This brief offers a summary of some of the key challenges East Asian women face in Canada, including racism, gendered violence, and economic exclusion. These challenges were specifically targeted at people associated with the diverse cultures of China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, which are often called East Asia.
While this brief focuses on ongoing barriers, it also honours the powerful ways East Asian women have resisted, redefined, and reclaimed their place in Canadian society.
We recognize that East Asian women in Canada are leaders, entrepreneurs, artists, and caregivers. Many are business owners and community advocates, creating support networks and spaces of care for others. They carry forward rich cultural traditions and strong family and community values, despite a long history of discrimination aimed at erasing or devaluing these contributions.
Violence against women (VAW) remains a predominant driver of women’s homelessness. Nevertheless, in many countries, including Canada, policy and programmatic responses to VAW and homelessness have developed in isolation from one another. This lack of integration significantly limits the effectiveness of efforts to address the complex and interconnected needs of women affected by both issues.
WomanACT collaborated on a research project with Dalhousie and the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael’s Hospital (Unity Health Toronto) that brought together academics and community advocates to examine the issue in a new research study published today in BMC Public Health. They analyzed existing interviews with 10 women accessing VAW services (MARCO-VAW Study) and 23 residents of encampments (MARCO-Encampments Study) at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto.
Three themes were generated from the research analysis: exacerbation of inequities (abuse of) power and control as pathways into women’s homelessness; (2) negotiating trade-offs between safety and autonomy; and (3) gender stereotypes versus gender-transformative approaches. This infographic highlights some of the insights from the research paper.
To learn more about this research project, click here.
This Asian Heritage Month, we release our latest issue brief with heavy hearts, following the devastating tragedy that occurred on April 27, 2025, during the Lapu Lapu Festival Day in Vancouver, BC. What should have been a joyful celebration of Filipino heritage and resistance was tainted by a horrific attack that took the lives of 11 people and injured many more. We extend our deepest condolences to the victims, their families, and the entire Southeast Asian community affected that are grieving.
In the wake of this grief, we remain committed to honouring the lives, stories, and contributions of Southeast Asian women in Canada. Southeast Asia is a vast and diverse region encompassing Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. This brief is just a starting point in exploring the complex realities faced by women from these communities shaped by histories of colonization, displacement, and resilience.
Through this work, we uplift the voices and experiences of Southeast Asian women as leaders, artists, caregivers, and advocates, and we honour their enduring strength. In this issue, you’ll find Grace’s powerful story of migration and resistance, alongside many others who continue to shape and sustain vibrant communities in Canada.
We all deserve an Ontario government that is committed to ending gender-based violence.
Note: As of June 5th, 2025 Bill 173 has been re-tabled as Bill 55, Intimate Partner Violence Epidemic Act, 2025
Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is an epidemic in Ontario. We are at a crucial point in getting the Ontario government to pass Bill 173, Intimate Partner Violence Epidemic Act. Passing this Bill would formally recognize IPV as an epidemic in Ontario – acknowledging the widespread and lasting harm that IPV has on survivors, children, family members and communities in general.
The context of this epidemic is well documented and consistently shared by survivors and the organizations who support them (WomanACT, 2024). Given the extensive and lasting impacts on the health and wellbeing of communities, addressing violence as a public health issue is widely regarded as a best practice (World Health Organization, 2016).
We need your help!
WomanACT is launching a community mobilization campaign to amplify the voices of survivors and community members. This is your opportunity to let your Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) know how IPV has impacted you and your family or community.
Use our template to write your own letter or email to your local Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP). This is your chance to share your or your community’s experience of IPV and why addressing IPV is important to you.
Download the email instructions and template to send to your MPP today!
For more information, please contact: Aakanksha Mathur, Manager of Public Policy, Advocacy and Communications at amathur@womanact.ca
Read our endorsed resource package “The Current State of Intimate Partner Violence in Ontario”
Read our Written Submission for the Study on Intimate Partner Violence – Standing Committee on Justice Policy
Crises cause disruptions and changes to structures, systems, and patterns, but the extent and magnitude of the disruptions or changes are rarely understood. This is especially true in prolonged crises or the case of an already precarious industry. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the GBV sector faced these changes, but little was known about their extent and magnitude.
This issue brief reviews the main changes that were experienced in the sector, highlighting the impact of COVID-19 on intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors and service provision sectors. The brief informs policy formulation on service sector re-categorization, service provision support, and intra- and inter-sector collaborations. These findings are intended to be useful for policymakers, legislators, and administrators.
Survivors shared their challenges navigating the legal system on their journey to safety and stability throughout the pandemic in research conducted by WomanACT and University of Guelph. The infographic looks at the supports requested by the survivors to help them navigate the legal system better.
Survivors shared their challenges navigating the legal system on their journey to safety and stability throughout the pandemic in research conducted by WomanACT and University of Guelph. The infographic looks at the number of legal factors survivors must account for.
We all deserve an Ontario government that is committed to ending gender-based violence.
Across Ontario, women, girls and gender diverse people are disproportionately impacted by violence, especially Indigenous, Black, trans, Two-Spirit and non-binary people, immigrant, refugee, and non-status women and women living with disabilities.
When we speak to women and gender diverse people experiencing violence across Ontario, we hear about the many systemic inequalities, risks and barriers they face daily. Women and gender diverse people are at a greater risk of violence in their homes, on the street and at work. They are unable to live free from violence because of a lack of access to income, decent work and affordable housing.
The pandemic has exacerbated inequalities and intensified gender-based violence. Because of this, we only see the need for gender-based violence services, affordable housing and access to justice will only increase over the coming years. That’s why now more than ever, we need an Ontario government that is committed to prioritizing the safety of women and gender diverse people.
Call to action:
We’re calling on provincial political parties to commit to ending gender-based violence in Ontario with a priority on increased investment, coordinated strategy and systemic change. We’re asking parties to commit to:
- A coordinated, funded and community-led provincial strategy to end gender-based violence.
- A range of adequate and affordable housing options for survivors and their families, including the option to remain in their own home safely.
- Significant increases to sustainable funding for feminist and anti-violence community agencies.
Measures put in place to mitigate COVID-19, such as stay at home orders, have put families experiencing intimate partner violence at greater risk. In particular, young women and women with children have been identified at greater risk for increased violence, housing instability, and decreased service provision.
The project will investigate patterns of violence and housing instability, and examine changes to experiences and services during the pandemic. The project will undertake a realist informed review of literature and conduct primary research. The project will also work closely with survivors to create digital narratives. Using the knowledge created, the project will build collaboration with policy makers, service providers and other knowledge users.
Experiences of IPV during the pandemic: Mobilizing for enhanced service delivery was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
Intimate partner violence can have a significant impact on women’s economic security and employment. It can lead to job instability and loss. This can be because of poor mental health, trauma, relocation and sabotage by an abusive partner. For racialized women with experiences of intimate partner violence, this can be compounded by structural barriers and racism.
WomanACT consulted organizations that serve survivors of intimate partner violence and organizations that specialize in employment services for women on the barriers faced by organizations and survivors. The report explores what we heard from services providers, including their ideas for advancing survivors economic security and employment.