In January 2007, OAITH made a submission to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs as part of the province's Pre-Budget Consultations. The submission makes recommendations built around the "10 Steps to End Violence Against Women" as part of the Step It Up campaign launched the previous year.
In January, 2006, OAITH made a submission to the Standing Committee on Justice Policy regarding Bill 27: An Act to amend the Arbitration Act, 1991, the Child and Family Services Act, the Family Law Act, and the Children's Law Reform Act. Focusing on the Arbitration Act and the Children's Law Reform Act, OAITH raises concerns about the unequal power between men and women in mediation and arbitration, the private vs. public nature of family law mediation, and do not recognize the full impact of abuse in relationships.
This paper examines Ontario family law and the family court system, including recent and anticipated changes to both, through a gendered intersectional lens. In particular, it provides a gender-based intersectional analysis of the implications of family law and the family court system for women who have experienced violence and their children.
The paper has three principle goals. The first is to provide support to frontline workers who assist women involved with family court. The second is to increase the ability of women to negotiate their way through this system so they emerge at the other end with their legal rights respected and with outcomes that keep them and their children safe.
The third is to provide violence against women workers, advocates, and activists with the tools they need to work for change at the community, provincial, and national level.
This paper looks at the application of alternative feminist theories and practices to CRIAW's work on social and economic justice work towards equality for women. Intersectional Feminist Frameworks (IFFs) is the emerging vision being put forward as the way to understand and address gender inqualities. This is critical reflection piece that examines the approaches and principles of intersectional feminist approaches, explores the historical context nationally and internationally, and considers applications at the current juncture in specific areas of social justice for women work, including Immigrant and Refugee Women and Anti-Poverty Campaigns.
This research project aims to analyze and document the experiences of poor and racialized women in the urban centre of Toronto. The research was conducted by engaging community workers, advocates, and policy analysts by exploring their stories through the context of public and governent policies at all levels. The research analyzes a wide variety of experiences with poverty and employment barriers & discrimination, lack of access to education, criminalization of women on social assistance/welfare, the housing crisis, abuse, violence, and harassment, mental and physical health, and public recreation. It also provides ideas and initiatives for community-based women's groups and services, and recommendations for housing, social assistance, and childcare.
This report documents the Survivor Voices Project, which encouraged women abuse survivors to provide ideas, insights and advice about community services & organizing, policy development, and systemic change. This was done through group meetings and surveys across Ontario. The results indicated that women survivors wanted improvement in police services, social assistance, the court system, child welfare, and low-income housing. The report includes women's narratives, educational and advocacy campaign tools, statistics, and best practices.
This report looks at what is needed for economic strategies to deal with the recession and poverty to have positive impacts for women. The paper explores what causes poverty for women and looks at what strategies for addressing women's poverty must include. Key issues covered include: paid employment, wages, and occupational segregation; child care; unpaid labour; EI and social assistance; older women and pensions; and marginalized women.Comparisons are made with other states in the EU and UK.
This Final Research Report on funding issues for on-reserve women's shelters in Canada was instigated by the concern that the rate of INAC (Indian and Northern Affairs Canada) funding would lead to the closure of some shelters permanently. The existing funding formula looked at 4 categories: staff, salaries, other expenses, remoteness. However, this formula does not take into account a number of factors which impact on the ability of shelters to operate, including:
- province of operation
- shelter size
- remoteness details
- supports for staff training and facilities upgrades
- standards for shelter services
- governance structure of shelters
- reporting requirements
A research paper that was commissioned by the Domestic Violence Advisory Council in 2007 to help fulfill the mandate of developing recommendations that could be achieved by making better use of existing resources and building on promising practices. The report examines how the trend toward gender-neutral language in talking about intimate partner violence results in misrepresenting the research on the nature of violence. Rather than being more inclusive, gender neutral - or bi-directional - language promotes understandings of woman abuse / domestic violence as mutual, reciprocal, or bi-directional. This is contrary to our understanding and research on context, injury, sexual assualt, and women's experiences of violence. The use of language has large implications for policy and research, and it is important that we understand how we use langague to ensure the needs and interests of women who experience violence are served.
This report was written by Walter S. DeKeseredy and Molly Dragiewicz for development of Transforming Our Communitites: Report from the Domestic Violence Advisory Council for he Minister Responsible for Women's Issues.