Thank you, Madam Chair.
I also want to thank the honourable members of the committee.
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in your study on promising practices to prevent violence against women.
As director of the RCMP's national aboriginal policing and crime prevention services, I'm pleased to discuss some of the initiatives under way both nationally and provincially to help address this important issue.
Much of the RCMP's efforts to prevent violence against women are guided by the recent operational overview of missing and murdered aboriginal women completed earlier this year. The review provided a wealth of information on cases of missing and murdered aboriginal women and revealed a number of vulnerability factors associated with violent victimization. We're now in phase 2 of this initiative, applying the information learned from the research to direct our prevention efforts. Using RCMP occurrence statistics, we've identified communities most vulnerable to violence against women, and we're focusing our initial efforts within these communities.
We know that the underlying factors associated with violent victimization of women fall within the mandate of multiple departments within several levels of government, and we're initiating phase 2 by bringing together these federal partners, detachment commanders from vulnerable communities, community leadership, RCMP crime prevention specialists from across the country, in a workshop in Prince Albert later this year—December, in fact. The objective of this initial meeting is to share the police perspective with federal partners, identify programming and service delivery gaps, and discuss new opportunities and best practices.
It's anticipated that subsequent meetings at the provincial and local level will follow this national meeting. Ultimately, the RCMP is asking detachment commanders in the most vulnerable communities to develop long-term action plans and partnership with their communities to help reduce levels of violence against women. Public safety's community mobilization, community safety planning process is being extended to the vulnerable communities to mobilize community support, develop capacity, and generate commitment to this planning process. This is an example of the integration of our federal approach in supporting the most vulnerable communities.
Beyond our focused efforts in the most vulnerable communities, RCMP initiatives to counter violence against women span a broad continuum, from education and awareness to focused intervention and crime reduction. At the national level the RCMP is working to increase awareness in a number of ways.
For example, recently in collaboration with the Native Women's Association of Canada and the Assembly of First Nations, we distributed posters focused specifically on the issue of relationship violence, urging those who are silent in those situations to speak to police and bring those situations forward, reminding them that there are support services and that there is assistance for those in crisis.
We're also finalizing a public service announcement encouraging women to speak out on the issue of intimate partner violence and to report incidents to the police. We're planning a second public service announcement targeting men and boys to engage them in changing societal attitudes and behaviours.
RCMP members are actively raising awareness within schools, sensitizing youth to issues of gender-based violence. The RCMP Centre for Youth Crime Prevention website provides numerous topic-based lesson plans, self-assessments, presentations, videos, and fact sheets that are accessible by front-line police officers, teachers, and others working with youth in the classroom.
Our innovative RCMPTalks series is an interactive video conference session that brings classrooms together from across the country to dialogue with experts and social service providers on issues that are of importance to them. To date, several RCMPTalks sessions have focused on the issue of cyberbullying and bullying, and we're currently refreshing the RCMP's national youth strategy to identify future topics for RCMPTalks, specifically working to integrate relationship violence into this series.
We know from research that much of the violence experienced by women is committed by somebody they know, frequently someone from a current or previous intimate relationship. RCMP efforts to address violence against women therefore include a significant focus on relationships and family violence. Under the federal family violence initiative, the RCMP administers a funding program to help develop community-based projects supported by our detachments to help address family violence. The $450,000 envelope funds projects up to a value of $25,000 apiece. In small communities this funding can have a significant impact.
An example is the Five Pillars of Freedom seminar in Saskatchewan. Funded under the family violence initiative, the workshop empowers victims of abuse to stop the cycle of violence towards themselves and their children.
In 2013 and 2014, six seminars were held across the province, including several in communities identified as the most vulnerable. Registration for all six seminars exceeded capacity, with more than 400 people participating, surpassing the projected number of 120. Post-event surveys indicate high levels of satisfaction and that transparency and trust have developed, creating a ripple effect within the affected communities that encourages open dialogue for all who have been touched by domestic violence.
Family violence initiative funding also helps support YWCA Canada in developing online resources for family violence support workers working in rural and remote communities, where access to criminal justice resources and programs is limited. The online resource includes modules in key areas of the law and highlights barriers to justice for women from remote communities. The Violence Against Women Legal Information Resource was launched May 29, 2014. YWCA Canada is active in monitoring traffic to the website and will promote and update the site as opportunities arise.
On the investigational side, the RCMP's resources and response to cases of family violence are governed by policy and differ from the responses to other violent crimes in several important ways. In family violence cases, investigations must be built around evidence that can stand on its own, as victims of violence will frequently recant their stories. If evidence exists to proceed with charges, charges must be pursued, regardless of whether or not the victim recants.
Secondly, the police priority is victim safety rather than offender accountability. Information on risk is gathered the moment a call is received. The use of standardized risk assessment tools is helping to bring consistency to the determination of risk levels. The information gathered in the risk assessment is used in a number of ways, such as making decisions whether to detain or release an accused and developing safety plans.
A victim safety plan is critical to the management of family violence files, identifying safe accommodations, available victim supports, relevant and enforceable release and bail conditions, and communication plans should conditions of release change. In high-risk cases, partners such as crown counsel, corrections, probation, child and family services, transition houses, and many others assist in safety planning, victim support, and offender accountability. Training and online resources available to RCMP officers at the national and divisional levels ensure that domestic violence investigators are current on best practices, legislation, policy, and provincial protocols for the coordination of high-risk cases.
Discussions on violence against women must also include the concept of family-based honour crime. To increase RCMP understanding and capacity to investigate such crimes, we're currently finalizing an online course specifically on honour-based violence and forced marriage. It's anticipated that this course will be available to police across the country in the coming months.
The issue of violence against women is receiving significant attention in the RCMP, but we face a number of challenges. Differing provincial and territorial approaches and civil measures can complicate cases crossing jurisdictional boundaries. Privacy legislation can restrict interagency partnerships and protocols for intervening with an offender and providing victim support. New immigrant communities represent additional challenges due to cultural differences and language barriers, and technology is bringing new forms of cyber-violence.
But we are confident that we are moving in the right direction with increased police training, focused and coordinated efforts to address the most vulnerable communities, and education and awareness initiatives to change societal attitudes and behaviours.
Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to your work by discussing some of our initiatives. I look forward to the results of your study. We would be pleased to respond to any questions that you have today.
Thank you.