As we know, the need for immediate action on gender-based violence is critical. In 2018, a woman or girl was killed every 2.5 days and on average, a woman is killed every six days by her intimate partner in Canada. And it has only been a couple of months since the national inquiry’s final report into the widespread violence, described as genocide, perpetrated against Indigenous Women, Girls and LGBTQ2S*.

Last week, the Federal Government released the second annual “It’s Time: Canada’s Strategy to Address and Prevent Gender-Based Violence”, which highlights the Government of Canada’s progress on ending gender-based violence. This new report is evidence that our collective advocacy is moving the dial forward but is also a reminder that we need to continue the pressure because Canada still has a long road ahead before we can live free without the fear of violence.

The Government has concentrated its actions under the three pillars of the Strategy,

1. preventing gender-based violence
2. supporting survivors and their families,
3. promoting responsive legal and justice systems (focusing on accountability).

Highlighted in the report:

• Investment of more than $80 million in more than 80 projects in communities across the country to prevent gender-based violence and support diverse groups of survivors and their families, including preventing teen dating violence and child maltreatment, and equipping professionals to respond;
• Investing in gender-based violence and gender equality research to support evidence-based policy and programs, the first public call for research proposals in over a decade;
• Bringing in a new law that provides five days paid leave for victims of family violence working in a federally regulated sector;
• Completing the expanded review of over 30,000 sexual assault case files by federal law enforcement in April 2019;

Read the full report here.

For 40 years, BWSS has been providing programs, services, support, and advocacy to end gender based violence. Now, more than ever women, trans women and gender non-binary folks are speaking out about their experiences. 

Help give the gift of safety, because Safety Changes Everything.

Growing from forty years frontline knowledge, Battered Women’s Support Services (BWSS) training and education program shapes and deepens the development of skills and analysis of individuals, groups and organizations to strengthen social service practices and to advance social change.

At BWSS, our service delivery model extends beyond trauma informed to healing centered engagement that takes into consideration several aspects of survivors lived experiences.

Healing centered engagement is strength based, advances a collective view of healing, and re-centers culture as a central feature in well-being. Healing centered engagement is explicitly political, rather than clinical.  It is aksi culturally grounded and views healing as the restoration of identity. Healing centered engagement is asset driven and focuses well-being we want, rather than symptoms we want to suppress.

BWSS training and education programs grow from strong theoretical and practical frameworks. We have numerous training sessions and presentations planned for Fall and Winter 2019 including:

The Mental Health Conference hosted by Canadian Mental Health Association September 2019 in Toronto, Ontario. Their 2019 theme Connection Interrupted: Restoring Mental Health in a Fractured World  resonated profoundly with us and Angela Marie MacDougall, Brandy Kane and Rosa Elena Arteaga will present:

Intersectional Discourses on Healing
Day one – Session A1 10:00 to 12:00. Here’s more.

Strengthening Social Service Practices, Advancing Social Change.

This dynamic trio will be in Montreal September 24 – 27 to deliver specialized training program at Mouvement Contre le Viol et l’Inceste (Movement against Rape and Incest).

Session will include:

• Supporting Indigenous Women and Traditional Healing by Brandy Kane
• Deconstructing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to Advance Healing Centred Engagement by Angela Marie MacDougall
• Foundations of Narrative therapy and Trauma Informed Feminist Approach and Rosa Elena Arteaga

Over the last week there have been three mass shootings in the US. All three shooters had expressed their hatred for women.

We have said it before and we will say it again, the subtext of acts of mass violence is misogyny. With each new story in the news, as details are revealed so is the history of toxic masculinity of the shooter, they are mad, resentful and driven by a sense of entitlement.

In 1989 in Montreal Montreal Massacre at École Polytechnique 14 women were killed at the school. The shooter yelling: “I hate feminists!” before he began shooting.

In 2014, six people were shot and killed on a California university campus by a member of the “incel” community. His anger directed at women for not dating him.

In Florida the shooter was abusive to both his wives before opening fire on revelers in Pulse nightclub.

The mass shooting in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, was committed by a man who’d threatened to kill his mother years before he gunned her and 26 other people down at an elementary school.

Authorities responded to 36 emergency 911 calls from the family home of the, South Florida high school shooter because of his violence towards his mother.

While mass shootings are a small percentage of overall violence they tell us something about inherent misogyny. Let us not forget earlier this year The Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability (CFOJA) released their report #CallItFemicide Understanding gender-related killings of women and girls in Canada 2018. The report confirms that in 2018 148 women and girls were killed by violence in Canada. On average, every 2.5 days one woman or girl is killed in Canada which they state is “a consistent trend for four decades”.

We cannot, any longer, ignore misogyny, whether it is online, harassment, sexual violence or violence in intimate partner relationships –because it has deadly consequences.

BWSS exists to disrupt misogyny and other forms of inequalities. Supporting survivors of gender based violence through crisis support, counselling, support groups, and legal advocacy but also working for systemic and social change.

Stamina.

My counsellor at BWSS told me I needed stamina to get to the end. BWSS was integral to supporting me to lean on a village, to lend me their belief when I didn’t believe in myself. They gave me fuel when I had none. They gave me tools to cope and to manage what I needed to do for myself. And they helped me see that all along I was the one that was running this race of life. They helped me to look back and see the progress I’ve made and showed me the strength I have to have gotten this far. That helped to ignite my belief in myself again. 
 
I’m running this race to raise awareness for BWSS and what they have done for me. They’ve prepared me with the mental training of running my life marathon. And I know, I can complete this.
 
Will you support me and donate?

–  J. 

Double Your Impact!

Starting today, June 19 until race day, Sunday, June 23, a generous donor is matching all donations up to $5,000 made to the BWSS #SafetyChangesEverything team!

This means your donation will go further and is the perfect opportunity to sponsor team members like Jennifer who are running in support of BWSS.

For 40 years BWSS has provided a safe, welcoming space for trans/women and femmes who have experienced gender-based violence. 

This year we have 40 amazing people dedicated to raising $40,000 in the Scotiabank Half-Marathon and 5K in support of the work that happens every day at BWSS! 

Sponsor our team today so that together we can reach our goal. Because Safety Changes Everything. 

Our Crisis line doesn’t get answered without the help of volunteers.

Do you see yourself ready to make a difference by working directly with survivors of violence? Join our volunteer Violence Prevention and Intervention Training team!

After completing an intensive 12 week training program, volunteers answer our intake and crisis lines providing information to trans/women and femmes and the community, and facilitating support groups.

Attend a Violence Prevention information session to learn more:

Wednesday, July 17^th, 2019 at 6:00pm
Thursday, July 18^th at 4:00pm

BWSS Violence Prevention and intervention training program is offered to self-identified women who want to obtain the necessary skills to volunteer for our direct services:

• Intake and Crisis support line
• Women’s support groups
• Court accompaniment
• Community events
• Special projects and ongoing training
• And more

Through this inclusive and intensive training, participants will acquire knowledge and skills related to:

• Theoretical framework of violence against women.
• Crisis intervention
• Safety assessment and safety planning
• Group facilitation
• Introduction to criminal, family, and international law
• Feminist anti-oppression analysis and decolonizing practices
• Impacts of colonization, assimilation, residential schools as it relates to Indigenous Women
• Gendered persecution, political persecution, sexualized violence, and intimate partner violence as it relates to non-status, refugee women and women with precarious immigration status.
• LGBTQ2S survivors of gender based violence.

The Violence Prevention and Intervention Training Program dates will be:

Every Friday between September 20^th to December 6^th, 2019 9:30am to 4:30pm

Apply today!

“Running reminds you that even in your weakest moments, you are strong.”~ unknown 

Recently I was introduced to BWSS, Battered Women’s Support Services and all the work they do. I have even begun volunteering at their social enterprise eco-thrift store My Sister’s Closet. 

At the same time, I started running to clear my head after a recent trauma. When the opportunity arose to join the BWSS team and raise funds for them at the Scotia Charity Challenge on June 23rd, it seemed my stars aligned and it was a perfect way for me to give back. My friend is also supporting me in the 5km run and I have been offered so much support from my loved ones in this new life chapter that my heart is so very full!

I would greatly appreciate it if you looked at my link and considered donating to the team, my friend Corina or myself. All of it goes to one great cause 💖

-Colleen Thomas

For 40 years BWSS has provided a safe, welcoming space for trans/women and femmes who have experienced gender based violence. 

This year we have 40 amazing people dedicated to raising $40,000 in the Scotiabank Half-Marathon and 5K in support of the work that happens every day at BWSS! 

Sponsor our team today so that together we can reach our goal. Because Safety Changes Everything.