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Many migrant and refugee women (MRW) experience different forms of gender-based violence (GBV) along the migratory pathway. GBV is rooted in intersecting structures of domination and extends beyond individual experiences to include the failure of policies and practices to protect women. In this article, through the lenses of 'key informants' (KIs), we explore how MRW express resilience to GBV in the face of intersecting structural inequalities through resisting, adapting individual behaviours, navigating to resources and transforming relationships and self. Furthermore, drawing upon social ecological approaches to resilience, we examine the factors and processes of building resilience to GBV by MRW at the individual, relational, community and societal levels in Canada. Our research findings are based on thematic analysis of 43 qualitative interviews with KIs who are counsellors, shelter staff and directors, government staff, and settlement workers who provide services to MRW. Our empirical findings contribute to the research literature by identifying and fleshing out the particular expressions, complexities, supporting factors and processes of resilience to GBV by MRW in Canada. Keywords: Gender-based violence, immigrant and refugee women, resilience, intersectionality, service provision, government policy, Canada. De nombreuses femmes migrantes et refugiees (FMR) subissent differentes formes de violence sex-iste (VS) tout au long de leur parcours migratoire. La VS est ancree dans des structures de domination qui se croisent et va au-dela des experiences individuelles pour inclure l'echec des politiques et des pratiques a la protection des femmes. Dans cet article, nous explorons, avec la perspective des 'informateurs cles' (IC), la maniere dont les femmes migrantes expriment leur resilience a la violence liee au sexe face aux inegalites structurelles qui se croisent, en resistant, en adaptant leurs comportements individuels, en accedant a des ressources et en transformant leurs relations et leur personnalite. En outre, en nous appuyant sur les approches socio-ecologiques de la resilience, nous examinons les facteurs et les processus de renforcement de la resilience a la violence liee au sexe chez les femmes migrantes aux niveaux individuel, relationnel, communautaire et social au Canada. Les resultats de notre recherche sont bases sur l'analyse thematique de 43 entretiens qualitatifs avec des ICs qui sont des conseillers, des employes et des directeurs de refuges, des fonctionnaires et des travailleurs de l'etablissement qui fournissent des services aux FMR. Nos resultats empiriques contribuent a la litterature de recherche en identifiant et en etoffant les expressions particulieres, les complexites, les facteurs de soutien et les processus de resilience a la violence liee au sexe des FMR au Canada. Mots-cles : Violence sexiste, femmes immigrantes et refugiees, resilience, modele d'ecologie sociale, prestation de services, politique gouvernementale, Canada., INTRODUCTION Canada is home to a large immigrant population, with 23% of the Canadian population born outside the country (Statistics Canada 2023). Despite the high proportion of immigrants nationally, little [...]

Purpose Over a ten-year period (2010-2019), there were 815 victims of intimate partner/domestic homicide (IP/DH) in Canada. Definitions of IP/DH not only shape our understanding of these deaths; they also shape how data are collected as well as policy and prevention efforts. The Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative with Vulnerable Populations (CDHPIVP) examined IP/DH with a focus on four specific populations: Indigenous; immigrant and refugee; people living in rural, remote, and northern areas; and children exposed to domestic violence. Not only is the issue of defining IP/DH complex, but complexity also arises in how we define specific populations that experience different risks, barriers, and vulnerabilities to intimate partner violence and IP/DH. Methods At the conclusion of the CDHPIVP, the authors participated in a panel discussion; this article reports and expands upon that discussion by discussing the availability and accessibility of IP/DH data, including official data sources, court decisions, media reports, and domestic violence death reviews. Results We provide an overview of available data, as well as data gaps, regarding IP/DH among each of the four populations, as well as available data sources and challenges in data accessibility. Conclusions We share our priorities for enhancing data to inform researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners who are working toward the prevention of IP/DH. Specifically, we note the importance of partnerships for collecting and working with data and opportunities for enhancing data quality regarding research with each of the four populations., Author(s): Crystal J. Giesbrecht [sup.1] , Myrna Dawson [sup.2] , Wendy Verhoek-Oftedahl [sup.3] , Claudette Dumont-Smith [sup.4] , Anuradha Dugal [sup.5] Author Affiliations: (1) Provincial Association of Transition Houses and [...]

Through interviews the present study examined the perspectives of service providers (n = 14) in the violence against women (VAW) sector regarding risk factors and challenges in assessing risk for women experiencing domestic violence (DV) in rural locations. The present study also examined what promising practices VAW service providers are utilizing when working with women experiencing DV in rural locations. Interviews were coded and analyzed in a qualitative analysis computer program. Analysis indicated several risk factors including the location (i.e., geographic isolation, lack of transportation, and lack of community resources) and cultural factors (i.e., accepted and more available use of firearms, poverty, and no privacy/anonymity). Moreover, analyses indicated several challenges for VAW service providers assessing risk including barriers at the systemic (i.e., lack of agreement between services), organizational (i.e., lack of collaboration and risk assessment being underutilized/valued), and individual client (i.e., complexity of issues) level. However, participants outlined promising practices being implemented for rural locations such as interagency collaboration, public education, professional education, and outreach programs. The findings support other research in the field that highlight the increased vulnerability of women experiencing DV in rural locations and the added barriers and complexities in assessing risk for rural populations. Implications for future research and practice include further examination of the identified promising practices, a continued focus on collaborative approaches and innovative ways to prevent and manage risk in a rural context., Author(s): Nicole Youngson [sup.1] [sup.2] , Michael Saxton [sup.1] [sup.2] , Peter G. Jaffe [sup.1] [sup.2] , Deborah Chiodo [sup.1] , Myrna Dawson [sup.3] [sup.4] , Anna-Lee Straatman [sup.2] Author [...]

Rigorous, comprehensive and timely research are the cornerstone of social and transformative change. For researchers responding to femicide, family and intimate partner homicide, there are substantial challenges around accessing robust data that is complete and fully representative of the experiences and social identities of those affected. This raises questions of how certain social identities are privileged and how the lens of intersectionality may be constrained or enabled through research. Further, there is limited insight into the emotional labour and safety for researchers, and how they experience and mitigate vicarious trauma. We examine these issues through a shared critical reflection and conclude with key recommendations to address the challenges and issues identified. Four researchers examining and responding to femicide, family and intimate partner homicide in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom shared and evaluated their critical reflection. We drew on our experiences and offer insights into processes, impacts and unintended consequences of fatality reviews and research initiatives. There are substantial limitations in accessibility and completeness of data, which has unintended consequences for the construction of social identities of those affected, including how multiple forms of exclusion and structural oppression are represented. Our experiences as researchers are complex and have driven us to implement strategies to mitigate vicarious trauma. We assert that these issues can be addressed by reconceptualizing the goals of data collection and fostering collaborative discussions among those involved in data collection and violence prevention to strengthen research, prevention efforts and safety for all involved., Author(s): Patricia Cullen [sup.1] [sup.2] [sup.3] , Myrna Dawson [sup.4] , Jenna Price [sup.5] , James Rowlands [sup.6] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.1005.4, 0000 0004 4902 0432, School of Population Health, [...]

Recently, Black's theory of law has been criticized for failing to capture quasi and de facto governmental social control institutions. A restatement of this theory introduces the idea of 'more or less governmental social control' that encompasses government endorsement of private forms of social control or government delegation of social control powers to private parties. Drawing from this, we assess the utility of Black's theory by examining sexual harassment cases handled by the Canadian Human Rights Commission, a quasi-governmental body that has been delegated social control powers. Previous tests of Black's theory have relied primarily on criminal processes that often involve identifiable increments in law. While a sexual harassment case may be settled or dismissed, paralleling the criminal justice process of conviction or acquittal, further increments in law are less identifiable within this quasi-governmental institution. Using over 200 sexual harassment cases in Canada, we test several concepts from Black's theory for explaining decision making within a quasi-governmental social control institution and, specifically, for predicting whether single or multiple remedies are used to resolve these types of cases. Our results show some support for Black's theory, but demonstrate that whether a case was sent to conciliation played a greater role in predicting the quantity of law than the social structural dimensions emphasized by Black or the offense seriousness variables highlighted by more traditional criminal justice research.

People who kill others rarely kill themselves afterwards. When they do, they are more likely to have killed someone with whom they were intimate. Two broad types of suicidal killers have been identified in research that presumes varying degrees of premeditation. Using data on over 700 intimate femicides, the role of premeditation in cases of intimate femicide-suicide compared to killings that do not culminate in a suicide was examined. My results show that premeditation is more likely to occur in cases involving the offenders' suicide, but that evidence of premeditation varies depending upon the type of suicidal killer.

Much of what is known about how the law operates is based on the criminal justice process. What is less understood is whether legal, extra-legal, and organizational attributes matter for non-criminal justice processes, such as discrimination and employment disputes. It is this general issue that we examine in this paper. We also incorporate how the development of the legal construct of sexual harassment affects case settlement. Our study attempts to overcome the underutilization of theoretical understandings from the sociology of law to study sexual harassment complaints. We examine 267 sexual harassment complaints against corporate respondents or employing organizations handled by the Canadian Human Rights Commission between 1978-1993 to see what factors influence whether a complaint will be dismissed or settled. Our results show that legal, extra-legal, and case processing factors matter for the resolution of complaints. We also find that the development of sexual harassment as a legal concept is central to understanding the settlement of complaints over time. Finally, we conclude that research on civil and human rights processes should incorporate insights from research on criminal justice processes.