern of violent behaviour was facilitated by the power and privilege he experienced as a white man with professional status and substantial means. Conversely, they also highlighted that “economic marginalization and criminalization heighten the risk of violence against women and girls.”

They specifically point out how “Indigenous women and girls, Black and racialized women, immigrant and refugee women, 2SLGBTQI+ people, people with disabilities, and women living in northern, rural, and remote communities are disproportionately subjected to violence,” and that, further, “the consequences of reporting violence can deepen their experience of inequality.”

This is a crucial recognition of the systemic, intersectional nature of gender-based violence that exists on a spectrum of intimate partner violence, family violence, and gendered state violence.

Key Recommendations of the Mass Casualty Commission

“Redressing our collective failure to keep women safe will mean shifting public funding toward prevention – toward addressing the upstream problems, including the causes of male violence and the social and economic conditions that perpetuate women’s vulnerability to violence.”

– Turning the Tide Together

Some of the specific recommendations of the Commission include:

BWSS Calls for Immediate Action on the Mass Casualty Commission Report

As a frontline organization, BWSS support the Commission’s call for all levels of government to treat gender-based violence as an epidemic and prioritize prevention and paths to safety for survivors.

All levels of government must immediately implement the urgent recommendations laid out in Turning the Tide Together, as well as the Roadmap for the National Action Plan for Violence Against Women and Gender-Based Violence, and the Calls for Justice in Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

We echo the urgency outlined in Turning the Tide Together, where the Commissioners write, “All too often, gender-based, intimate partner and family violence are precursors to the forms of violence that are more readily seen as being of broader ‘public’ concern. We ignore these forms of violence at our collective peril.”

For immediate release

Anti-violence Organization Reacts to B.C Government Announcement to Support Sexual Assault Survivors

Monday July 24, 2023 – (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C) – Battered Women’s Support Services, a B.C-based anti-violence organization providing frontline advocacy and support services to assist survivors of gender-based violence, is reacting to the B.C government’s announcement on sexual assault programs and policing standards for survivors of sexual assault.

According to Angela Marie MacDougall, Executive Director of Battered Women’s Support Services: “We have been raising the alarm on the crisis of gender-based violence for years now. We are pleased to see the announcement on funding for sexual assault centres in the province, as well as the new sexual assault standards for B.C policing. However, we know that police responses are only one part of a full safety plan for survivors of sexual assault. As the provincial government itself recognizes, only 6 percent of sexual assaults are even reported to police due to fear and mistrust of the criminal legal system, especially by Indigenous, Black, racialized, sex working, queer and trans, and low-income survivors. Given the widely documented, systemic issues of racism, misogyny, homophobia, and unaccountability in the culture of policing, particularly the RCMP, will these standards alone be enough? What are the meaningful accountability and oversight mechanisms for survivors and frontline organizations to hold the RCMP and municipal forces in B.C accountable if they fail to uphold their own standards?”

Recent data from Statistics Canada shows that sexual assault is the only violent crime in Canada that is not declining. In fact, the sexual assault rate in 2021 was the highest since 1996, with more than 34,200 reports of sexual assault in Canada in 2021, an 18 percent increase from 2020.

“Survivors in this province need a whole-of-government plan to end sexual assaults and all gender-based violence, with pathways to real safety and justice beyond the immediate crisis of an assault. This means adequate housing, financial security, transition services, counseling, wrap around supports, culturally safe programs, violence prevention and education, and real access to justice. Last year, federal, provincial, and territorial governments endorsed a 10-year National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence. We are encouraged that the province is now taking steps to develop a plan to end gender-based violence, and we call on the B.C government to implement a comprehensive, multi-stakeholder, and intersectional provincial plan to end gender-based violence that is commensurate to the scale of the problem. Gender-based violence is an absolute state of emergency in every community in this province,” continues MacDougall.