BWSS Legal Services and Advocacy Program will now offer full representation by a practicing lawyer

For the past 26 years, the Legal Services and Advocacy Program at Battered Women’s Support Services provides legal support to women who have experienced violence in intimate relationships helping women navigate the Canadian legal system.  Our supervised staff, interns and volunteer lawyers provide legal information, accompaniment to court and legal appointments, we appeal when legal aid has been denied and we provide assistance for documents and affidavits preparation.  It cannot be underscored enough how important access to justice and our Legal Services and Advocacy Program are for women’s long term safety and freedom from violence. Through accessing our Legal Services and Advocacy Program women are able to leave their abusive relationship, receive more fair custody and access orders increasing the safety for the children, able to have a voice in mediation proceedings and very importantly having access to legal representation in their legal cases.

BWSS Legal Services and Advocacy Program will now offer full representation by a practicing lawyer

“I couldn’t find a lawyer that wanted to take on my family case, there is simply not enough money involved with Legal Aid to make it worth their time”

Legal representation an opportunity for women to feel safer, not only physically but emotionally for herself and her children, especially when she is in court.

Approximately 80% of the women who access our services do not have legal representation because they are not eligible to receive government funded legal aid and do not have the money to privately retain their own lawyers.  The virtual elimination of Legal Aid in British Columbia and the complicated acceptance process has resulted in an increase of women who are having to self represent in family law, immigration and refugee cases. Over 80% of women accessing our services identify at least one legal issue where they require information.

Vicky Law is a practicing lawyer at BWSS and the Legal Services and Advocacy Program Coordinator. She supports women who have experienced violence and are involved in the legal system. Prior to working at BWSS, Vicky offered legal representation to women at a women’s legal clinic in Toronto in the areas of family, immigration and refugee, and child protection law. Vicky has been working in this area of law for the last 5 years to assist and support women fleeing violence.

The BWSS Legal Services and Advocacy Program Coordinator will take on full representation files in the capacity of a practicing lawyer in addition to her current job responsibilities. Representation files will be taken based on, but not limited to, the current caseload, availability of time, the number of law students volunteering at BWSS, and the complexity of legal issues.

Both the BWSS Legal Advocate and the BWSS Manager of Direct Services and Clinical Practice will discuss and assess when legal representation will be offered. Cases will be taken on a case to case basis. The factors that will be considered include, but not limited to:

• The woman has been denied by Legal Services Society for legal representation;
• The woman has appealed the Legal Services Society’s decision of denial and the appeal was unsuccessful;
• There are multiple barriers that prevent the woman from self-representation, including language, disability, complexity of legal issues, gender orientation, and impact of trauma;
• The use of the court system by the abuser as way to intimidate or harass or to continue any form of violence;
• The inability to privately retain a lawyer, such as financial difficulties; and
• The legal issue is either a family law, child protection or immigration law matter.

BWSS Legal Services and Advocacy Program provides a matrix of legal services for women experiencing violence and interfacing with the law.

Legal Advocacy Workshops April 7, 2016 – June 9, 2016, every Thursday 10am – 12pm at BWSS office

• The workshops are aimed at women who have or are experiencing violence in their relationships and require legal support with the resulting family law and other legal issues. Lawyers from the community with experience in family law will facilitate all workshops.

BWSS Women’s Family Law Clinic

• BWSS provides summary legal advice clinics in family law every month with volunteer lawyers from the community. These clinics are able to offer necessary summary legal advice to women on a continuous basis while they are un-represented in the family law system.
• BWSS continues their partnership with Access Pro Bono to provide monthly in-house pro-bono clinics in family law.  This partnership offers women legal advice while complementing the work of the legal advocacy program.

BWSS and Amici Curiae

• BWSS has partnered with Amici Curiae Paralegal Program to provide assistance to unrepresented women with affidavit drafting in the family law proceedings. Many unrepresented women need to make applications and supporting affidavits in order to resolve their legal issues. As a result, affidavits are important evidence to present all the relevant facts of the case. BWSS Legal Advocacy program, in partnership with Amici Curiae Paralegal Program, are providing one clinic per month to assist women in drafting affidavits. Each month, this clinic will support four women.

Pro Bono Students Canada – UBC Chapter

• The BWSS Legal Services and Advocacy Program is in partnership with Pro Bono Students Canada – UBC Chapter to provide mentorship to law students and additional services for women. UBC Law students work closely with women accessing the Legal Services and Advocacy Program.

Legal Internship Program

• BWSS Legal Services and Advocacy Program includes law students who provide services to women navigating the legal system through an internship. Legal interns interview women, assess and analyze legal problems, assist in resolving legal issues, prepare women for court, prepare documents and provide court accompaniments.

( L-R) Heather Wojcik TLFBC, Ruth Lea Taylor, BWSS Supervising Lawyer, Veenu Saini, TLFBC, Kelly Hardman, BWSS Board of Directors, Angela Marie MacDougall, BWSS Executive Director, Jan Lindsay, QC, TLFBC Liaison Governor, Rosa Elena Arteaga, Manager, Direct Services and Clinical Practice, Vicky Law, BWSS Legal Services and Advocacy Program Co-ordinator

For the past 26 years, BWSS has had a Legal Services and Advocacy Program because we know that for women leaving abusive relationships, the complication of dealing with the power/control issues of a violent spouse, makes dealing with legal system more difficult. Many women are the primary caregivers of children, and as such, may not work outside the home. Many women who do work outside the home do not make enough to pay for a lawyer but their income makes them ineligible for legal aid. They are then forced to represent themselves if they cannot find an advocate or a pro-bono lawyer. Some women give up and stay with their abuser because it is easier than leaving.

“It would have been easier to stay with the abuser and not deal with the courts and the painful separation”.

Women leaving abusive relationships have to make many critical decisions such as: where they will live after they leave, find protection for themselves and their children and start a new life. From the first decision to leave, a woman has to determine how she will support herself and her children. Women may also have the additional impact of a former spouse using the courts against her. In many of the cases seen at BWSS, abusive partners use the court process to harass, degrade and force women to concede to their demands.  Often women are navigating several areas of the law concurrently and often at opposing purposes.

“I was told [by a lawyer] to be quiet about the abuse and just settle so I could get child support, meanwhile providing access to my child violated a peace bond I had stemming from the assault charges against my abuser”

Without legal training, without lawyers, without English everyday women are standing in court with their abusive partners standing a few feet away from them and they present their cases in front of a judge.

The outcomes for women when they do not get proper and supportive legal representation and advice are:

• women are forced to provide unsafe access to their children with their violent ex-spouses,
• women must share custody with violent, unpredictable ex-spouses who often know where they live,
• women do not receive fair or just child support and spousal support payments to provide themselves and their children,
• women are threatened with deportation by their violent spouses,
• women are forced to take hours of time to access different types of support services to get preliminary advice (working women are losing income in order to access support services),
• women are forced into mediation services when the power and violence issues make them susceptible to more abuse,
• women must research and use self-help resources for complex legal problems that should be handled by a lawyer, and
• women who do have Legal Aid report that they deal with lawyers who do not take violence seriously and leave it out of the proceedings when it is integral to fair legal outcomes for battered women.

The Dynamics of Power and Control After Separation in Relation to the Family Law Processes

It is commonly known that violence escalates when a woman decides to separate from her abusive partner. After separation, an abusive partner will try to maintain his power and control through many ways. One form of control usually appears in the family law process, especially when children are involved. Through court-related abuse and harassment, abusers are able to use the significance of a child to continue his abuse towards the child’s mother.

Read the full article here

We are grateful to our partners

 
We are grateful for our funding partners The Law Foundation and My Sister’s Closet our social enterprise

The holiday season can be a stressful time for many of us. This time of year can be even harder for the many women we work with who are dealing with the impacts of violence and abuse.

Many women accessing our programs and services do not get the opportunity to relax and celebrate amidst the seasonal rush to get everything done… pressures to decorate the home, coordinate gatherings, prepare meals, and more. For women experiencing the impacts of violence and abuse, isolation and financial crunch, along with the desire to make the holidays the best they can for their families, add additional layers of pressure.

This holiday season, support the Battered Women’s Support Services Holiday Hamper Program and make a difference by sponsoring the holiday Wish List of a woman accessing BWSS programs.

When you give to our women during this time of year, you are helping them and their families experience a brighter holiday season. The Holiday Hampers made possible through generous donations help to decrease the stress women feel around this time of year.

As a sponsor, you will receive a detailed Wish List on behalf of a woman and her family, including her special wish, the number and ages of any children, and their special wishes. We work with women in diverse family structures, including single women as well as mothers. Sponsors will be matched with women based on how many people the sponsor can provide for. Gift cards of $100 (single dinner) and $200 (family dinner) will be accepted to sponsor women whose special wish includes a turkey dinner. There is no stipulation on the amount that needs to be spent on other items. No matter the size or cost of the items you purchase, you will change a woman’s holiday season.

Hampers must be delivered to Battered Women’s Support Services by Friday, December 18. This ensures that each woman has enough time to pick up their hamper and shop for their holiday meal. Gifts should be wrapped or wrapping paper provided with the hamper.

To sponsor a woman’s Holiday Wish List, please contact Jamie Rich at 604-687-1868 ext. 317 or email jamie@bwss.org.

The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

All around the world, violence against girls and women continues as one of the most destructive and tolerated human rights violations, a result of historic, legal and social gendered inequality and discrimination.  Roots of violence against girls and women are deep and a defining indicator of societies well out of balance.  Battered Women’s Support Services (BWSS) is determined to change that.

One in three women worldwide have experienced physical and/or sexual violence — mostly by an intimate male partner.  Our logo design embodies this stat with the statement The Violence Stops Here to identify that our goal is the elimination of violence against girls and women.

This global pandemic thrives in public and private spaces, whether at home, on the streets or during war and on average, every six days a woman in Canada is killed by her intimate male partner.

This year, on Wednesday, November 25, 2015, BWSS begins our fourth annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign.  Our emphasis this year:

Breaking the Silos – our flagship fundraising gala drawing attention to gender violence and climate change with speaker Severn Cullis-Suzuki and MC Jill Krop

Every Six Days – We introduce you to Sara (not her real name) a her story of migration and battering by her husband, because sadly, we know that there are refugee and immigrant women living this plight, right in our community.  Often suffering in silence, out of fear of increased violence, losing their children or being deported.

16 Day of Activism– From November 25 – December 10 we will host events and community initiatives online and in the physical world.  Stay connected through our blog Ending Violence www.bwss.org, through our facebook page and via twitter @EndingViolence and follow the hashtags #Every6Days, #16Days, and #BuyItFwd

We believe that prevention and intervention strategies are best when wholistic leveraging a matrix of actions concurrently that disrupt the roots of violence and the day to day occurrences.  BWSS proudly partners, collaborates, engages many sectors, stakeholders and communities to apply best practice approaches from mobilizing communities to change social norms, to comprehensive school interventions with students and staff, to economic empowerment programming, social enterprises My Sister’s Closet – an eco-thrift boutique and Strategic Interventions a fee for service skill-based training program.

16 Days of Activism Against Violence Against Women begins on November 25th, continues through December 6th and concludes on December 10th.  Here’s more about the significance of these dates.

On November 25, 1960, three Mirabel sisters were brutally assassinated for opposing the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic on the orders of the Dominican ruler Rafael Trujillo. Since 1981, the date 25 November has been marked as tribute to the Mirabel sisters and also as global recognition of gender violence by United Nations and activists. November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

December 6th is the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, is a day commemorated in Canada each December 6th, the anniversary of the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre, when fourteen women were singled out for being women and murdered. It is often marked by vigils, discussions and other reflections on violence against women.

Human Rights Day is celebrated annually across the world on December 10^th.

The date was chosen to honor the United Nations General Assembly‘s adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the first global enunciation of human rights and one of the first major achievements of the new United Nations.  As one of the most pressing human rights issues, violence against women is fused with Human Rights Day.

On average, every six days a woman  in Canada is killed by her intimate partner. And every day we work to change that reality. Here are some things we are doing in November and December to create awareness and take action to end violence against girls and women.

The PEAK Radio 102.7 FM Charity of the Month

Battered Women’s Support Services is pleased to be the charity of the month on The Peak Radio 102.7 fm for the month of November. Listen to hear our ads and check out our feature here:

Vancity Credit Union Community Showcase

Check out our booth at Vancity Commercial Drive Community Branch on 1675 Commercial Drive. Battered Women’s Support Services will be showcased from November 10th to November 17th

#TransitTuesday and ‘Nirbhaya’ at the Cultch

At BWSS we don’t believe that sexual harassment is an unavoidable part of a woman’s daily commute. We believe that women must be able to move about and occupy public space without being placed in danger or threatened. It is a fundamental freedom. On Transit Tuesday, November 10, 2015, we are bringing to light the issue of sexual violence on transit. We will be at Commercial and Broadway station in the morning handing out pamphlets with more information on how, together; we can make public transit safer for women.

Also on Tuesday, November 10th – The East Vancouver Cultural Centre, The Cultch is presenting the play ‘Nirbhaya’ from November 3 to 14. The show is being presented in partnership with Diwali Fest. “NIRBHAYA is based on the true incident of a gang rape in Delhi and how the death of this young woman affected the lives of countless individuals. On Tuesday the 10th BWSS will be sharing information on sexual harassment on public transit as well as what we can do as a community to prevent it.

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and BWSS Breaking the Silos on November 25th

Please join us for ‘Breaking the Silos’ our flagship fundraising Gala.

We are thrilled to present Severn Cullis-Suzuki as the keynote speaker and Global BC’s Jill Krop as our MC for our annual fundraising event at the Terminal City Club.  Join us as we honour our collective efforts, connect as a community, inspire each other, strengthen friendships and most importantly raise funds for Battered Women’s Support Services critical services and programs for girls and women.

For more information about “Breaking the Silos” gala visit this link

Purchase your tickets here

16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence

From November 25th the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women until December 10th on Human Rights Day, the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign is a time to incite action to end violence against women and girls. Stayed tuned for updates from us through our social media platforms and online.

Giving Tuesday

Every donation and any amount can make a big difference. Giving Tuesday is a day dedicated to giving back and a great way to support Battered Women’s Support Services critical programs and services. Stay tuned for information on this later.

World AIDS Day

Battered Women’s Support Services presents HIV, Violence and Criminalization, a conference with  Positive Women’s Network. With confirmed speakers from BCCLA, Positive Women’s Network and other groups. The event will be held as part of the International AIDS Day events on December 4th at SFU Vancouver from 10-4pm.

National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women

December 6th marks the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre at l’Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal. This day provides an important opportunity to discuss the status of women in Canada and the continuing prevalence of violence against girls and women in our communities.

Battered Women’s Support Services will be panelists on two events in solidarity with women organizations:

December 3rd – panelists for UBC Sexual Assault Support Center event.
December 5th – panelists for Vancouver Rape Relief round-table event

Follow us on twitter for more information about these two events.

International Video  Premiere Compassion In A Kiss Music Video

Compassion In A Kiss music video featuring local performing artists Claire Mortifee, Young Nige and Dj K-rec. Compassion In A Kiss speaks to sexual violence and urging men to own their role. We are thrilled to be featured as part of an empowering message.

Roxanne Nikki Popup Shop

Don’t miss Roxanne Nikki’s Popup Shop Robson #GoAllOut event November 12-14, partial proceeds will go to Battered Women’s Support Services.

Our Facebook page is another way to join with women in our community to end violence against women