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March 2004
Nowhere to Turn?
Responding to partner violence
against immigrant and visible minority women
Voices of Frontline Workers
Future Research
Same-sex Partner Abuse
One aspect of the problem of abuse among immigrant and visible minority women that has received scant attention concerns same-sex partners. As one focus group participant indicated, efforts to address this unique population have been minimal.
"To reach this particular population within the larger cultural community requires a whole special outreach effort. If there isn't a means within one's particular community to have a dialogue and discuss the issues, or to give lesbians an opportunity to come together, it doesn't happen. It's not enough to just rely on local fax trees or to send notices to organizations. Specifically doing the extra outreach is necessary to find out what support this community needs. To my knowledge, I don't think that it has happened here."
Given the serious nature and prevalence of same-sex partner abuse, participants discussed possible solutions and interventions.
"It is about empowering the community that knows its own. It's about creating welcoming environments. The first step is to work with the service providers who are most likely to be accessing that group of women."
"We need to assist those communities so that they have access to services that are going to be equally welcoming and we need to foster our resources so that the community can plan outreach or hold focus groups to discuss the unique issues."
When asked if there were programs available for gay and lesbian women who have experienced partner violence – whether they are from the mainstream culture or an immigrant or visible minority women – one participant responded by saying, "I think another piece that is generally different for lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender (LGBT) women is that we are less visible – in any culture. We are invisible unless we choose to come out." Many women in this situation feel alone and isolated in the face of non-existent social support groups and trained staff. Moreover, any services that may be in place within a mainstream organization may not be culturally sensitive.
"At one time, there was denial even within certain service organizations and among the police. There were fears that if you talked about this problem, you were feeding homophobia. 'Look at those lesbians. They are even beating up one another.' There was such a level of fear that it was difficult to even begin to talk. We know that there has been over-policing of minority groups in the past, and issues around race, so when it concerns violence among gay and lesbian cultural communities, you have that extra level of fear."
When asked about future directions and progress for the LGBT population, one participant was hopeful about the current initiatives in place.
"We are now in a position where there has been some work done – targeted efforts such as a police liaison committee and a regional coordinating committee … telephone answering lines, and staff training on issues of lesbian partner abuse."
Although there was some optimism regarding the progress of outreach work and staff training, the overall impression among focus group participants was that there is definitely a gap in services to address the unique issues facing immigrant and visible minority women who are abused by their same-sex partners. Participants indicated that there is, in fact, a great deal of work still to be done in this area.
"So far, there is no overall or systematic way for approaching this."
"How much work organizations have done in this area often depends on the people involved, and whether they happen to have lesbian staff. Sometimes there are educational on-call staff, but often the expertise resides in that specific person and when they move on, the organization no longer has that expertise."
"Today, it is not primarily a lack of awareness or an unwillingness to make it a priority or to understand the complexity of these issues. My sense is that people don't know what to do."
Mainstream organizations that deal with same-sex partner abuse often do not possess the necessary tools or staff to provide meaningful support to lesbian immigrant and visible minority women who have experienced partner abuse. There was, however, discussion among focus group participants about working in collaboration with other immigrant and visible minority organizations to address the problem.
"The kind of work we are proposing to do is to assist immigrant and visible minority organizations in creating a kind of welcoming environment at their centres so that anybody who is in that situation feels comfortable enough to talk about it."
Responding to Men
Throughout the focus group discussions, there was a great deal of concern expressed about the lack of support services for immigrant and visible minority men who are perpetrators or victims of partner abuse. Many participants were vocal about the need for more support and educational outlets for such men.
"There are few services for immigrant men, and there are zero immigrant men's counselling services. What funds are available are only for women and girls…services for men are completely lacking."
"The services that exist for men are not being accessed, and they are not culturally appropriate. This is a huge gap."
"I think that it is also important to look at the situation facing immigrant and refugee men. They often have a lot of problems when they come here and they have to learn what it means to be a man in this new culture. Their masculinity is challenged. It adds another layer, and often they can't let go. Immigrant and visible minority women certainly face problems, but they tend to get jobs quicker and learn the language faster because they see it as more of an opportunity, whereas men see it as more of a challenge. Also, many men have 'survival guilt;' they feel they shouldn't have left their country, they should have stayed and fought it out. They have all sorts of issues because being men, they are supposed to protect."
"We are responsible for educating men about life in Canada and our laws, and helping them to understand basic knowledge about how this society is structured and our social services. I don't think that we do a very good job with that. Most men are willing to learn. Unfortunately, they often don't have that information, and for some men who came here from violent societies, that is how they will see things. They don't use communications to deal with their anger, they use force, which causes major problems for the whole family."
Summing Up
Some of these issues will not be resolved quickly. However, there is much that can be done in the short term to strengthen the capacity of the systems and organizations that deal with immigrant and visible minority women who are victims of partner abuse.
Because if we don't get to work now, we will have abandoned not only today's victims, but their children as well, and they will be our future parents, workers, leaders, and thinkers. As several focus group participants noted, abuse is a learned behaviour.
Given the rising proportion of the Canadian population who are members of visible minority groups and the steady stream of immigrants to Canada every year, this is a challenge that cannot be ignored. One focus group participant expressed the hope and expectation of many of her colleagues: "The result of this project should be pressure for action."
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