Gender-based Violence and COVID-19: Before, During, and Your Role in the Reset
In 2017, 79 per cent of reported victims of intimate partner violence in Canada were women; a stark reminder of how gender-based violence has been gravely affecting the public health system long before COVID-19. Gender-based violence knows no bounds: it is endemic.
Battered Women’s Support Services (BWSS) team members came together in an online discussion about what we know about gender-based violence before COVID-19, how these public health issues are currently intertwined, and learnings we will take with us after the pandemic.
We need to envision a tomorrow that eliminates gender-based violence.
We need to take action in an individual, communal, and systemic manner.
Your role in the reset will soon reveal itself: are you ready to join us?
This discussion happened live on Wednesday, April 22 from 11 am to noon (PST). Watch the full discussion below.
Panelists:
Summer-Rain (she/her), Indigenous Women’s Program Manager, and Legal Advocate
Summer-Rain, comes from the raven house and the raven clan on her maternal side from a small northern community called Kitwang’a. She is from the Gitxan nation, which is the people of the misty river. She is also Coast Salish from the Squamish nation on her paternal side. These beautiful lands and territories she works, plays, and live on every day are her home lands. Currently Summer-Rain is the Manager of the Indigenous Women’s Program at Battered Women Support Services, and a Legal Advocate. She has dedicated her life and work on the front lines, in grass roots organizations working to end violence against women and girls with a particular focus on Indigenous Women and Girls for the past 16 years. Summer-Rain lives and breathes everyday as a strong Indigenous warrior, and as a survivor.
Rosa Elena Arteaga (she/her), Manager of Direct Services and Clinical Practice
Rosa Elena Arteaga has been working in the anti-violence field for over twenty years delivering workshops on violence against self-identified girls and women, and providing training to service providers at national and international level. In her role as Manager of Direct Services and Clinical Practice, she oversees a number of programs within BWSS. Since 2008, Rosa Elena has researched and addressed the issue of battered women being wrongfully arrested, and has been successful with a number of police complaints. Rosa Elena holds a Master’s degree on Narrative Therapy and Community Work and she works from a decolonizing, feminist, anti-oppression, practice.
Angela Marie MacDougall (she/her), Executive Director
Angela Marie MacDougall is an award winning speaker, advocate and practitioner who consults with thousands of individuals and organizations on trauma informed practices grounded in anti-oppression theoretical frameworks. Based in Vancouver, with experience spanning 30 years, Angela works as executive director at Battered Women’s Support Services, where she oversees a matrix of clinical and community-based services and dynamic team that support thousands of survivors.
Angela has brought tangible transformation to service and program delivery as well as community development and partnerships. Angela’s impact includes development of empowerment and advocacy-based service delivery models grounded in strong theoretical frameworks and intersectionality that connect feminism, substance use, mental health, violence and women’s leadership. In recognition of this important work, Angela was named a Remarkable Woman by the City of Vancouver and Vancouver Magazine named her one of Vancouver’s most powerful people.
Questions:
If you have questions you’d like the panel to address during the live discussion, or questions about the event in general, please email communityengagement@bwss.org.
Accessibility:
We acknowledge that access to technology including mobile devices, computers, and internet may not be always available for many folks who wish to join this online discussion. As well, the time we’ve chosen may not work for everyone. We will have a recording of the video available after the event, and we will post this on our social channels.
We would like to acknowledge that this event will be online, taking place from the Unceded Coast Salish traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
