VOX ISM donated $1500 to the Canadian Women’s Foundation Out of Violence program.
The Canadian Women’s Foundation invests in programs to prevent and intervene in situations of gender-based violence. They provide services such as emergency shelter, housing support, help rebuild life after abuse, sexual assault and exploitation crisis support, child witness to violence programs, and healthy relationship education for teens. They do complex work necessary to break the cycle of violence in families and communities.
“Sadly, not everyone is as safe at home as us,” said Sharon Heaton, Vice President, VOX ISM.
The donations will undoubtedly go a long way to help.
Gender-based violence, including intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and emotional abuse, happens at alarming rates in Canada. According to the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability, in 2020, 160 women and girls were killed by violence in Canada. That’s an average of one woman or girl killed every 2.3 days. And sexual assault, one of the most under-reported crimes in Canada, is also the only violent crime not on the decline (Statistics Canada, 2017).
Why is ending violence urgent?
- Gender equality will not be achieved if diverse women, girls, Two-Spirit, trans, and non-binary people are not safe from gender-based violence and the threat and fear of violence at home, work, and in their neighbourhoods. And this violence is preventable.
- Violence harms and traumatizes those who are directly victimized. It also harms their dependents, families, and communities.
- Gender-based violence has a profound effect on children. One in three adults report experiencing child sexual abuse or physical abuse and exposure to intimate partner violence, and it is strongly linked to mental health concerns (Affifi et al., 2014). The consequences are significant and “can create vulnerabilities over the life course” (Alaggia and Donohue, 2017).
- Beyond the human suffering it causes, gender-based violence costs billions of dollars. According to a 2013 Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives report, the annual cost of adult sexual assault and intimate partner violence is $334 per person or $9 billion for all of Canada.