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March 8, 2004
Nowhere to Turn?
Responding to Partner Violence
Against Immigrant and Visible Minority Women
Executive Summary
"The result of this project should be pressure for action."
Focus Group Participant, from Voices of Frontline Workers
Comprehensive, coordinated and culturally appropriate strategies are needed to reach out to immigrant and visible minority women in Canada who are abused by their husbands or partners. This study by the Canadian Council on Social Development identifies a complex set of issues, attitudes, barriers and gaps in service that make immigrant and visible minority women uniquely vulnerable when faced by domestic violence.
This study emphasizes the importance of:
- providing information on Canadian laws, rights and services to immigrants in their own language and increasing the availability of professional interpretation services for police, courts, crisis centres and other services;
- ensuring that services for abused immigrant and visible minority women are sensitive to and respectful of diverse cultural practices, histories and life experiences;
- improving and coordinating access to crisis programs (e.g. shelters, counselling) and longer-term interventions (e.g. housing, training) tailored to the needs of this population;
- stabilizing funding for immigrant settlement and ethno-cultural service agencies, and encouraging more collaboration among mainstream and culturally specific service providers; and,
- engaging in education and equity strategies aimed at reducing discrimination, stereotyping and marginalization of immigrant and visible minority communities and preventing partner abuse.
The study findings are based on focus groups with frontline workers from community organizations in seven cities across the country (Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax), a two-day National Forum, key informant interviews, and a review of relevant literature and available data.
The project, funded by the Department of Justice Canada under the Sectoral Involvement in Departmental Policy Development program within the Voluntary Sector Initiative, set out to deepen understanding of the factors involved in partner abuse experienced by immigrant and visible minority women, and to identify effective ways to support victims and reduce the incidence of partner violence.
A Shared Problem
Partner violence is defined as controlling or abusive behaviour by a spouse or common law partner. It can take many forms, including physical or sexual violence, verbal, psychological, emotional, financial or spiritual abuse.
Partner violence occurs in all societies and cultures. Addressing this issue as it affects immigrant and visible minority communities recognizes that they are a growing segment of the population. In 2001, there were almost four million people or 13.4% of the population who identified themselves as visible minorities (Statistics Canada, 2003). Most visible minorities are immigrants (68%).
In Canada, nearly one woman in three is victimized in her own home. The study found that victimization rates among immigrant and visible minority women in a 1999 Statistics Canada survey were somewhat lower than other women (10.5% of immigrant and visible minority women experienced emotional or financial abuse, compared to 14% of other women; 4.2% cited physical or sexual abuse, compared to 6.2% of other women). However, the study notes that because the survey was done only in English and French, it was not representative of women who were not proficient in either official language.
The survey data also showed that few women in either category reported the abuse to police (10% for immigrant and visible minority women vs. 12% for other women). Other women, however, were more likely to seek help from services (21% vs. 17%), such as counselling.
Unique Vulnerabilities
Immigrant and visible minority women have many of the same experiences as other women who suffer abuse. They share feelings of fear and shame. They often cling to the hope that their partner can be convinced to stop the abuse. They want to protect their children. They are not sure whom they can trust with this problem.
But there are also unique vulnerabilities in this population. For example, the women may not speak either of Canada's official languages. And as one frontline worker said: "How can women who cannot speak English call 9-1-1?" They may not be familiar with their rights in Canada, or the way law enforcement and the court systems work. It was reported that many women fear being deported by immigration authorities if they talk about abuse. They may be deliberately misinformed about their rights and status by the abusive partner.
These women can be incredibly isolated in an unfamiliar environment where there seems to be no safe place, not even at home. The loss of traditional supports of extended family, friends and advisors from their country of origin weighs heavily on some of these women and compounds their isolation. Some wives have never experienced abuse until they come here, when the trauma of adjusting economically and socially to the new country disrupts family life. Other families come from societies which believe that the man is entitled to dominate and physically "discipline" his wife.
Many ethnocultural communities are small and tight-knit in Canadian cities. Depending on attitudes, some women who leave an abusive situation may be cut off from their whole community.
Immigrant and visible minority women may find that escaping from abuse means a passport to poverty for themselves and their children. While other abused women may experience economic problems too, immigrant and visible minority women may run into particular roadblocks in the workplace – for example, if their foreign credentials and work experience are not recognized in Canada.
No Quick and Easy Answers
There are no quick and easy answers. The study notes that the issues facing immigrant and visible minority women who suffer abuse are complex and multi-faceted. Therefore, the solutions must be comprehensive and holistic. They involve justice, law enforcement and human services, and require cooperation and coordination by different agencies and systems.
Information and Language Services
These women need good information that they can understand. Ideally, they should get information about their rights and Canadian laws when they arrive in the country, as part of the immigration process. They also need information about where to go for help. "They have no idea where to go for help," one frontline worker said. "They are overwhelmed by feelings of helplessness."
To talk about abuse, they need to communicate with someone they can trust, in what one observer called their "language of comfort." The study identifies language barriers and the unavailability of professional interpretation services in a variety of settings and systems as a key concern.
"You could see a woman for two or three years. She could be beaten every time before her appointment, but you would not be told that because her partner is interpreting for her. Only professional interpretation should be used." (Focus Group Participant)
Law Enforcement and the Courts
The service systems in Canada, particularly the law enforcement and justice systems, are often intimidating for abused women from immigrant and visible minority communities. There were many comments about the need to help women through the process so they can better understand and cope with what is happening to them. "Abused women should be red-flagged in the court system so that they can be given the supports they need. This would encourage more women to go through the process," said a frontline worker.
Better information and language services would help, but changes in practices were also suggested. Some of these practices are already in place in some jurisdictions:
- dedicated family violence police units and courts;
- proactive victims' services to help immigrant and visible minority women through the judicial system;
- increased efforts to sensitize police and court personnel to these issues;
- changes in legal aid eligibility to ensure that these women can get legal assistance for separation and child custody matters.
A particular concern that emerged from the study was the practice of cross-charging or dual-charging. A frontline worker explained the problem this way:
"Often, the woman has experienced violence many times before she calls the police. She has gone through it so often, and finally, she might pick up a coffee cup, for example, and she gets charged with assault with a weapon. He just used his fists, so he gets a lesser charge of common assault. But these women need help, not charges."
Crisis and Longer-term Assistance
A shortage of culturally appropriate crisis intervention services, such as shelters and counselling for abused women was identified. Longer-term assistance to help the women get on their feet and make a stable and safe home for themselves and their children – such as income support, affordable housing, and job training – are considered inadequate or inaccessible.
There were stories about women going back to an abusive situation for economic reasons. One focus group participant spoke of "empowering" a woman with children to make her own decision to leave an abusive relationship. The woman did not have a job, so she had to go on social assistance.
"She called me to say 'I think I have to go back. The neighbourhood, the building where I am living, there are fights at my door and people are screaming in the middle of the night, broken bottles and blood. My children are more scared than they were before.' You feel so powerless because what can you do? There should be safe, affordable housing for her and her children."
Community agencies want to provide appropriate services and build trusting relationships with immigrant and visible minority women, but there are financial constraints. Ethnocultural and minority women's groups feel they must scramble for whatever funding is left over after mainstream agencies receive their share. A focus group participant said:
"I don't want to take those mainstream programs away, but there has to be some recognition of the changing needs. Money has to be matched with the demographic shifts. We are the marginalized groups, so we end up in the very strange situation of being forced to compete with each other for scarce funds."
Organizations of all kinds in the voluntary sector are struggling to stretch limited resources as far as possible and seeking opportunities to be innovative. There is some potential seen by agencies serving immigrant and visible minority women and mainstream agencies to maximize resources and improve accessibility to services through greater collaboration.
Education, Equity and Awareness
The study identifies a role for public education to help prevent abuse – but not necessarily big advertising campaigns. For many ethnocultural communities, there may be more promise in small, neighbourhood gatherings where people can talk about their backgrounds and their new life in Canada.
There is also a role for schools to teach young people that physical violence by a spouse is a crime, and that all people are entitled to live free of abuse of all kinds, including emotional abuse.
Public education can also play a role in creating a fairer and more accepting environment for immigrants to Canada. Frontline workers said that some women are reluctant to speak out about abuse because they feel it will bring more harm to a community that is already suffering from systemic racism. Prevailing attitudes of mainstream society are perceived as part of the problem. "The issue of racism has to be flagged all over the place."
"Immigrants are treated as the 'other.' They want to be perceived as individuals and treated with respect like everyone else and not lumped into the category of immigrant."
The study also encourages equity and gender-based analysis of legislation, policies and programs to assess the differential impacts on immigrant and visible minority women.
Looking Ahead
The National Forum that was part of this study revealed that there are service providers across the country, from both mainstream agencies and those serving specific cultural or immigrant communities, who are interested in building community coalitions and provincial and national networks to help tackle these issues. One Forum participant put it this way:
"As always, I am so impressed by all the great work being done across the country in small agencies to bring about change in their individual communities (on very little funding). I believe that we can all benefit from learning about the many creative initiatives and approaches that are being developed out there and that we can integrate them into the work of our agencies."
More than 70 organizations participated in this study. To continue the dialogue they began and to maintain momentum to work for change, the CCSD is beginning the process of building a national network that will promote:
- sharing of knowledge and best practices;
- culturally appropriate, high-quality service delivery; and
- the development of guidelines and strategies to improve coordination and foster collaboration within and across service systems.
This study poses challenges for the justice, immigration and human services systems, all levels of government, and community agencies and organizations, including ethnocultural groups, to help improve Canada's response to partner violence against immigrant and visible minority women. It also suggests a role for Canadians in general – to critically examine their attitudes to visible minorities and immigrants, with a view to building a more inclusive society.
The Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD) is one of Canada's key authoritative voices promoting better social and economic security for all Canadians. A national, self-supporting, membership-based organization, the CCSD's main product is information and its main activity is research, focusing on issues such as child well-being, economic security, employment, poverty, cultural diversity, and government social policies. Check out our website (www.ccsd.ca) for more information about our activities and membership opportunities.
The CCSD gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Department of Justice through the Voluntary Sector Initiative (VSI) in producing this report.
Documents from this Nowhere to Turn? project include the Final Report, Forum Proceedings, and Voices of Frontline Workers. These reports can be downloaded free of charge from the CCSD's website at www.ccsd.ca.
Additional copies of these documents can also be purchased for $20 each, plus taxes and handling charges as applicable, from Renouf Publishing: tel: (613) 745-2665 or toll-free in Canada at 866-767-6766.
Nowhere to Turn? - Full report and related material
Canadian Council on Social Development,
190 O'Connor Street, Suite 100,
Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 2R3
Tel: (613) 236-8977, Fax: (613) 236-2750, Web: www.ccsd.ca, Email: council@ccsd.ca
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