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.
From Vigils to Action: Toward Ending Femicide in British Columbia
From Vigils to Action: Toward Ending Femicide in British Columbia Last weekend, we attended the vigil for Ivy Michelle Bell. Yesterday, we gathered with family and community to honour Jessica Cunningham. This Saturday, we will travel to Kelowna for the celebration of...
Survivor-Centred Safety: Building Momentum with BC Municipalities
Across British Columbia, women have been killed in Kelowna, Vancouver, Richmond, Surrey, Abbotsford, and Maple Ridge. In Burnaby, a woman was sexually assaulted in Central Park, a reminder that violence in public spaces persists. In Langley, a woman was severely...
BWSS Hosts Provincial Roundtable on Gender Justice and Ending Violence
Today, gender justice and anti-violence organizations from across British Columbia met with Rechie Valdez, Canada’s Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Secretary of State for Small Business and Tourism. Organizations representing the north-west and north coast,...
A Diagnosis Isn’t Needed to Name Abuse
When describing an abusive partner, it’s common to hear terms like “narcissist,” “psychopath,” or “sociopath” thrown around. These labels may seem to offer clarity, but they often serve to individualize harm, relying on medicalized frameworks that distract from the...
Fawning: The Gendered Survival Strategy Courts Refuse to See
Every survivor of violence knows what it means to calculate risk in an instant. Sometimes survival looks like running, sometimes like fighting back. But often it looks like compliance — a smile to defuse anger, a “yes” to avoid worse harm. This is fawning, and it is...
Podcast Feature: Reframing Gender-Based Violence as a Public Safety Crisis
In the wake of multiple femicides and a growing public reckoning with systemic failures in BC’s response to intimate partner violence, Hotel Pacifico invited BWSS Executive Director Angela Marie MacDougall for a full-length interview on the escalating crisis of...
When the Heat Rises, So Does the Violence: Climate Change and Gender-Based Violence in Canada
As temperatures rise across Canada, so too does the risk to women, girls, and gender-diverse people living with violence. This isn't speculation—it’s a well-documented and increasingly urgent reality. A recent feature in The Narwhal (August 2025), titled “As...
Survivor-Centred Safety – Where Do BC Cities Stand?
Across British Columbia, BWSS has called on every Mayor and Council to take action on gender-based violence in particular intimate partner violence and femicide—because public safety must be designed with survivors in mind. This tracker reflects where each...
Public Safety Begins Here – Why Municipalities Matter Now More Than Ever
Across British Columbia, communities are reeling from a devastating series of femicides. In July 2025, five women were killed by their partners/men they knew and three women were viciously attacked in public—each in a different city, most with warning signs missed,...
Canada has a National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence
Canada has a National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence.Most people have never heard of it. Even fewer know it’s in danger of collapsing before it ever really began. In 2022, the Government of Canada launched the National Action Plan—a 10-year strategy built on...
When the Courts Fail to Understand Trauma: A Chilling Verdict for Survivors of Sexual Assault
In the wake of a recent high-profile trial that resulted in the acquittal of five men accused of gang sexual assault, Julie Lalonde—a respected advocate, educator, and author—spoke plainly about what many survivors and feminist advocates have long known: the legal...
Will the Hockey Canada Case Have a Chilling Effect on Victims of Sexual Assault in Canada?
The answer is yes. And it’s already happening. On July 25, 2025, five former junior hockey players—each previously signed to an NHL team—were acquitted in a high-profile sexual assault case stemming from an alleged group assault in 2018. The complainant, known...