31 Things British Columbia Can Do Right Now to End Violence Against Women
2. Audit for compliance with BC’s Violence Against Women in Relationship policy
BC’s Violence Against Women in Relationships (VAWIR) policy sets out clear guidelines for professionals, including police, Crown, probation officers and child protection workers to follow when responding to violence against women. Without oversight and monitoring for consistency, the VAWIR policy is just words; it is necessary to ensure adherence to these policies by all relevant ministries, agencies and departments through an auditing process. In so doing, practice issues, service gaps, and inconsistencies among regions can be documented and solutions developed to ensure that these policies are followed effectively, in women’s best interests.
Women in British Columbia have waited too long already. That is why we are offering 31 things that BC’s new Provincial Office of Domestic Violence (PODV) can push for right now to increase safety for women and to bring us closer than we have ever been to ending violence against women once and for all. We are calling for 31 social, economic and legal changes, none of which are unachievable in this province. Some would require very little financial investment, and each of them will save resources in the long term given the high costs of violence against women.
For more information:
1. Call violence against women what it is
2. Audit for compliance with BC’s Violence Against Women in Relationship policy
3. Address the immediate financial and housing needs of women fleeing violence
5. Make addressing women’s inequality a core learning objective for all BC students
6. Add sexual violence by police to the mandate of the Independent Investigations Office
7. Address the feminization of poverty with a provincial anti-poverty plan
8. Push to add gender and sex to the hate crime provisions of Canada’sCriminal Code
9. Bring back regional coordination committees for women’s safety
10. Join the call for a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women
11. Do not let immigration status stand in the way of women’s safety
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