Absolutely. We need a broader understanding of what constitutes intimate partner violence, which ranges from basic violent behaviour to the power dynamics in the relationship.
Intimate partner violence happens when one person in the couple uses violent behaviours to gain power they feel is legitimate. There is no denying that, in the vast majority of cases, that person is the man.
That is why we work so hard at SOS violence conjugale, always alongside sector stakeholders. We do a tremendous amount of work with shelters across Quebec. My counterpart at the Fédération des maisons d'hébergement pour femmes is here; her organization also works extremely hard.
We endeavour to build tools to help people in all of those settings, and we ask victims whether those tools reflect their experiences. You brought up the SOS‑Info section on our website. It contains short articles to help victims and their loved ones understand all aspects of violence, the various forms of violence and ways they can get help. We try to provide information that is as tangible as possible. The section has 20 articles, and we post new ones every year. It's another tool we use to raise awareness.
We also have a section on the website with testimonials, to help people understand intimate partner violence. The site has a more analytical component with explanatory information, in addition to the testimonials, which focus on the emotional element. An interactive questionnaire is available to users of the site, so we use various tools to help people understand what violence is. That's the hardest part.
We have received countless comments on the site, especially regarding the interactive questionnaire. People told us they never imagined that they were victims of intimate partner violence, but the questionnaire had piqued their interest. After answering yes to eight of the 25 questions, for instance, they realized that they were victims.
At the end of the questionnaire, behaviour X is categorized as emotional violence [Technical difficulty—Editor], behaviour Y is categorized as isolation and so forth. We help participants find the words to describe what's happening, and it is clearly having a significant impact.