International Women’s Day 2015
Battered Women’s Support Services Legal Services and Advocacy Program Presents:
Women Seeking Justice Forum
Women Seeking Justice Forum convenes a former judge, researchers, academics, lawyers, legal advocates, and feminist thinkers to illuminate pressing legal issues for women in law practice and policy including international, Indigenous, immigration, refugee, criminal, family, and poverty.
Agenda
MC Niki Sharma – BWSS Board Member and Lawyer
Opening and Territorial Welcome – Audrey Siegl, Musqueam Nation
Word from Sponsors
Jennifer Johnstone President and CEO Central City Foundation
My Sister’s Closet
Word from Battered Women’s Support Services
Angela Marie MacDougall Executive Director
Keynote
The Honourable Donna Martinson
First Panel
Aboriginal Women and Girls on the International Agenda
Sharon McIvor, Nlekepmux, from the Lower Nicola Indian Band, Activist, Lawyer, College Professor
Preliminary Findings from a BC Study of RCMP cases of Intimate Partner Violence: Does Gender Symmetry Exist?
Dr. Margaret Jackson, Professor Emerita, School of Criminology and, Director, the FREDA Centre for Research on Violence against Women and Children at SFU
Legal Advocacy and Violence Against Women
Vicky Law, BWSS Legal Advocate
Q & A
Second Panel
Toward a Sanctuary City: Reflections from Lucia Jimenez Coroner’s Inquest
Rosa Elena Arteaga, Manager, Direct Services and Clinical Practice, Battered Women’s Support Services
Conditional Permanent Residence: The Dangers of Making Immigration Status Conditional on Living with your Spouse
Lobat Sadrehashemi, Staff Lawyer at BC Public Interest Advocacy Office
Women and Homelessness: Challenging Apathy in Policy and Practice
Angela Marie MacDougall, Executive Director, Battered Women’s Support Services
Violence Against Women and the Family Law Act: Early Jurisprudence
Susan Boyd, Professor of Law and Chair in Feminist Legal Studies, University of British Columbia
Q & A
Niki Sharma Closing Remarks
Webcast is in effect and brought to you by The Law Foundation of BC and My Sister’s Closet – a social enterprise of Battered Women’s Support Services
Please email endingviolence@bwss.org during the webcast if you have questions for the presenters or if you have technical difficulties.
Legal Advocacy – How you can assist women’s access to justice and equality under the law
International Women’s Day 2015 provides a great opportunity to highlight the ways in which women fleeing abusive relationships seek safety and justice through the legal system.
The virtual elimination of Legal Aid in British Columbia and the complicated acceptance process has resulted in an increase of women who are having to self represent in family law, immigration and refugee cases. Over 80% of women accessing our services identify at least one legal issue where they require information. (Read more here)
If you could do something to end violence against girls and women, wouldn’t you?
