Excerpt from the Director of Programs and Services
Annual Report to the Membership 2000
In our 15th year of operation, the Assaulted
Women’s Helpline continues to provide an exceptional service to
women. In the face of funding cuts, conservatism and backlash
- the Helpline remains strong and prepared for the new century. Our
commitment to women and community has never been stronger.
Three years ago in the 1997/1998 Annual Report to
the membership I suggested that we were currently in the era of “more
with less”. On the dawn of the year two thousand I re-iterate
that sentiment. Women are still being deprived of the most basic
human right – safety. With further erosion of the social
safety net, increased gaps in services, and barriers to accessing support,
women are at more risk than ever. The summer of 2000 has been a horrendous
one for women in Ontario. We reel at the deaths of women and children,
with the haunting reality that there is little relief in sight. The despair
witnessed by crisis counsellors on the line resonates to
the very fibre of our humanity. Hollow announcements and Band-Aid
solutions provide us little comfort.
A component of the agencies mandate is to identify gaps
in service and response to assaulted/abused women. Our crisis
line statistics tell a very clear tale of what women need. The
countless horror stories paint a very clear picture. Women need
access to emergency services, including second stage housing and shelters.
During the summer of 2000 for almost two weeks there were no available
shelter beds for women fleeing violence in the City of Toronto. Women need
access to community and neighbourhood services and supports,
including accessible and affordable childcare services, ethno-specific
services, women centres and violence against women specific services
available to them through settlement agencies. Legal supports
are also a critical area of concern. Mandatory risk assessments
and stronger Bail limitations. One bail breach must mean incarceration
for an abuser. Legal aid certificates and hours must be extended. Women need
access to affordable counselling and appropriate mental health
services. Childhood sexual abuse survivors and women who have
experienced sexual assault have indicated a need for a short-term safe
house facility. Finally, and most importantly, the 21% cut to
welfare rates must be restored.
As a service, our areas of priority are strongly directed
by the current identified needs of women who use our service. As women and
community inform us of our priorities, the Helpline then
responds by trying to incorporate, diversify, expand or include where
appropriate. Our strength as an agency lies in the ability to
work with community and other stakeholders, most importantly our callers.
Important to Remember!
When you are writing about the issue of violence against
women it is critically important to also provide resource numbers for
women who may want to reach out for help or support. Be sure to
include the toll-free AWHL phone number and other appropriate local
resources and supports in your piece.
Speak to an expert! Contact your local violence against
women service (shelter, rape crisis centre, women’s centre, AWHL)
and discuss your piece. You can also contact provincial agencies
and associations such as:
OAITH (Ontario Association of Interval and Transition
Houses), OCRCC (Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres),
Education Wife Assault, DAWN (The
DisAbled Women’s Network), AOCVF (Action ontarienne
contre la violence faite aux femmes), ONWA (Ontario
Native Women’s Association, or OCASI (Ontario
Coalition of Agencies Serving Immigrants).
Frontline women’s advocates are experts on the issue
of violence against women and can give you a real “snapshot”
of what is happening in your community in regards to violence against
women. They can also provide an analysis of the issue of violence
against women, which is intrinsic to writing an accurate and balanced
piece. Frontline women’s advocates have been doing this work for
over 30 years. If you are not sure how to contact advocates in
your community please call the Director of Programs and Services at
the Assaulted Women’s Helpline administration office and we can
put you in touch with an expert in your community.
Violence against women is a complex and pervasive systemic
issue, with multiple layers and differential impacts on different communities
of women.
Cross-Sectoral Strategy Emergency Measures
Violence against Women
An urgent concern for all Ontarians
After a Summer of Grief we need Practical Government Action
A Call for
in the Ontario Legislature
in support of
Emergency Measures for Women and Children
In the Fall 2000 Legislative Session
To All Parties of The Legislature of Ontario:
This summer, the brutal and unrelenting reality
of violence against women was brought home to Ontarians. Virtually
daily reports of women murdered or seriously injured by abusive partners
or stalkers served to underline the urgent nature of the crisis.
As well as the highly publicized murders of Gillian
Hadley of Pickering and Bohumilla Luft of Kitchener: Hemoutie Raghunauth
of Pickering, Harjaap Bolla of Mississauga, Laurie Lynn Vollmershausen
of Stratford, Renee Joyson of St. Catherines and Patricia Real of
Etobicoke were brutally murdered.
Maria Frana of Malton, Zahra Zeinali of Rexdale
and Camille Bonterre of Scarborough just barely survived horrific
injuries. Theirs are only the reported attacks, and they all took
place within just a few months over this past summer.
The shocking murder of Jennifer Zumach serves
to further underline our concerns.
These are not random or isolated crimes committed
by strangers. On average, 40 women a year in Ontario are murdered
by their partners or former partners. Men are charged daily with assaulting,
threatening and stalking their girlfriends, wives or common-law partners,
both past and present. Hospital rooms treat women and children injured
by family members every day. And while thousands of women seek refuge
in women's shelters, many more remain with abusive partners because
they do not have the means to leave.
It is well established that violence against women
is rooted in social, political and economic inequality between men
and women. Women are not victims by nature; we become victims because
we cannot access the means to protect and support our children and
ourselves. Strengthening women's economic and social position therefore
must be the centerpiece of any plan to stem violence against women
and children. Adequate social
and economic supports may well have saved some of the women murdered
this past summer.
Canadian society is becoming dangerously polarized
between the "haves" and "have-nots", and many
women find ourselves at the short end of the stick. Over the past
two decades, the percentage of women living in poverty has been climbing
steadily " ... almost 19% of adult women are poor ... "
This has unquestionably weakened women's position in averting partner-abuse.
While all women live with the threat of male violence,
aboriginal women, racialized women, recent immigrants, women with
disabilities and poor women are faced with compounded inequalities
that weaken our position even further.
In recent months, public discussion of solutions
has focused on the criminal system and "tightening up" on
offenders as well as pouring money into programs for male batterers.
While violence against women needs to be understood as a serious crime
which is the responsibility of the men who commit it, the tendency
for policy-makers to divert attention away from the needs of women
and children is both dangerous and reprehensible.
Women's advocates have long called for criminal
law reforms to ensure much needed protections for women and children
but we are disturbed by the way our safety issues are now used to
justify law-and-order initiatives in place of effective social programs.
Law-and-order rhetoric is based on the exploitation of public fears
of "stranger danger". It favours the use of heavy-handed
law enforcement strategies against socially disadvantaged groups,
which in no way address the violence women face in their intimate
and familial relationships. It also serves to scare off women in low-income
and racialized communities from reporting violence, putting them at
further risk of death or serious injury.
Male batterer programs are as yet unproven in
their effectiveness and cannot, in any case, be seen as a priority
over much-needed programs and services for women.
Years of cuts to social programs, legal aid, direct
anti-violence services and neighbourhood supports have left women
in a hardened state of inequality, leaving us increasingly defenceless
in the face of abuse.
Women's safety depends on a comprehensive, consistent,
long-term approach that addresses the root problem of women's social,
economic and political inequality. Numerous reports, studies, inquest
juries and safety audits have documented the broad range of policies
and programs needed to ensure the safety of women and children. It
must be our goal and responsibility as a society to address all of
these needs, in their entirety.
But women and children cannot wait. The coming
session of the Ontario Legislature must enact immediate measures,
which bring down some of the obvious barriers standing in the way
of women's ability to protect ourselves and our children.
Townson, Monica (2000)
A Report Card on Women and Poverty.
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
Emergency Measures for Women and Children
In the Fall 2000 Legislative Session
| A. | Community Based Services for Women and Children |
| We call for the immediate establishment of
a $50 million fund for the provision of community-based services to women and
children to be spent on the following measures: |
| 1. | Emergency Services |
| CRISIS LINES
The few Crisis Lines that do exist for women
who experience violence are hard pressed to meet the need for their
services. A busy signal can mean the difference between life and death
for a battered woman. The Toronto-based Assaulted Women's Helpline
gets crisis calls from all over Ontario but is funded to serve only the Toronto
area. A province-wide line that serves women in a broad range of languages is a critical
addition to (not replacement for) local crisis lines. |
|
- Make the Assaulted Women's Helpline a province-wide service
as per its proposal circulated to members of the Legislature this
summer.
|
| SHELTER FUNDING
Since 1995, demands for shelter services have
increased while financial pressures on shelters have resulted in diminished
services to women and children. This summer, shelters across Ontario
were at full occupancy and overwhelmed with the increased number of
crisis calls. While the allocation of $10M in last year's budget for
transitional workers and child witness programs was a start towards
addressing the overstretched resources of emergency women's shelters,
these front-line services need significant reinvestment to ensure
appropriate assistance to the women and children who seek refuge there. |
|
- The coming year's budget should allocate a further $15 million in annualized
funds to independent community-based women's shelters, including those not currently
funded by the MCSS.
- In communities where there is a documented urgent need for additional shelter
beds, funding should be allocated to begin this expansion (as promised in the
Government's Common Sense Revolution documents).
- Immediately implement the shelter funding review, as recommended in the Arlene
May Inquest report.
|
| SECOND STAGE HOUSING PROGRAMS
Access to housing, beyond the emergency stage,
is an essential protection. Many women, who have found the courage
to leave, find themselves returning to abusive situations because
they have no housing options. Second stage housing is a critical safety
bridge for these women and their children. This sector is currently
dangerously under-funded and under-staffed. |
|
- Allocate $3,360,000.00 in
annualized funds to Second Stage Housing Programs via Ontario Ministry
of Community and Social Services.
|
| SEXUAL ASSAULT & RAPE CRISIS CENTERS
Community outreach workers at rape crisis centres
are struggling to keep pace with demands. Women who cannot or do not
want to contact police rely on rape crisis centres as their point
of contact. The centres are crucial in linking women to appropriate
social services. |
|
- Reinstate the 5% cut to rape crisis centre funding and make provision
for annualized increases in core support.
- Fund one community outreach worker per rape crisis centre.
- Fund counselors within rape
crisis centres to provide support for women who are sexually harassed
in the workplace.
|
| 2. | Community & Neighbourhood Supports |
| The number one place of disclosure of violence
against women is to family and friends. Isolation of women within
their neighbourhoods and communities is an urgent concern. Local
women's groups and services need links to province-wide advocates
to access up-to date information so they can effectively support women.
Shelters, rape crisis centres, counseling services and crisis lines
are struggling to provide specific services to Francophone and First
Nations women as well as women of colour and women with disabilities.
Supplementary community supports are essential. |
|
- Grant funding for women's neighbourhood & advocacy groups
- Funding to province-wide women's anti-violence advocacy groups
- Trained violence against women cultural interpreters in Immigrant and
Settlement agencies
- Sufficient and stable funding to French language services in community-based
agencies throughout Ontario.
- Stable funding support to Women's Centers.
|
| B. | Legal Reforms and Services |
| We call for a
further $50 million to be immediately allocated to ensure the following
legal reforms and services: |
| 1. | Legal Aid |
| Women have a constitutional right to fair and
equal treatment under the law. This right can only be exercised if
they are ensured access to legal representation. With the legal aid
system in a funding crisis, supports for women fleeing abuse are increasingly
inadequate. |
|
- Increase hours for private representation of abused women in Family Court matters.
Abandon plans to increase use of duty counsel.
- Provide funds for cultural,
deaf and ASL interpretation in Family Court as per the current provisions
for criminal and immigration court.
- Extend Legal Aid coverage to abused women to include divorce and all
property matters.
- Provide Legal Aid to women who are victim/ witnesses in criminal cases.
- Provide Legal Aid funding for representation of women making human rights
complaints about harassment in the workplace.
|
| 2. | Criminal Law Reforms |
| Criminal law reforms to increase protections for
assaulted women have been on hold for many years. The Province has
yet to implement the many, detailed recommendations of the Arlene
May Coroner's Inquest Jury and must do so immediately. There is no
need to wait for results of further inquests. Recommended changes
must be put on the front burner. |
|
- Risk Assessments must be conducted,
and offender's previous history of violence must be completed and
on file, before first bail hearings for abusers.
- When release on bail is granted
with a no-contact order to men charged with violence against women,
one breach of that order must mean that he is denied further bail.
- Immediate direction to Crown
Attorneys to argue women's Charter rights to life, liberty and personal
security in all bail hearings.
|
| 3. | Family Law Reforms |
| Fear for the safety of their children is one of
the most important concerns for abused women. Manipulation of the
Family Court system is a common tactic of abusers to continue their
control over the family. Possible apprehension of children who are
witnesses to violence is a major deterrent to women reporting abuse. |
|
- Implement a policy of no mediation
where there is evidence of past or present abuse. There can be no
negative judicial inference when women decline mediation due to
safety concerns.
- Increase the availability
of supervised access exchanges and centres to ensure they are available
to all women who have safety concerns. Improve and expand the nature
of supervised access so that fathers and children can have safe,
meaningful visits with proper, trained and consistent supervision.
- Implement the family law recommendations of the Arlene May inquest Jury.
- Implement a mechanism to track the impact of new child welfare legislation
and practices on abused women and child witnesses of violence (Child
& Family Services Act).
|
| C. | Economic Survival and Workplace Safety |
| We call for the allocation of core Government resources
to ensure the economic survival and workplace safety of women and their children
across the Province: |
| 1. | Economic Survival |
| Financial solvency is central to women's safety.
Without it, many women remain in, or return to, abusive relationships.
Women who have no economic supports have no way of fleeing violent
situations. Most women leaving abusive situations need welfare and
other social supports to re-build their lives and the lives of their
children. |
|
- Implement an annual cost of
living adjustment to welfare rates to take effect immediately.
- Referrals to a community legal
clinic, via plain language letters, to all people denied a benefit
or cut off welfare.
- Anyone denied benefits through
the new call centres to be linked, by phone, to a community legal
clinic for advice.
- Drop the appeal on the "spouse
in the house rule" to ensure that women are able maintain financial
independence.
- Drop the plan to penalize
for "benefits stacking and maintain current policies allowing
women to access multiple Provincial services as they need them".
- End the clawback of the Federal
child tax credit for families on welfare (approx. $50 per child
per month).
- Implement a policy to abandon
the practice of requiring and/ or requesting that women disclosing
violence seek child support or spousal support in order to qualify.
- Full deferment of or voluntary
participation in workfare for social assistance recipients disclosing
violence against women.
- Fund Pay Equity Ð 1% adjustment
to all proxy agencies to ensure the survival of women's agencies
and services as they meet their legal pay equity obligations.
|
| 2. | Workplace Protection |
| Working women who are suffering abuse in the home,
sexual harassment at work or who are being stalked are in danger of
losing their jobs due o related absences or lowered performance and
currently have no protection from termination. Women cannot
be made to choose between their jobs and their safety. The current
review of the Employment Standards Act allows the Government to enact
immediate workplace protections for abused women. |
|
- The Province designates the
first week of June as Sexual Harassment Awareness Week in honour
of Teresa Vince who was killed by her harasser on June 2, 1996.
- Include,
in the Employment Standards Act, protection from termination for
women who are facing harassment, abuse or stalking in the home or
workplace.
- Extend
the proposed Emergency Family Leave provisions to provide protection
for women who are being assaulted, abused, harassed or stalked at
home or in the workplace.
- Extend
proposed Family Leave provisions to cover workplaces with less than
50 employees, as only about 5% of all businesses in Ontario have
more that 50 employees.
- Employment
Standards Act parental leave provisions be extended an additional
seventeen weeks to cover the entire one year period for which Employment
Insurance benefits are now available.
|
Declaration of Commitment
Emergency Measures on Violence Against Women
In The Province of Ontario
for the Fall 2000 Session of The Legislature
We the undersigned hereby endorse and actively agree to work for the
following emergency measures for women and children in Ontario as detailed
in the attached document under the following broad categories:
Community-based Services
A $50 million fund to be established to ensure adequate
community -based services and supports to women and their children.
Legal Reforms and Services
A $50 million allocation to ensure legal reforms and services.
Economic Survival and Workplace Safety
Immediate allocation of core Government resources to ensure women's
economic survival and workplace safety.
We further declare that we will work towards the implementation of these measures by
the end of the current legislative session.
Signed at the City of Toronto in the Province of Ontario on the
20th day of September in the year 2000.
For The New Democratic Party:
__________________________________________________________
For The Liberal Party of Ontario:
__________________________________________________________
For The Progressive Conservative Government of Ontario:
Hadley Jury Recommendations
Hadley Recommendations - Ontario Women’s Justice Network –
Commentary on the Hadley Recommendations, Author Pamela Cross, Legal Director, OWJN
http://www.owjn.org/issues/w-abuse/hadley2.htm
OAITH's recommendations to the Hadley jury
http://www.owjn.org/issues/w-abuse/oaith.htm
May/Iles Jury Recommendations
May-Iles recommendations
http://www.owjn.org/archive/arlene.htm
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