This information is for front-line workers and advocates working with women who:
- have been or are being sponsored by a spouse or partner, and
- have experienced family violence.
Many women are sponsored by a spouse or partner for permanent resident status. Most of the information in this fact sheet is about these "family class sponsorships" and what women who experience family violence may need to know about immigration law.
Goals of the Workshop
This training will focus on ways to intervene in public instances of racist, anti-Black, anti- Muslim, anti-Trans, and other forms of oppressive interpersonal violence and harassment while considering the safety of all parties. In addition to group discussion, participants have the opportunity to use role-plays as a tool in practicing intervention techniques, and learning new ways to protect ourselves and our communities. We do not believe anyone is an expert on bystander intervention as different situations and one's own risk factors will influence how they intervene; however, we seek to hold space for people to share skills and experiences in a safer and affirming environment.
In this paper, we will provide a critical feminist, anti-racism/anti-oppression analysis of women and criminalization in Canada. We propose that the Canadian legal system replicates these systems of oppression and further marginalizes people based on these intersectionalities of oppression. Racialized people, particularly Black and Indigenous women; individuals who use substances or live in poverty; and those who are homeless and precariously housed are over-represented in the Canadian legal system, often experiencing harsher treatment and being subject to over-criminalization. We at Nellie's understand criminalization not just as people experiencing arrest, contact with the law, criminal convictions or incarceration, but as a systemic targeting of oppressed and marginalized people. We recognize that once both Cisgender ("Cis") and Trans women have experienced criminalization, they are further oppressed in that they are more likely to be re-criminalized, and experience unstable housing, lack of family support, and reduced access to employment.
This resource is a series of slides from a webinar delivered in May 2017.
Topics to be Covered:
- Different Kinds of Immigration Status in Canada
- Common Immigration-Related Terms
- Potential Risks to Immigration Status in Canada
- What's New in Immigration Law? Conditional Permanent Residence removed for sponsored spouses/partners
- Options if Status is at Risk
- Staying Safe
- Additional Resources
The Our Watch Non-physical Forms of Abuse campaign, No Excuse for Abuse, aims to raise awareness of non-physical forms of abuse against women and increase understanding that all forms of abuse are serious. The campaign, funded by the Australian Government's Department of Social Services, launched in July 2018 and includes social marketing content1 and material. This resource is to support people working to prevent violence against women in Australia. In this document, we refer to these people as practitioners.
What is Violence Against Women?
The United Nations defines violence against women as: "Any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life."
Parents and children alike are immersed in a social and cultural environment that produces and perpetuates gender stereotypes – clothing, toys, television shows, books, friends and extended family members all communicate messages, explicitly and implicitly, about what is considered 'appropriate' for girls and boys. While this wider context has a significant influence on young children's developing understanding of gender, research confirms that families, and in particular parents, are young children's first and primary source of information and learning about gender.