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.
She Was Doing Everything Right. The System Wasn’t.
She Was Doing Everything Right. The System Wasn’t. Bailey McCourt was a mother of two, trying to rebuild her life after surviving intimate partner violence. She had done what the system told her to do—she reported the abuse, engaged with both criminal and family...
He Was Convicted—Then Walked Out of Court to Kill His Ex-Wife and the Mother of His Child – allegedly
What the murder of Bailey McCourt reveals about a justice system that still doesn’t take women’s lives seriously. Bailey McCourt did everything she was told to do. She reported the abuse. She went to court. She trusted the process. And still, the system failed her....
If Three Women Had Been Killed by a Stranger, There’d Be a Public Emergency She Was Killed. But the System’s Response Wasn’t Built for Her. Another woman is dead in British Columbia.
If Three Women Had Been Killed by a Stranger, There’d Be a Public Emergency She Was Killed. But the System’s Response Wasn’t Built for Her. Another woman is dead in British Columbia. On July 7, RCMP responded to a domestic violence call in Surrey. Inside the home, a...
Power, Violence, and Impunity: What the Diddy Verdict Reveals — and What It Demands
This week, a U.S. federal jury delivered a partial verdict in the high-profile trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs. He was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges, but convicted of transporting two women — including singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura — across...
Beyond Declarations: The Path Forward on Gender-Based Violence in British Columbia
In January 2025, Premier David Eby formally recognized gender-based violence (GBV) as a national epidemic. In his mandate letter to Minister of Finance Brenda Bailey, the Premier directed her to: “Work with partners to address the national epidemic of gender-based...
She Reported. Crown Said No. Why Prosecutorial Gatekeeping is Putting Survivors at Greater Risk Than Ever
She Reported. Crown Said No.Why Prosecutorial Gatekeeping is Putting Survivors at Greater Risk Than Ever In British Columbia, a quiet shift is happening—one that survivors of intimate partner and sexual violence feel viscerally, even as most of the public remains...
BWSS Responds to Independent Legal System Review: Violence Against Women Is Both Endemic and Epidemic
#DesignedWithSurvivors Campaign Calls for Urgent Implementation of Core Recommendations VANCOUVER, BC — Battered Women’s Support Services (BWSS) responds today to the release of The Independent Systemic Review of the Legal System’s Treatment of Intimate Partner and...
Statement from Battered Women’s Support Services on Ongoing Institutional Failures to Protect Indigenous Girls
The recent June 2025 disappearance of a 12-year-old Indigenous girl has once again exposed the deep and ongoing failures of police institutions to uphold their responsibilities to children—especially Indigenous girls—who are made vulnerable by systemic neglect and...
`Statement from Battered Women’s Support Services on the Identification of Nicole Bell and Ongoing Calls for Justice
`Statement from Battered Women’s Support Services on the Identification of Nicole Bell and Ongoing Calls for Justice The identification of Nicole Crystal Bell—seven years after she was reported missing from Sicamous at the age of 31—brings painful confirmation to her...
Automatism and the Crisis of Accountability in Sexual and Domestic Violence
Our Analysis The Barrett decision is not an isolated anomaly—it’s part of a long-standing and deeply embedded pattern in the criminal legal system that enables male violence through a range of escape routes. Automatism is just one of the latest tools in a legal...
Legal Acquittal in Barrett Case Highlights Failures of Criminal Justice System in Addressing Sexual Violence
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 17, 2025 Legal Acquittal in Barrett Case Highlights Failures of Criminal Justice System in Addressing Sexual Violence Vancouver, B.C. — Battered Women’s Support Services (BWSS) is expressing deep concern over the recent acquittal of...
Public Safety Is Not Neutral: BWSS in Solidarity with W7 as Canada Hosts the G7
As the G7 summit unfolds in Kananaskis, Alberta this week—fifty years after its founding in the wake of global economic instability—BWSS stands in solidarity with our national feminist counterparts working through the Women7 (W7) engagement group. These advocates are...