Thank you very much.
Good afternoon, Chair, vice-chairs and members. Thank you for inviting me on behalf of my organization, BGC Peel, formerly the Boys and Girls Club, and a federation partner with BGC Canada, to present a local, grassroots look at intimate partner and domestic violence across, in our case, the city of Brampton and region of Peel, especially for those in the marginalized and vulnerable communities that we serve.
As mentioned at the beginning, my name is Michael Gyovai. I'm the executive director of the club.
BGC Peel believes that, through our 40 years of service and on-the-ground experience with families, our mission to provide a safe, supportive place where children, youth and families can experience new opportunities, overcome barriers and build positive relationships, can be used as a foundation for solutions towards changing how communities, children, youth and families deal with and aim to resolve domestic issues that potentially become violent.
BGC Peel's mandate is centred on prevention. The common trend that our staff and volunteers are hearing is that we need more useful, credible and impactful education, information and awareness around how to identify domestic violence, how to report it and who to report it to; how to protect each other, especially our children from it; and ultimately a long-term plan to prevent it from happening in the first place.
Facilitating the development and enhancement of community programs that aim at prevention and support while providing services for children and youth to support their development as individuals within the context of the family environment is a recommendation that BGC Peel urges the federal government to consider.
We know that we all can and should be doing better. Through the work we do, we know that it's communication with each other, with our children and with our families in our communities that will make those strides.
The teaching of prevention must be done at an early age. We look towards the future and our next generation and helping them with the perspective that they have on what it means to be kind. Working with those in authority can and should be seen as positive, not as interference. Most importantly, we want to raise our children to value and understand the world that we live in and what it demands of us in order to survive and thrive with equality, inclusion and acceptance of diversity.
Despite all of that, sometimes it's not enough. Families are telling my staff and our volunteers that they're ashamed and afraid at times to bring matters forward and, despite wanting to, they fight the urge to share the information of all forms of violence that impact their lives. Be it a lack of confidence in the system that manages these situations or not, when Canadians fear those who can protect them from those who can threaten them, we have a major issue that needs to be resolved.
In the region of Peel, over 85% of those who report violence are women. Stats that my staff found show that 43% of these women are 15- to 19-year-olds who have experienced intimate partner violence in their lifetime. That number drops to 24% for 20- to 24-year-olds, and 10% for 25 and up. That means that 67% of these young 15- to 24-year-olds, the bulk of girls and young women that BGC Peel and BGC Canada support, have experienced domestic or intimate violence at some level.
From Peel Regional Police, we found that they had seen an increase of 74% in their domestic calls over the last five years. One of the main impacts that we hear from our staff is the fallout regarding parental alienation and a parent's willingness to fight for their children's rights and access to them.
In conversation with Sheffanessea Brown, founder of Against Parental Alienation Canada, she brought to my attention that at the current time there are no federal or provincial laws that truly regulate parental alienation and the domestic violence that comes from it. We obviously understand that courts recognize it. We do believe that, through reviews and revision of the Criminal Code, there could be opportunities to change the wording to protect those who are victims and survivors of parental alienation.
When we reviewed the final reports for the ad hoc federal-provincial-territorial working group reviewing spousal abuse policies and legislation, we didn't notice that there was strong enough wording to see those kinds of protections. We would definitely love it if the federal government could go back, have a review and see how the impacts, directly and indirectly, are hurting our children, not only at the time of the situation but as they grow and become adults, and hopefully parents themselves.
In conclusion, BGC Peel is requesting that the Standing Committee on the Status of Women do a review to see what kinds of positive impacts organizations like BGC Peel, through BGC Canada, can offer intimate partners and their families dealing with domestic violence. Local partnerships with medical professionals, law enforcement and psychologists assist with helping to treat the core symptoms before the situation gets out of hand. We truly believe that education, awareness and community engagement would play a critical role in the de-escalation of domestic violence and repeat offences.
Let's work together to show that we're providing safe places and safe opportunities for our children, youth and families as we progress forward and, hopefully, bring an end to domestic violence at the local levels and throughout Canada. It's building on that foundation for positive actions and solutions to change to help these children at an early age break the trends that we're seeing so many times in families.
At BGC Peel, we believe that opportunity changes everything, and that “No. More. Barriers.” is a starting point, not an end goal.
Thank you for this opportunity to speak.