Technology creates new ways to perpetuate violence against women, including sending harassing text messages, tracking someone using the GPS on their device or threatening to share someone’s private images without their permission.

This infographic looks at the different types of technology-based violence and ways we can address it.

Multi-agency collaboration, including the development of formal partnership arrangement and information sharing protocols, have been recognized as an approach that increases the effectiveness of services in responding to and reducing intimate partner violence. Domestic violence death review committees across Canada have called for information sharing between services agencies serving clients experiencing intimate partner violence.

The literature review highlights literature on information sharing amongst services providers in relation to intimate partner violence in Canada. The review will help inform the wider MARAC project which is aimed at piloting high risk domestic violence tables in three communities across Ontario. In particular, the review will help inform the development of information sharing policy and practice for MARAC operation in Canada.

Risk assessment, safety planning and information sharing are common practices in the violence against women sector to help identify the likelihood of repeat or increased violence and prevent further harm. The practice of information sharing between providers is seen by many as an effective way to reduce serious harm.

This report draws on focus groups and interviews with service providers and explores their experiences of risk assessment and information sharing, including challenges and promising practices. The aim of the report is to help inform the wider MARAC project which is aimed at piloting high risk domestic violence tables in three communities across Ontario.

In Ontario, the Employment Standards Act (ESA) outlines various leaves of absence that employees are legally entitles to take. Domestic or sexual violence leave was added to the ESA in 2017.

The factsheet answers frequently asked questions about the leave as well as how employees can access the leave entitlement.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on survivors of gender-based violence and the organizations that support them. Health and safety measures to curb the spread of the virus have resulted in some survivors left isolating with their abusers and facing additional economic and social pressures.

This report highlights findings from a consultation we undertook at the outset of the pandemic. The report summarizes the challenges and concerns of service agencies working with survivors, information on the support they require to continue to operate during a pandemic as well as information on what is working well.

Violence against women is one of the main causes of homelessness and housing instability among women and children, and the lack of access to safe and affordable housing is one of the leading barriers for women fleeing violence.

This policy brief explores of the role of women’s safety in realizing the right to housing in Canada. In preparation for this policy brief, WomanACT coordinated a consultation process on Canada’s proposed human-rights-based approach to housing with stakeholders providing violence against women services in the city of Toronto.

We recommend that the government considers safety as a component of adequate housing, applies an intersectional, gender-based analysis and engages women with lived experience of violence. We also recommend that the government explores the housing rights and options of women when fleeing violence, including the right to remain in their own homes.

From a public-policy perspective, violence against women will not be solved through a single targeted policy on violence. Public policies shape and create social conditions. Policies can create social conditions that reinforce gender inequality and produce violence against women. Policies can also negatively impact women experiencing violence by limiting women’s access to determinants of safety such as housing and income security.

This literature review presents an overview of the impacts of selected federal and provincial policies on violence against women. The literature review finds that women are regularly required to prove or verify their abuse in order to obtain support or services; that policies do not always reflect the gendered experience of immigration, poverty and homelessness; and that policies often reproduce conditions of women’s economic insecurity and financial dependence.

Poverty and violence against women are interconnected. Poverty marginalizes women, increasing their risk of victimization. Women experiencing violence often experience financial harm, including loss of control over finances and/or limited ability to access employment. Without access to income, housing or employment, poverty can trap women in abusive relationships. Furthermore, financial hardship after leaving an abusive relationship is a near-universal experience for women.

This policy brief analyzes the impacts of the current Ontario social-assistance programs and makes recommendations to improve social-assistance programs to meet the needs of women across the province. In preparation for this policy brief, we held an open forum on Social Assistance Reform and Women in September 2018 in Toronto, which was attended by more than 40 agencies, advocates, researchers and women with lived experience of violence from across the city.

In 2016, the government of Canada started to pursue the development of a National Housing Strategy and welcomed feedback and input from community organizations across the country.

This report explores the importance of a National Housing Strategy that considers the experiences and needs of women experiencing violence. The report also makes clear recommendations for the strategy, with a focus on recognizing the importance of safe housing as a key component of adequate housing.

Despite limited research on financial abuse as a form of intimate partner violence, it is clear that financial abuse is a commonly used form of power and control over women and very often entangled in other forms of violence. It is also clear that it has devastating impacts on a woman’s ability to flee violence, be safe and establish financial independence.

This research report draws on qualitative data gathered through surveys and focus groups with service providers and in-depth interviews with survivors. The report examines the experiences and impacts of financial abuse as well as the challenges in confronting it and the opportunities to prevent and address it. The report includes key findings from the research in addition to policy, programs and practice recommendations to help better identify, prevent and respond to financial abuse.