The pandemic came only to shed the light on the existing issues and problems. Certainly for the women we work with in our outreach centre, as I said, many of whom are still living with abusive partners, now the pandemic has created even more challenges. We have women who are not able to access our services. Although we are not having in-person services, we do have virtual services. We provide support via the phone. These women, they can't. They often call us from the washroom. They often call us from the laundry room. The level of vulnerability has increased to the degree where they're really afraid for their lives now.
In terms of what needs to be happening, violence against women is an issue that impacts...and it requires multiple solutions and the involvement of multiple members of society, the involvement of men. There has to be more than interventions. There has to be prevention. We need to be connecting with men who use violence and providing supports because they're now quarantined in the same house. The supports that women are receiving won't do much if the perpetrator himself is not receiving any support.
When it comes to the pandemic, we are seeing a lot of vulnerabilities for the women. We're seeing a lot of food insecurity, a lot of increased economic dependency on the abusive partner. Again, the solutions have to be multipronged. They have to include multiple levels of intervention and engagement.