As we are all aware, violence against women is a serious
human rights and social issue. For many, ‘home’ is where families face a regime
of terror and violence. Their human rights are denied and their lives are
stolen from them. In 2004, the provincial government developed an action plan
to tackle domestic violence and to improve equality for women.
It is stated that “the root causes of violence against women
are societal, and the solutions lie ultimately in changing values about equality
between men and women. While women in Canada have made great strides in recent
decades, women and their children are still the primary victims of domestic
violence.”
A quote from the premiere:
“Our government is
committed to protecting women and children from domestic violence. We believe
that women and children have the right to live free from fear and violence.” –
Dalton McGuinty
The Domestic Violence Action Plan for Onatrio is a project
formed by the McGuinty government to “provide a balanced approach that strengthens
community supports to better protect victims, focus on public education, early
intervention and prevention strategies to help reduce domestic violence, and to
strengthen the justice system response” (Domestic Violence Action Plan for
Onatrio, 2012).
The plan includes millions in funding to provide better
supports for victims by:
- training front line workers and professional
- better counseling services and transitional housing supports
- major public education and prevention campaigns
- improvement to Ontario’s criminal and family justice system to better protect women and children and to progress equality.
This plan is putting a focus on preventing violence against
women from happening in the first place by changing attitudes and behaviors,
and instead of using a mainstream approach they are targeting approaches to
meet diverse needs. (Francophone, aboriginal, ethnocultural/racial, people with
disabilities, rural/farm/northern, seniors).
Recently, the minister responsible for women’s issues Laura
Broten released a progress report and identified that the government has
reaffirmed their commitment to end violence and to promote equality for women
by launching “Ontario's Sexual Violence Action Plan”, a four-year strategy that
involves 15 million dollars in funding.
I hope with this being presented we can all become more educated
and competent to help prevent and confront violence/inequality against women.
Alexandra
References:
Transforming our communities. (n.d.). Ontario Women's
Directorate. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from
Domestic Violence Action Plan for Ontario. (n.d.). Ministry
of Citizenship and Immigration. Retrieved November 11, 2012, from www.women.gov.on.ca/owd_new/english/resources/publications/dvap/dvap.pdf
I believe this to be an excellent topic. I was previously done some work within the violence against women sector and I feel for strongly about this issue. During my time at the shelter there were many improvements that the agency was doing to tailor to the needs of the women there. As an example, there was a position opened for a "court support worker"; this enabled more predominant support in regards to legal milestones these women may have been facing while in the shelter. This agency also connected the women with free counselling for them as well as their children and really just assisted the women any way they possibly could. There continues to be expansions and improvements within these services. I believe these services to be very important, and I am really grateful that these services continue to be funded.
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