Thank you, Karen.
I want to thank the committee.
I'm joining you today from the unceded territory of the Kanienkehaka in Montreal.
I'd like to move quickly, because we have limited time.
I'll remind the panel and the committee today that the rate of disability for women, according to Statistics Canada, is 24%. Of course, that rate for Black and indigenous women is above 30%.
In terms of some of the important data that we need to look at today, I'll remind the panel again, in terms of some of those statistics, that 39% of women with disabilities have experienced spousal violence, and 46% have been physically injured because of violence. There are a number of other statistics, including that women with cognitive disabilities are more likely to be victims of violence from a common-law partner.
Where violence and abuse are concerned, with respect to disability, there are interrelated elements at play, including violence as both the cause of disability and disability as a factor in increasing the risk of victimization. Towards this point, one of the important statistics I want to share with you today is that it has been estimated that each year as many as 276,000 women in Canada will experience a traumatic brain injury as a result of intimate partner violence. Please think about this number. Also, 71% of women with disabilities report contacting or using formal support services due to intimate partner violence. Women with disabilities face more barriers in leaving abusive situations, as both disability-related services and services for victims of abuse are often not able to respond to their needs.
Gender-based violence remains a critical issue for women and girls with disabilities, as the research above highlights. The other research we will share in our brief, which I urge you to read next week, with all the important data and facts, confirms this. As the research highlights, this issue is pressing and reflects the need for us to collectively address the realities of gender-based violence over the life course for women and girls with disabilities.
In terms of what I've seen, a number of your witnesses, of course, are from the shelter community, so I want to speak directly to that and to the idea that, while we understand that, there is an important distinction between accessibility and accessing shelters in terms of the kind of language and reflections we need today. DAWN Canada and our partners at Women’s Shelters Canada, and the vast majority of shelters themselves, recognize that there are gaps. This continues to be compounded by COVID-19, because women with disabilities are now faced with policies that bring them into even greater contact with the sites and people associated with their disproportionately high rates of abuse. Shelters, however, are already overwhelmed and under-resourced because of this pandemic.
What all this information is telling us now for the national action plan and next steps is that systemic discrimination, including ableism, sexism and racism, pervades our research, our policies, our programs and our responses. The reflex to focus on the current resources is strong, but it will not result in the kind of systemic change that is required to rid our society of gender-based violence.
On the key recommendations, I'll go to the topics first, and then with the time I have I hope to cover them all.
To make it more inclusive, update and revise the definition of “intimate partner violence” to “interpersonal violence” to better reflect that for women with disabilities, for example, the perpetrator can also be a family member, a friend, a health care provider or an attendant.
Second, and so important to DAWN's work and such a reflection of what we really need to hear today, is peer support. While the issue of gender-based violence against women with disabilities clearly establishes that women with disabilities require unique supports, as previously noted, systemic and attitudinal barriers continue to prevent access. There are women-serving and disability-service organizations that have been built for and by the people they serve, and reflect the power of peer support when shared oppressions and shared resilience are organized into solutions. These are the folks whose results need to be examined first and then replicated, and not in separate silos but together.
Another is instruments of hope. Systemic change is only possible by taking the long view and staying the course. The national housing strategy, the national action plan to end gender-based violence and the national early learning and child care plan are just some of the examples of federal initiatives that could be coordinated and should be coordinated. There are funding mechanisms at ESDC, at WAGE and other departments that work well now, or could, if we could see the results in pilot communities in each of the regions. I'm telling you all to think about the fact that you have in front of you the possibility of effecting change by really thinking about these instruments of hope and what they could do if we start to think across government. The silent approach has not worked for women and girls with disabilities.
I know I'm nearly out of time here, but I will talk about addressing childhood sexual abuse. Just today, statistics were released that confirmed childhood sexual victimization has increased by 95% in the last five years.
Root resilience, root change, root justice.
Thank you.