Status of Women Committee on April 1st, 2022

[Mercy Lawluvi, Executive Director, Immigrant Women Services Ottawa]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Good afternoon, honourable members of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. It is indeed an honour and a pleasure to have been invited to be on this panel today.

My name is Mercy Lawluvi, and I'm the executive director at Immigrant Women Services Ottawa, an organization that is dedicated to empowering immigrant and racialized women in the city of Ottawa and surrounding areas to participate in the elimination of all forms of violence against women and children.

I'd like to start by acknowledging that I'm joining you from the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.

My comments today will focus on the issues faced by immigrant and racialized women who are survivors of violence, and I will provide some recommendations.

One of the groups most vulnerable and most at risk of experiencing gender-based violence is immigrant and racialized women, whose experiences of intimate partner violence intersect with several other forms of oppression, including systemic racism, discrimination and marginalization.

COVID-19 has exacerbated the problem of gender-based violence for immigrant survivors, many of whom have been completely isolated and at the mercy of their abusers. This is particularly true for those with a language barrier. Many had to flee for their safety and they discovered that shelters were not an option for them since most first-stage shelters were full, leaving them with options such as hotels or motels, which posed additional safety and emotional challenges.

The situation is worse for newcomer women, who have not yet built a social network and who feel totally isolated. Additionally, access to safe and affordable housing is a challenge because of inadequate housing availability. Unfortunately, certain communities have become oppressive enclaves in which racism—specifically Islamophobia, anti-Black or anti-Asian racism—further marginalizes survivors.

Furthermore, many immigrant and racialized survivors remain vulnerable and unprotected because they are afraid to call the police in an emergency for fear of revictimization, and, for non-status women, they are afraid of putting themselves at risk of deportation. This leads to the gross under-reporting of violence that exists within this group, and this is a problem, especially when femicide rates in Ontario increased by 94% from July 2020 to July 2021.

I'd also like to add that as immigration levels increase and as we welcome more immigrants to Canada, the lack of information on Canadian laws on gender-based violence and the resources available to these women puts them at greater risk of experiencing gender-based violence.

Having touched briefly on these issues, I would like to make some recommendations for consideration.

First, there is a need for intersectional approaches to policies and a review of the impact on the most vulnerable and marginalized communities. A review of the underlying social and economic causes of gender-based violence—such as poverty, housing, cultural and linguistic factors, low-paying jobs, immigration status, etc.—is needed, as is a review of policies that continuously support the patriarchal system of oppression.

Second, a robust national awareness and prevention strategy, including providing information on intimate partner and domestic violence to newcomers at all points of entry in their language of choice, needs to be implemented.

Third, there is a need for increased government-mandated training of law enforcement officers on all forms of gender-based violence and its potential impact on immigrant, refugee and non-status women, with additional training on intersectional and trauma-informed approaches. Training is also needed on how to effectively use interpreters during sensitive interviews.

There is also a need for a housing strategy that reflects the needs of marginalized communities seeking safety.

Finally, implementation of multi-year, increased and sustainable funding for women's organizations providing frontline responses to survivors of violence is needed.

I thank you for your attention.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you so much, Mercy.

Now we're going to pass it over to Stéphanie.

Stéphanie, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Stéphanie Vallée, Co-coordinator, L'R des centres de femmes du Québec]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you for inviting me to testify before the committee.

This morning, my thoughts are with the community of Lebel-sur-Quévillon, where yesterday there was another suspected femicide, followed by a suicide.

I am here to introduce you to L'R des centres de femmes du Québec. Our organization brings together, year after year, 90 women's centres located in 14 administrative regions of Quebec. These autonomous community organizations were created to meet needs that were not met by traditional public services and to support women in all their efforts to regain their autonomy.

Women's centres are living environments where women can go during the day.

Workers receive women who want to participate in activities, collective actions, large marches, such as the World March of Women, which takes place every five years, or use the services offered by the women's centres. Women are received as they are, without judgment and without being labelled. Often, these are women who are experiencing different types of violence. They find themselves in a group, which helps them become aware that they are victims of domestic violence or any other type of violence.

I want to make it clear that women's centres are not shelters. In fact, they are parallel resources that welcome women and accompany them in their efforts. We sometimes refer them to shelters, but it often happens that women who are victims of violence do not go through shelters. One might ask why it is women who have to leave their homes, rather than their abusive partners.

Women's centre workers will work with women to help them rebuild their self-esteem and self-confidence, without blaming them for the violence they experience, of course. Through the strength of the group and steps to regain their autonomy, they will often emerge stronger and will finally be able to leave their home or get their abusive partner to leave.

Women's centres work on three levels: services, educational activities and collective action. Services often serve as a gateway. We can help women to prepare their curriculum vitae, for example, or to open a bank account. Indeed, there are still women who do not have a bank account and only have access to a joint account; often these women are victims of economic violence.

The women's centres believe that as long as there is no equality between humans, between women and between men and women, women will be victims of violence. Obviously, there is a need for universal services.

Earlier, we talked about childcare. That's all well and good, but spaces must be available. Currently, in Quebec, there is a major problem with access to these day care centres. We always say that day care centres will give women the opportunity to go to work, but it could also give everyone the opportunity to go to work. Women's centres are working to change the mindset and to make sure that there is recognized and deep equality.

Again, thank you for the invitation.

I am ready to answer your questions.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you so much.

I'm now going to pass it over to the Peterborough Police Service.

However you wish to share the time, you have five minutes.

[Emily Jones, Coordinator, Community Development and Engagement, Peterborough Police Service]

Thank you so much.

I would like to start off by acknowledging that we are on the traditional territory of the Michi Saagiig and the Chippewa Nations covered by Treaty No. 20 of the Williams Treaties.

Thank you for inviting us to speak as a witness at this committee hearing. Specifically, thank you to Chair Karen Vecchio and our local MP, Michelle Ferreri.

Alice Czitrom is our victim services coordinator, and I am Emily Jones, the community development and engagement coordinator. Both of these positions are embedded within Peterborough Police.

These two positions within the service have the unique ability to focus on all three levels of social change, advocacy and supports: “micro”, individual victim support services; “mezzo”, community relationships; and “macro”, political and community strategies. This gives us the ability to hear and understand the issues for individuals, identify system barriers and supports and, ultimately, advocate for change within all levels of government and community systems.

I will now be handing it over to Alice Czitrom to discuss our recommendations to this committee.

Thank you.

[Alice Czitrom, Coordinator, Victim Services, Peterborough Police Service]

Good afternoon. Thank you for this opportunity to address the committee on behalf of Peterborough Police and its victim services unit.

Research has shown that violent crimes like intimate partner violence have long-lasting psychological, physical, social and economic impacts, not solely on the primary victim but on children, extended family members, neighbourhoods, schools, workplaces and the general safety and well-being of communities.

In recent years, police services across this country, like Peterborough Police, have committed themselves to becoming more trauma-informed with their investigations, collaborating in a more fulsome way with their community partners through committees and round tables, and committing to prevention education in school when it comes to healthy relationships.

What we know, based on decades of research on relational trauma, is that victims who experience intimate partner violence in the home as a child have a much higher likelihood of experiencing future victimization, such as polyvictimization and intergenerational trauma, mental health issues, addiction, risk of suicide and many other physical health issues such as cancer, obesity or heart disease. We also know that individuals and families who are indigenous, racialized, LGBTQ or experiencing other forms of marginalization, such as homelessness, poverty, addictions and living in remote communities, have additional barriers to healing.

What do we do with this knowledge?

The recommendation that we are respectfully putting forward to this committee is the reinstatement of a federal victim compensation program. Victims' needs for reconstructing their lives have been articulated in the research as fourfold—financial, physical, emotional and social—and we argue that victim compensation can address all of those. In fact, victim compensation is and always has been a symbol of our collective social response to the violence experienced by victims.

A report published in 2021 by the Office of the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime stated, “Compensation is a critical first step on victims’ road to recovery.”

The United Nations adopted the “Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power”, which provides concrete actions that every government should adopt to respect the interests and needs of victims. It is based on the best knowledge and experience from across the world to specify what must be done to provide access to justice, protection, information, assistance and reparation for victims of crime. The UN declaration stresses that “[s]tates should endeavour to provide financial compensation [through the] establishment, strengthening and expansion of national funds for compensation”. It's worth noting that Canada played a critical role in this declaration.

The Victims Bill of Rights, which was introduced by the federal government in 2015, includes many of the same topics addressed in the UN declaration; however, it fails to mention a state compensation program. Another criticism of the Victims Bill of Rights is that it failed to include a method of enforcing the rights of victims and, as such, if Canada fails to uphold them, there is no recourse.

Canada no longer meets the standards and norms set out by the UN declaration with respect to state compensation. Victims of crime in Canada have uneven access to services. Eligibility criteria for compensation vary from province to province.

Compensation programs must address medical expenses, loss of income, mental health, practical needs, safety and, most important, pain and suffering. The symbolic value of dealing with these issues through some type of compensation helps validate the commitment of society to victim assistance as a whole. Currently, only two provinces offer pain and suffering awards to victims of a crime, including intimate partner violence.

In Canada, we have just one Criminal Code, yet we have a disjointed patchwork of available services for victims. Following a trauma-informed approach, a federal victim compensation program would offer the recognition of the impact of intimate partner violence on Canadians and help pave the road in restoring a victim's value, power and dignity.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you so much.

We're now going to start our first round of questions. We are providing six minutes for each party.

We're going to start that off with Michelle Ferreri.

Michelle, you have six minutes.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Thank you so much, Chair, and thank you so much to all the witnesses.

It's great work and, as the member of Parliament for Peterborough—Kawartha, I'm very happy and proud to see Peterborough on the list. Hi to everybody.

I want to start by going to Alice and Emily—more so to Alice, I guess.

Thank you for all of your recommendations. When we're looking at victim services, I think the compensation is a fair discussion that needs to be had. How do you get your life back? I think it's fair.

What we're also trying to look at is how to prevent victims from even becoming victims. In some of my conversations with victim services, they seem to say there are three things that victims are really looking for—and I'm curious if you agree with them—information before things happen, restitution and counselling.

Would you agree with that?

[Alice Czitrom]

Thanks for the question, Michelle.

Yes, I would agree. That's actually what the research has talked about, too. In fact, information is what they call the “gateway” to all of the other pieces and needs when it comes to addressing victims of crime. It's not just information about what's available out there, but once something happens, information is the groundwork that victims need for empowerment to feel like they have some level of control in the process that they have now embarked on.

As we know with domestic violence, because of mandatory charging, oftentimes there's a whole level and all these steps that are happening without a victim's input or involvement. This is all for the safety of the victim and the children, of course. Because of that mandatory charge piece, information is huge, so they can have an appreciation of what they can expect from this process.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Can you give a really specific example?

I know there's confidentiality, but could you give an example of what that would look like? What can be done or implemented, maybe at a policy level, to make sure that there is clear communication and that the victim is included more in the exchange of information?

[Alice Czitrom]

Sure. I can answer with different models that I've seen around the world where victim assistance is more of a case management approach. You have your worker and that worker is essentially your go-to person who's able to give you access to information on court and to keep you informed about services. Also, the worker is somewhat of a...not a trauma counsellor, but a person who is able to unpack some of the crisis intervention of early days and then maybe set up more long-term support.

This case management model that we see in other countries is fantastic. We know that the relationship is one of the key things when it comes to therapeutic models and therapeutic interventions. We don't have relationship when there's one person who's going to call you maybe once a month for this, or you speak to one person about that. It's very disjointed and very patchworky.

Trust and relationships are the fundamental pieces when it comes to therapeutic relationships.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

I hope that gets underlined when we have the report from this committee because I agree with you wholeheartedly.

I'm sorry. I would love to keep talking to you, but I know I'm short on time.

[Alice Czitrom]

That's okay. Thank you for the question.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Thank you for answering it.

Emily, just really quickly, you do so much work in terms of reaching out to the community and working with all of these agencies. You do really great work in understanding the mosaic. I like this word that's come up multiple times in this committee, because it is a mosaic. So many pieces have to come into play.

My question is very direct. Do you think money is the only thing that solves this issue?

[Emily Jones]

I don't think money is ever the only thing that solves an issue. I think it's incredibly important. Obviously, we know that resources are so important.

What I know about Peterborough specifically—I can't attribute it to other communities—is that we have what I like to refer to as a huge ecosystem of communities that really strive to work together. It's not always perfect, and I think a lot of the reason for that is that there is almost a competition for those resources.

When there's not a distribution or equal access to resources for people who are receiving direct access, such as clients and people who have experienced violence, or to the services that are set to help them, it does become a highlighted issue. So—

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Sorry, I hate cutting people off.

[Emily Jones]

No, that's okay.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

You have about 45 seconds left.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Okay.

Would it be valuable for the government to implement some kind of strategy where you don't have this sort of “cannibalism” for organizations competing for funding so that they can be incentivized to work more together to help the greater good?

[Emily Jones]

Any time we can encourage agencies to be collaborative, it's always a good thing, and having direct access to funds for victims of crime or victims of violence is a good thing.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Thank you so much, Emily.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you so much.

We're going to switch it over to Anita Vandenbeld.

Anita, you have the floor.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

My first question is for Ms. Lawluvi.

You mentioned that when we're talking about newcomer women, the lack of social networks, and sometimes language barriers, leads to significant under-reporting and also it means that they're very isolated and may not even be aware of services that are available to them.

Some years ago, after I was elected, I partnered with yours and a number of other organizations to put together fridge magnets, which I sent to every single household in my constituency, that had your organization's, Immigrant Women Services Ottawa's, number among other numbers of emergency contacts on them.

How important is it that we have ways of reaching people who may not even be leaving the house very often, who may not have other ways of even being aware of what number they can call? I know there are still people who have that on their fridge. It's been there for years; they forget that it's there. If needed, if there's an emergency, that number is right there for them to call.

I've seen it also on college campuses, for example in Algonquin College in the bathroom. The women's bathroom has a number of services listed, including yours, about where women can go and whom they can call for help.

Can you tell me how important that is? What are other ways that organizations like yours and others in the community can raise awareness and reach those people who are extremely isolated and don't have other means of finding out how to get support?

[Mercy Lawluvi]

Thank you for this important question.

Yes, absolutely, it is important that women have access to all the information they need to be able to reach out to receive services. Having our information on fridge magnets, that is key. More so, it has to be a cross-sectoral venture, making sure that all organizations within our communities are aware of all these resources so when there's an immigrant woman who comes to them—it could be a health centre—they're able to provide this information. It has to be a cross-sectoral initiative where everyone is informed of all the resources that are available.

On our part, at Immigrant Women Services Ottawa, we've taken the initiative to have an awareness and prevention initiative where we're connecting with community agencies and reaching out to pockets of immigrant women who are isolated. They're not getting out. They need the information on the resources that are available to them, so if they're not getting it, someone needs to get it to them.

This is one of the initiatives that we're taking, trying to reach out to women where they're at and provide them with information, and at the same time have that cross-sectoral engagement. And we're trying to involve the men, also, because it's not just a women's issue. They have to also be involved and know the ramifications of actions and so on.

Thank you.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Thank you.

Our committee has actually heard about some very creative ways in which women were reaching women, even through hair salons. It sounds like that's a very important way of doing it.

How important is it, particularly for newcomer women, that the services are culturally sensitive? You mentioned issues even in terms of interpreters and how to interact with interpreters, issues with housing. What can we do as legislators to make sure that there are culturally sensitive services available for newcomer women?