Taking Survivor-Centred Safety to Every City in British Columbia
Across British Columbia, communities are asking an urgent question:
What would public safety look like if it were designed with survivors in mind?
Intimate partner violence is a public safety issue.
Yet too often, it is treated as a private matter or someone else’s responsibility.
BWSS urging municipalities across British Columbia to change that
because a woman’s safety should never depend on her postal code.
See Where Cities Stand
Since 2025, BWSS has been tracking how municipalities across British Columbia respond when asked to take action on intimate partner violence, gender-based violence and femicide.
Now that work is entering a new phase.
CURRENT · 2026
Downplay Detector
Where municipal candidates and elected leaders stand on five concrete actions to address intimate partner violence.
Who is prepared to act?
THE RECORD · 2025
Municipal Response Tracker
See how BC municipalities responded when BWSS first asked Mayors and Councils to act on gender-based violence, intimate partner violence and femicide.
What did your municipality do?
The Downplay Effect
Intimate partner violence doesn’t just escalate. It’s downplayed first.