Involvement in the criminal justice system carries stigma for women. This can be compounded by other factors, including race, sexuality, immigration status, and other intersecting systems of oppression. The stigma of criminalization impacts a woman’s help-seeking intentions and access to services such as housing, health care, employment, and services for survivors of gender-based violence.
This report is part of the Reducing Stigma project, which is led by Elizabeth Fry Toronto and WomanACT and is looking into the experiences of racialized trauma survivors with experience of criminalization. The research was designed and conducted in collaboration with Community based Researchers with lived experience of criminalization. The project aims to improve women’s access to and experience in services, through research, education, and policy reform.
This report outlines specific requests for responsibility and action co-developed by more than 60 civil society groups and the communities throughout Canada that they engage and represent, drawing on the foundational community engagement work that YWCA Canada facilitated at the start of the pandemic. They provided the solutions, therefore we must pay attention to what they have to say and act on their knowledge and life lessons.
“Beneath the Iceberg” is a training video which provides a depiction of a portion of a crisis call from an older woman
who is seeking residential service.
This brief training video was created by OAITH to address needs identified by members including:
● Callers who do not use the words violence, abuse, or safety or seem confused
about why they are calling
● Callers facing homelessness/barriers to housing or experiencing long-term
homelessness
● Callers requiring residential service (when the shelter is full)
The goal of this video is to increase the capacity of frontline workers to effectively
respond to GBV survivors utilizing trauma-informed frameworks when providing
phone based crisis-counselling services across VAW shelter agencies in Ontario.