Gender-Based Violence Resources for Municipal Elected Officials

After the Declaration – What AMO Members Can Do to Help Prevent Femicide

This brief is written to provide information and ideas for AMO members to help grow a whole community response to IPV. If it is true that everyone has a role to play in femicide prevention, then it is important to become aware of, and support people in the different roles, and to learn the role each of us can play. 

Understanding Gender-Based Violence

Family service agencies are essential partners in addressing GBV, offering a range of support that spans prevention, intervention, and recovery for individuals and families impacted by GBV.  This guide provides municipal leaders with what they need to know about the services family service agencies provide. 

Resources on Prevention and Response on Economic Abuse

These fact sheets and posters provide information for survivors, social services, and bank staff on economic abuse. This resource can be shared with the public and is available in multiple languages.

Unacceptable: Responding to Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence

Unacceptable: Responding to Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence, a guide developed by LEAF, defines and describes different forms of technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV). The guide also outlines steps that people experiencing TFGBV can take to address the violence, including potential legal remedies.  
 

Meeting your Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act Obligations 

Make It Our Business provides information and education to help employers and other workplace stakeholders to meet their obligations under the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act. Can be offered as a 1-hour free training to employers in your community. Municipalities can encourage local businesses to offer this training through their local BIAs and Chambers of Commerce. 

Identifying Risks and Signs of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)

Neighbours, Friends & Families is a public education campaign to provide information about the risks and signs of IPV, how you can safely intervene, and actions you can take to address it. It also includes culturally appropriate campaigns that have been adapted to meet the needs of immigrants and refugees, Indigenous communities, and Francophone communities. It also includes Rural Roots, a specific resource for rural communities developed in partnership with Luke’s Place.

Supporting Survivors of IPV

The Ontario Association of Interval and Transition House (OAITH) Training Hub offers competency-based, self-paced online courses designed for anyone supporting survivors of gender-based violence. Dozens of self-paced courses are available in French and English designed to equip learners to respond effectively and promote survivor safety. Courses are purchased individually. 

Currently Available Courses: https://www.oaith.ca/train/current-courses.html

Planning for Equitable and Inclusive Cities

This document is written as a companion training module to the Equity and Inclusion Lens training for city planners. It is meant to stimulate creative and transformational thinking around planning decisions, processes, and policies.

Safer Spaces for 2S-LGBTQ+ Communities 

Safer Spaces provides organizational assessments, professional development workshops, and consultation services to create more inclusive programs and workplaces for 2S-LGBTQ+ communities. Training topics include understanding the ways in which 2S-LGBTQ+ communities are disproportionately impacted by violence, poverty, and health inequities. 

S2LGBTQIA+ Inclusion Training

WorQshop offers current, fun, and informative 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusion training to health and social services and other workplaces and groups, including specific trainings on intimate partner violence in 2SLGBTQIA+ communities. They offer virtual and in-person trainings, as well as consultation services.
 

Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) Organizational Assessment Tool

Digna's target audience is organizations working in international cooperation, so the resources and trainings provided may need adaptation to the Canadian context but are available to all who need them. This no-obligation, customizable self-assessment is a useful tool that helps organizational leaders to gain a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of their organization’s prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse. Data can also be voluntarily shared annually to enable Digna to measure progress throughout the sector and identify gaps in supports that can be filled throughout the following year. Email digna.info@cooperation.ca for more information. 

Resources for Evaluating Trauma- and Violence-Informed Practice

This resource provides an overview of over twenty qualitative and quantitative evaluation tools designed to measure trauma-and violence-informed practices of individuals and /or organizations. These tools have been specifically designed to support individuals and organizations in assessing trauma- and violence-informed (TVI) practices at various stages.
 

10 Ways to Invest in Survivor Expertise

Gender-based violence survivors provide knowledge, leadership, and guidance on the various forms and impacts of gender-based violence, as well as the successes and barriers they encounter in support-seeking and healing. In this way, survivors can be considered as holding specialized expertise on gender-based violence that cannot be acquired through any other source. This infographic identifies everyday actions and structural changes that can be adopted at the organizational level to ethically and equitably include and center survivor expertise. 

Advancing Equity and Inclusion: A Guide for Municipalities

This guide is for elected officials who wish to create Council mandates and strategic priorities that are responsive to constituents; senior and middle management who seek to establish policies, practices, and procedures in human resources and operations that reflect the population; and municipal staff at all levels of the organization who may be in touch with emerging issues and opportunities. This guide presents a flexible approach to equity and inclusion and is adaptable to the diverse structures, contexts, and experiences of municipalities from across Canada. 

Digna’s Directory of Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) Service Providers

Digna's target audience is organizations working in international cooperation, so the resources and trainings provided may need adaptation to the Canadian context but are available to all who need them. Digna has collected a growing list of PSEA service providers across Canada and around the world. The list includes professionals specialized in training, safeguarding, investigations, complaints and reporting mechanisms, and many other specializations. The database can be filtered according to various criteria.

Economic Abuse Screening Tool (EAST)

The Economic Abuse Screening Tool (EAST) can be shared with social service providers to assist them in identifying and addressing instances of economic abuse experienced by their clients. EAST equips these providers with the information and skills necessary to assess the scope and nature of economic abuse and provides them with a range of resources to help victim-survivors access critical economic resources.

Going the Distance: Supporting Rural and Remote Survivors with Family Law Issues

The way violence plays out and the effectiveness of policy and service responses are profoundly shaped by where people live. This resource is divided into two sections, 1) Understanding the Rural and Remote Experience and 2) Strategies for Supporting Rural and Remote Women. The first section is designed for workers and decision-makers who are unfamiliar with the challenges and experiences that come with rural and remote living. It may also affirm the experiences of workers and women living in small communities. The second section helps us all think of ways to support violence survivors in these areas.

The Greater Sudbury Police Service Indigenous Women and Girls Missing Persons Toolkit and Resource Guide

The Greater Sudbury Police Service is responding to Recommendations 40 and 41 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action. They are also taking action to build awareness on MMIWG issues and to assist families wherever possible. This toolkit is meant to provide families with information and resources to assist them during the time their loved one is missing. It is also intended to provide police investigators with timely information to ensure essential steps in locating loved ones are undertaken.

The Women’s Legal Education & Action Fund (LEAF)

LEAF has engaged in legal advocacy to advance gender equality rights in Canada since 1985. We provide public legal education—including custom workshops— to groups and institutions interested in learning more about issues related to gender equality. If you are interested in learning more, please reach out to info@leaf.ca.

Mulberry

Mulberry provides contact information for a variety of services, including emergency women’s shelters, sexual assault centers, community GBV services and many more. Information regarding services can be accessed through a service listing, a map-based search and via tailored search results populated via an interactive GBV services quiz.

OAITH Resource Library

The OAITH Resource Library contains hundreds of evidence-based resources focused on gender-based violence, including infographics, reports, and videos. Find what you need, when you need it by searching for resources by target audience, topic, format or language. 

Examples of available topics Include:

• Legislation and Policy
• Family Law
• Femicide
• Stalking and harassment
• Immigration status 

Ontario Counselling Finder

The Counselling Finder was designed by Family Service Ontario as a collaboration tool with their member agencies to help the public find counselling services online. FSO member agencies employ registered professionals who practice psychotherapy and have been providing services to men, women, children and couples for decades.

See It, Name It, Change It

See It, Name It, Change It is all about starting conversations, learning about healthy relationships, and finding ways to make communities safer and happier for everyone. This is done through identifying what violence looks like, how to call it out, and how to end violence in your community. The campaign includes resources and ideas for programs. 

Culleton, Kuzyk & Warmerdam (CKW) Inquest Advocacy Toolkit

Luke’s Place Support and Resource Centre for Women and Children has developed this toolkit to assist organizations that do not have the time or resources to develop their own advocacy strategy and tools related to implementation of the Inquest recommendations. The resource continues to be updated as new tools and resources are added. 

Calls to Action for Municipalities

The Canadian Center for Women’s Empowerment (CCFWE) compiled several tangible measures municipalities can take to support Economic Abuse survivors in their community and promote their safety and well-being. CCFWE also has recommendations and calls to action for provincial and territorial governments that may be useful for municipalities to keep in mind.

We Count Femicide Because

We Count Femicide Because is an initiative led by the Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses (OAITH) with support from Building a Bigger Wave Ontario Network (BBW) and Action ontarienne contra la violence faite aux femme to call attention to and address Femicide rates in Ontario. We Count Femicide Because raises a public alarm every time a femicide occurs in Ontario, drawing attention to the critical need for investments in prevention and to engage leaders in communities and at all levels of government in dialogue focused on the collective work needed to prevent femicide. 

• Monthly Femicide in Ontario Snapshots
• Annual Lists
• Join the OAITH mailing list

Wrapped in Courage Campaign

Organized by the Ontario Association of Interval & Transition Houses (OAITH), the Wrapped in Courage campaign provides opportunities throughout Woman Abuse Prevention Month (November) and the 16 Days of Activism to End Gender-Based Violence (November 25th- December 10th) to take action towards ending gender-based violence (GBV). Community members, leaders and elected officials are asked to recognize gender-based violence (GBV) as a non-partisan issue by wearing purple scarves and proclaiming November 25th as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

 

Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

The National Inquiry’s Final Report reveals that persistent and deliberate human and Indigenous rights violations and abuses are the root cause behind Canada’s staggering rates of violence against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people. The two-volume report calls for transformative legal and social changes to resolve the crisis that has devastated Indigenous communities across the country. It delivers 231 individual Calls for Justice directed at governments, institutions, social service providers, industries and all Canadians.

Culleton, Kuzyk & Warmerdam Inquest Jury Recommendations

On September 22, 2015, three women were murdered in Renfrew County. In 2017, Basil Borutski was convicted of first-degree murder charges in the deaths of Anastasia Kuzyk, Nathalie Warmerdam and Carol Culleton. The Culleton, Kuzyk, & Warmerdam Inquest took place in June 2022 and made 86 recommendations to prevent intimate partner violence (IPV). 

Mass Casualty Commission Final Report – Turning the Tide Together

The Mass Casualty Commission examines the April 18-19, 2020 killings of 22 people, including a pregnant woman, in Portapique, Nova Scotia. The Commission’s final report provides important lessons learned and recommendations for governments and institutions to improve community safety. The report crucially emphasizes the role of gender-based violence in mass casualties, and the need to address this violence to make communities safer. The Avalon Centre, LEAF, and Wellness Within developed and submitted a report reflecting the voices of marginalized members of the community and survivors affected by the perpetrator, and their suggestions for recommendations. 

Ontario Intimate Partner Violence Inquest Recommendations

This chart developed by OAITH collates all IPV inquest recommendations that have been made in Ontario. 

Ontario STANDS

Through Ontario’s four-year plan, the Government of Ontario is building on existing efforts to prevent, address and respond to gender-based violence. This cross-government action plan will respond to sector needs and unique community contexts, with a focus on prevention and supporting people at the highest risk of experiencing violence.

Pathways to safety: Ontario’s strategy in response to the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

Pathways to Safety is the provincial government-wide plan to address the root causes of violence against Indigenous women, children and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people.

The National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence

The vision for the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence is a Canada free of gender-based violence that supports victims, survivors, and their families, no matter where they live. Women and Gender Equality Canada worked with each province and territory to put in place bilateral agreements supporting the implementation of the National Action Plan. These agreements are flexible, allowing jurisdictions to address their respective priorities, needs and challenges.

OFIFC/ONWA Strategy to End Violence Against Indigenous Women

The Strategic Framework to End Violence Against Indigenous Women was coauthored by the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres (OFIFC) and the Ontario Native Women’s Association (ONWA). It was launched in 2007 and provides a framework for systemic change and guides work with partners and allies.

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ National Action Plan: Urban Path to Reclaiming Power and Place, Regardless of Residency

An Urban Sub-Working Group developed this chapter of the National Action Plan to eliminate violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people, in response to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and the 61 Calls for Miskotahâ (change) specific to the Métis Nation. It focuses on First Nation, Inuit and Métis people living in small, medium and large communities, including rural, isolated and remote communities, which are: off-reserve; outside of their home community, community of origin or settlement; or outside of Inuit Nunangat (Inuit homelands).