Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today.
The organization that I work for, Comox Valley Transition Society, is located on north central Vancouver Island on the unceded traditional territory of the K'ómoks First Nation.
Our organization provides a range of trauma-informed services for women and their children who have experienced intimate partner violence and sexual assault. These include a transition house, an addiction recovery house, women's counselling, counselling for children who witness abuse, an employment program, homelessness prevention, Aboriginal outreach, drop-in services for women who are homeless or living in deep poverty, girls groups, and a variety of education, awareness, and prevention programs, including a program for men. I have worked in our organization for 25 years in a variety of roles, including as manager of our transition house. Before our organization was up and running, I volunteered to shelter women and children in my own home when they were fleeing violence.
I am aware that your committee has heard from many organizations on a wide range of topics related to women's economic security. What I would like to talk about today is the view from the front line—what we see every day in our services. As I'm sure you are aware, half of all women in Canada have experienced at least one incident of sexual assault or physical violence since the age of 16. Intimate partner violence and sexual assault are the only violent crimes whose incidence is rising. It's important to remember that most of these crimes happen within the context of women's daily lives. The perpetrators are most often known to the survivors. They are intimate partners, co-workers, employers, and fellow students. Eighty-two per cent of employed women who have experienced domestic violence report that it negatively affected their work performance. It has been our experience that these crimes leave women traumatized and often unable to remain in their jobs or continue their studies. They often have to flee from the community in which they have been working or studying.
How can we move forward in our lives if we are not safe in our homes, our workplaces, and our schools? Women wait three to four months to access our counselling program. I'm aware of other counselling programs in B.C. where the wait is two years. The faster the response to an assault of any kind, the more likely it is that a woman will be able to move on in her life. Human resources experts tell us that if anyone is off on a long-term leave for more than six months, the likelihood that she will be able to return to work is less than 50%. This has obvious implications for women who have experienced traumatic events and are on leave from work or have had to quit their jobs while they wait, sometimes for years, for counselling support.
Women's shelters are much more than just a refuge from violence. We provide support around the clock, advocacy, and practical help that assists women in rebuilding their lives. In BC, we haven't received any meaningful increases in funding for our shelters in years. Our own shelter in the Comox Valley is funded to provide a stay that will not typically exceed 30 days. In fact, we have women living in our shelter, often with children, for up to six months because there is no affordable housing. That causes us a lot of sleepless nights. We can't turn women out on the street with nowhere to go. But what if we can't accommodate the next woman who is unsafe? Women who are in our shelter often have to give up their employment because they are in hiding and their workplace is the most obvious place for their partner to look for them. Women in that situation need to be able to move on quickly in order to rebuild their lives and maintain or regain employment. Affordable housing is very much a piece of the puzzle when we think about women's economic security.
We operate a trauma-informed detox and supportive recovery facility because, in our experience, a high percentage of female addicts are victims of sexual assault and intimate partner violence. We have seen so many women who were leading productive lives, even working as colleagues in our community, who were not able to get over what happened to them. They turned to drugs and alcohol as a way to cope. For most of those, paid employment is a distant memory.
We can't look at women's economic security without looking at the context of women's lives. We can't change women's lives if we don't change men's perceptions of women. We need funding for programs for men and boys. It's vital that those programs be carried out by women's anti-violence organizations, or at least in partnership with our organizations, so they are informed by a feminist gender equality lens. Our organization hosts a men's group where men can explore the relationships in their lives in a supportive environment. We fund this critically important prevention program through our thrift shop and through grants when we can get them.
I haven't even touched on the justice system. It has greatly improved in the response to women over the years I've been working. It still has some way to go, but that is too complex a discussion for today.
We need a national action plan on violence against women that addresses the full context of women's lives: affordable housing, income security, affordable child care, pay equity, access to legal representation, and men's prevention programs. Our organizations, which provide support services, need stable, core, ongoing funding that is adequate to address the actual needs.
We need senior government to be relentless in keeping the issue of violence against women—intimate partner violence and sexual assault—front and centre. We can't deal with women's economic security in a meaningful way if we don't deal with violence against women.
Thank you again for this opportunity. I will be happy to take questions.