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.
Self-identified women with disabilities and D/deaf self-identified women face high rates of poverty and structural violence in Canada. These conditions impact their ability to find and maintain housing. Housing insecurity also increases women's vulnerability to experiencing violence because women find themselves in isolated settings, without support.
This handbook is for any woman in Ontario who is being abused, or who has been abused, by her partner. The word "partner" in this handbook means a spouse, common-law spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend.
The language in this handbook reflects the reality that men are usually the abusive partners in a relationship. However, abuse and violence can happen in other relationships too. For example, women in same-sex relationships can also experience abuse and violence. The information in this handbook applies to these relationships too.
Leaving an abusive relationship is difficult. Friends and family are not always understanding or supportive. You might face financial hardship and a legal system that can be intimidating. There can be cultural pressures and feelings of isolation.