Colour of Violence Research, Policy & Systems Change Institute
Community-based research advancing racial, gender, and community safety justice.
Community-based research advancing racial, gender, and community safety justice.
The Colour of Violence Institute at Battered Women’s Support Services brings together community-based research, policy analysis, and systems change work grounded in the lived realities of Indigenous, Black, immigrant, refugee, and racialized survivors of gender-based violence.
This work examines how violence is shaped not only by individual harm, but by institutions, policies, and public safety systems themselves.
Drawing on feminist, anti-racist, and decolonial approaches, Colour of Violence positions survivor knowledge as essential evidence for transforming services, justice systems, and government responses to gender-based violence.
About the institute
Colour of Violence is a multi-year BWSS research initiative examining how race and gender shape systemic responses to gender-based violence in British Columbia and Canada
Through survivor surveys, worker focus groups, and community engagement, this work documents how racialized survivors experience barriers across policing, immigration, housing, child welfare, and anti-violence services.
The Institute connects research directly to advocacy, training, and policy reform ensuring that knowledge produced by communities most impacted by violence informs structural change.
Research & Publications
BWSS research centers survivor experience as evidence for improving anti-violence services and public safety systems.
Featured Research
Colour of Violence: Race, Gender & Anti-Violence Services
Community-based research exploring how systemic racism and gender inequality shape access to safety and justice.