Table of Contents

• Introduction
  • This Report
• Context
  • A Societal Problem – A Sensitive Issue
  • The Reality of Racism
  • Different Forms of Abuse
• Vulnerabilities and Barriers
  • Common Suffering – Common Needs
  • Culture Clash
  • Loss of Social and Community Supports
  • The Language Barrier
  • The Immigration Dilemma
  • Crisis Response
  • Legal Recourse
  • Passport to Poverty?
  • Social and Financial Supports
  • Rising Demands, but Inadequate Resources
• Suggestions for Change
  • Raising Awareness
  • Information and Immigration
  • Language Services
  • Women-friendly Services and Outreach
  • Sensitizing Police and the Courts
  • Alternatives to Abuse
  • System Coordination and Community-based Organizations
• Future Research
  • Same-sex Partner Abuse
  • Responding to Men
• Summing Up
• Appendix 1: Discussion Guide used for Focus Groups
• Appendix 2: Organizations participating in Focus Groups, by City

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Nowhere to Turn? - Related Material

On the context of immigrant and visible minority women who experience partner violence:

"These women come to us with their mental health severely affected by all they are living as abused wives, as new immigrants, as mothers, as isolated daughters, as unemployed professionals, and as penniless women without a means of expressing their needs in a clear way to people they feel they can trust."
Focus group participant

On what needs to be done:

"First, immigrants need listeners – someone who won't judge and who will take the necessary time to listen. With immigrant women, context is important in order to understand and be able to provide support. Thus counsellors need to shift their thinking, and look at larger explanations and context."
Focus group participant